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1361–62 biographies by Giovanni Boccaccio
A miniature depicting a queen with four musicians from a c. 1440 illuminated version of the De Claris Mulieribus held by the
British Museum
[1]
De Mulieribus Claris or De Claris Mulieribus (
Latin for "Concerning Famous Women") is a collection of biographies of historical and mythological women by the
Florentine author
Giovanni Boccaccio , composed in Latin prose in 1361–1362. It is notable as the first collection devoted exclusively to biographies of women in post-ancient Western literature.
[2] At the same time as he was writing On Famous Women , Boccaccio also compiled a collection of biographies of famous men,
De Casibus Virorum Illustrium (On the Fates of Famous Men ).
The famous women
The Banquet of
Cleopatra and
Antony , a
woodcut from a 1479 version of
Giovanni Boccaccio 's De Mulieribus Claris published in
Ulm , Germany, which also depicts the
suicides of Cleopatra and Antony
[3]
1.
Eve , the first woman in the Bible
2.
Semiramis , queen of the Assyrians
3.
Opis , wife of Saturn
4.
Juno , goddess of the Kingdoms
5.
Ceres , goddess of the harvest and queen of Sicily
6.
Minerva , Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy
7.
Venus , queen of Cyprus
8.
Isis , queen and goddess of Egypt
9.
Europa , queen of Crete
10.
Libya , queen of Libya
11 and 12.
Marpesia and
Lampedo , queens of the Amazons
13.
Thisbe , a Babylonian maiden
14.
Hypermnestra , queen of the Argives and priestess of Juno
15.
Niobe , queen of Thebes
16.
Hypsipyle , queen of Lemnos
17.
Medea , queen of Colchis
18.
Arachne of Colophon
19 and 20.
Orithyia and
Antiope , queens of the Amazons
21.
Erythraea or Heriphile, a
Sibyl
22.
Medusa , daughter of Phorcus
23.
Iole , daughter of the king of the Aetolians
24.
Deianira , wife of Hercules
25.
Jocasta , queen of Thebes
26.
Amaltheia or Deiphebe, a
Sibyl
27.
Nicostrata , or
Carmenta , daughter of King Ionius
28.
Procris , wife of Cephalus
29.
Argia , wife of Polynices and daughter of King Adrastus
30.
Manto , daughter of Tiresias
31. The wives of the
Minyans
32.
Penthesilea , queen of the Amazons
33.
Polyxena , daughter of King Priam
34.
Hecuba , queen of the Trojans
35.
Cassandra , daughter of King Priam of Troy
36.
Clytemnestra , queen of Mycenae
37.
Helen of Troy , whose abduction by
Paris began the
Trojan War
38.
Circe , daughter of the Sun
39.
Camilla , queen of the Volscians
40.
Penelope , wife of Ulysses
41.
Lavinia , queen of Laurentum
42.
Dido , or Elissa, queen of Carthage
43.
Nicaula , queen of Ethiopia
44.
Pamphile , daughter of Platea
45.
Rhea Ilia , a Vestal Virgin
46.
Gaia Cyrilla (Tanaquil), wife of King
Tarquinius Priscus
47.
Sappho , woman of Lesbos and poet
48.
Lucretia , wife of Collatinus
49.
Tamyris , queen of Scythia
50.
Leaena , a courtesan
51.
Athaliah , queen of Jerusalem
52.
Cloelia , a Roman maiden
53.
Hippo, a Greek woman
54.
Megullia Dotata
55.
Veturia , a Roman matron
56.
Thamyris , daughter of Micon
57. A conflation of
Artemisia II and
Artemisia I , queens of Caria
58.
Verginia , virgin and daughter of Virginius
59.
Eirene , daughter of Cratinus
60.
Leontium
61.
Olympias , queen of Macedonia
62.
Claudia , a Vestal Virgin
63.
Virginia , wife of
Lucius Volumnius
64.
Flora , goddess of flowers and wife of Zephyrus
65.
A young Roman woman
66.
Marcia , daughter of Varro
67.
Sulpicia , wife of Quintus Fulvius Flaccus
68.
Harmonia , daughter of Gelon, son of
Hiero II of Syracuse
69.
Busa of Canosa di Puglia
70.
Sophonisba , queen of Numidia
71.
