Plutarch's Black Women In Antiquity

Within the chapter “The Great Queens of Ethiopia”, of the book Black Women in Antiquity, the authors go in depth about how the political group, matriarchy – women were the rulers, evolved first in Africa. In Meroitic times (300 BC – 300 AD) Ethiopia was made up of Libya, Nubia, Cush, Abyssinia, Yemen, India, southern Persia, southern Arabia, and Upper Egypt. The word Ethiopia was given by the Greeks and means “land of sun burnt faces”. Before the authors commence the explanation of how matriarchy was established, they enlighten the reader with a summary of some the most historical mythology stories such as Isis and Osiris, Andromeda, and Medea. A Greek biographer, Plutarch, tells the story of Isis and Osiris, which the Ethiopian queen Aso