Why did Cleopatra seduce Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, engulfing the Roman Empire in bloody civil war? What historical evidence substantiates tales of sexual rites in Babylonian temples? How could the Greek women who served the god Apollo at Delphi utter pronouncements that changed the course of history? Why has the story of the Amazons fascinated ancient and modern societies? This extensive and fascinating A-to-Z encyclopedia, illustrated with many rare and revealing images, tells the stories of the famous and the ordinary, treating subjects as diverse as Greek heroine cults, the daily life led by the women of the warrior Germans, and the intrigues, glory, and power of the imperial women of ancient Rome. Hundreds of well- researched entries, each with suggestions for further reading, give a rounded view of the lives of women in the ancient world.