The Ancients

Tomyris: A Warrior Queen's Revenge

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Episode notes

Her legend afforded her a place alongside Eve, Cleopatra and Venus, to name just a few of the famous women whose biographies were collected by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1361-2. Though not a household name as the others may be, Tomyris’ story contains all of the hallmarks of an epic. Tomyris was Queen of the Massagetae people, from present day Central Asia, in the 6th century BC. She is remembered in Herodotus’ first book for her vengeful challenge to the bloodthirsty Cyrus the Great. To talk about Tomyris, Queen and commander, Tristan was joined by Christian Djurslev of Aarhus University.  

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