Okay so today I was scrolling through some history stuff and realized I know like zero about ancient Greek women, right? Like all the famous names are dudes - Plato this, Aristotle that. So I figured, heck let's fix that gap in my knowledge and make a list of badass women from back then.
Diving Into the Rabbit Hole
First I just grabbed my laptop and started typing random searches like "ancient Greek women scientists" and "female athletes Greece". Man was it frustrating at first - page after page showed me the same three names over and over. Felt like Google only knew about Sappho and Helen of Troy. Had to dig real deep into academic papers and old books section.
Kept finding these tiny crumbs about women who did incredible things but got erased. Like had to cross-check seven sources just to confirm Cynisca actually existed because some dude historian wrote "a princess couldn't have raced chariots" like excuse me sir?
The Goldmine Moments
Then bam! Hit the jackpot when I found Agnodice's story. This 4th century BC woman pretended to be a man to study medicine, got caught practicing as gynecologist, almost got executed but all her female patients stormed the court shouting "She's our doctor!" Chills. Absolute legend.
- Hypatia of Alexandria - mathematician who ran the library and invented stuff like the hydrometer while dudes burned her work later
- Aglaonike - basically called the first female astronomer for predicting eclipses so accurately people thought she was a witch (goals)
- Cynisca of Sparta - first woman Olympic champ in 396BC for chariot racing, had her statue at Olympia with the brag inscription "My fathers and brothers were kings. I won with my horses."
- Arete of Cyrene - philosophy queen who taught natural sciences to 110 students INCLUDING her own son, dude wrote entire books based on her lectures
What Shocked Me
The Olympic part blew my mind hardest. Turns out girls had their own massive sports festival called Heraean Games every four years - all footraces and chariots. But historians barely mention it? Found one pottery shard showing women wrestling too. Sparta was wild - girls actually trained naked alongside boys in gyms while other city-states clutched pearls.
Biggest frustration? Queens like Artemisia I who commanded Persian naval ships against Athens during war. Herodotus wrote she was smarter than the generals, but modern movies make her Xerxes' arm candy. Disgusting.
Why This Matters Now
Took me three coffee refills to compile everything because their stories are scattered like breadcrumbs. Realized we're still doing these women dirty by not teaching about them. Imagine being a little girl thinking women never did science or sports for 2000 years? Nah.
Finished list has 17 names now - scientists, doctors, philosophers, runners, queens. Want people to remember they didn't just weave cloth all day. These women raced chariots, calculated stars, performed surgeries and advised kings while wearing ancient tunics. That's the energy we need in 2024.
