Costumes

Morrigan

Of all the great bird goddesses in world mythology, the Morrigan is surely one of the birdiest. This Irish goddess typically appears as a crow or raven hovering over the battlefield, feasting on the ...

Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 973-1014) was one of the world's great literary geniuses. She wrote the first novel in history---The Tale of Genji---and with it created not only a timeless masterpiece of ...

Nefertiti

Her face is one of the most famous in the world. Nefertiti (ca. 1370–1330 BCE) was the Great Royal Wife of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, and her sublime portrait bust is one of the glories of ...

Nu Wa

Nu Wa (also spelled Nu Gua or Nu Kua) is the ancient Chinese creator goddess. She's usually depicted with a dragon body---sort of like a mermaid, but with awesome powers over the universe. Nu Wa ...

Nzinga

Nzinga (1582-1663) was the queen of Ndongo and Matamba, historical states in what is now Angola. This altogether remarkable woman seized the throne and held it for 40 years, successfully resisting ...

Pele

Pele is the living, breathing volcano goddess of Hawaii. Her home is Kilauea, which is also her body. The name "Pele" means molten lava; the mountain's flanks are her flanks, the drops of airborne ...

Persephone

Persephone was a pre-Greek goddess who got drafted into the Olympic pantheon along with her mother Demeter. It's a fair bet that she was the Queen of the Underworld long before the Greeks, with ...

Phillis Wheatley

Some people are just born geniuses. Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) was kidnapped from Senegal and sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight, eventually landing up with the Wheatley family of ...

Puabi

There's bling and there's bling. And then there's Queen Puabi (ca. 2600 BCE). When Leonard Woolley excavated her tomb at Ur in the 1920s, the world gasped. So much gold! So many jewels! Her ...

Queen Mab

Queen Mab isn't just a fairy. She's a fairy queen, presiding over dreamland, drawn in state by a fairy coach, trailed by attendants and servants. She makes her literary debut in Romeo and Juliet, ...

Queen of Sheba

The Queen of Sheba (ca. 950 BCE?) is claimed by both Ethiopia and Yemen. It’s not impossible that both are right; the ancient realm of Saba (Sheba) may have spanned the Red Sea. Or perhaps she was ...

Razia Sultan

Razia Sultan (1205–1240) was the first female Muslim ruler in South Asia. Remembered as a brilliant general and politician, she reigned as the fifth Sultan of Dehli from 1236 to 1240. The ...