--ABOUT THIS ITEM-- Item Dimensions: 6.0 inches x 4.5 inches Boccaccio's On Famous Women (De claris mulieribus) is a remarkable work that contains the lives of one hundred and six women in myth and history, ranging from Eve to Boccaccio's contemporary, Queen Giovanna I of Naples. It is the first collection of women's biographies ever written. Boccaccio composed it at Certaldo in 1361-62 and revised it in various stages to the end of his life in 1375. He dedicated it to Andrea Acciaiuoli, countess of Altavilla in the kingdom of Naples and sister of Niccolò Acciaiuoli, the grand seneschal of Queen Giovanna I. In his preface, the author states that the biographies of illustrious men had been written often by a number of excellent writers, and he cited his hero Petrarch's Lives of Famous Men (De viris illustribus) as an example. No one, however, had ever done the same for women. Boccaccio, therefore, presents a wide variety of women from antiquity to his own time, offering their lives as both moral exemplar and entertaining reading. On Famous Women is the earliest source of women's biography in the West and has had a long and distinguished publication career and literary influence. The famous women included are: 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 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. Almathea 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. Artemisia, queen 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