Theoxena , daughter of Prince Herodicus
72.
Berenice , queen of Cappadocia
73.
The Wife of Orgiagon the Galatian
74.
Tertia Aemilia , wife of the
elder Africanus
75.
Dripetrua , queen of Laodice
76.
Sempronia , daughter of
Gracchus
77.
Claudia Quinta , a Roman woman
78.
Hypsicratea , Queen of Pontus
79.
Sempronia , a Roman Woman
80. The Wives of the
Cimbrians
81.
Julia , daughter of the dictator Julius Caesar
82.
Portia , daughter of Cato Uticensis
83.
Curia , wife of Quintus Lucretius
84.
Hortensia , daughter of
Quintus Hortensius
85.
Sulpicia , wife of
Cruscellio
86.
Cornificia , a poet
87.
Mariamme , queen of Judaea
88.
Cleopatra , queen of Egypt
89.
Antonia , daughter of Antony
90.
Agrippina , wife of Germanicus
91. Paulina, a Roman woman
92.
Agrippina , mother of the Emperor Nero
93.
Epicharis , a freedwoman
94.
Pompeia Paulina , wife of Seneca
95.
Poppaea Sabina , wife of Nero
96.
Triaria , wife of Lucius Vitellius
97.
Proba , wife of Adelphus
98.
Faustina Augusta
99.
Symiamira , woman of Emesa
100.
Zenobia , queen of Palmyra
101.
Joan , an Englishwoman and Pope
102.
Irene , Empress of Constantinople
103.
Gualdrada , a Florentine maiden
104.
Constance , Empress of Rome and queen of Sicily
105.
Camiola , a Sienese widow
106.
Joanna , queen of Jerusalem and Sicily
References
Citations
Bibliography
Anderson, Jaynie (2003),
Tiepolo's Cleopatra , Melbourne: Macmillan,
ISBN
9781876832445 .
Boccaccio, Giovanni (2003). Famous Women . I Tatti Renaissance Library. Vol. 1. Translated by Virginia Brown. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
ISBN
0-674-01130-9 .
Boitani, Piero (1976). "The Monk's Tale : Dante and Boccaccio".
Medium Ævum . 45 (1): 50–69.
doi :
10.2307/43628171 .
JSTOR
43628171 .
Watanabe-O'Kelly, Helen (2010), Beauty Or Beast?: The Woman Warrior in the German Imagination from the Renaissance to the Present , Oxford University Press,
ISBN
9780199558230
Further reading
Primary sources
Boccaccio, Poeet Ende Philosophe, Bescrivende van den Doorluchtighen, Glorioesten ende Edelsten Vrouwen (
Antwerp , 1525)
Boccaccio, Tractado de John Bocacio, de las Claras, Excellentes y Mas Famosas y Senaladas Damas (
Zaragoza , 1494)
Boccaccio, De la Louenge et Vertu des Nobles et Cleres Dames (
Paris , 1493)
Boccaccio, De Preclaris Mulieribus (
Strassburg , 1475)
Boccaccio, De Preclaris Mulieribus (
Louvain , 1487)
Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (
Bern , 1539)
Boccaccio, De Mulieribus Claris (
Ulm , 1473)
Boccaccio,
French translation (
Paris , 1405)
Secondary sources
Schleich, G. ed., Die mittelenglische Umdichtung von Boccaccio De claris mulieribus, nebst der latinischen Vorlage , Palaestra (
Leipzig , 1924)
Wright, H.G., ed., Translated from Boccaccio's De Claris Mulieribus , Early English Text Society, Original series w/Latin (
London , 1943)
Guarino, G. A., Boccaccio, Concerning Famous Women (
New Brunswick , N.J., 1963)
Zaccaria, V., ed., De mulieribus claris with Italian translation (
Milan , 1967 and 1970)
Branca, V., ed., Tutte le opere di Giovani Boccaccio, volume 10 (1967)[
ISBN missing ]
Zaccaria, V., ed., De mulieribus claris, Studi sul Boccaccio (
Milan , 1963)
Kolsky, S. , Ghost of Boccaccio: Writings on Famous Women , (2005)
Franklin, M., Boccaccio's Heroines: Power and Virtue in Renaissance Society (2006)
Filosa, E., Tre Studi sul De mulieribus claris (2012)
External links
International National Other