• Mama Quilla

    Mama Quilla

    Mama Quilla is the Inca goddess of the moon. Married to Inti, the sun god, she is the female half of the divine equation. Before the Spaniards got to work smashing and melting things, Mama Quilla ...

  • Marie de France

    Marie de France

    Eleanor of Aquitaine is famed for her great patronage of the arts, and one of the finest poets at her court may have been her own sister-in-law. Marie de France (ca. 1130-1200) was a high-ranking ...

  • Medusa

    Medusa

    This costume should really have its own category: Costumes For When You Have A Halloween Party Tonight And It's Already 5 O'Clock. Yes, it's extremely simple, but that's the appeal. You can stop ...

  • Mercy Otis Warren

    Mercy Otis Warren

    Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814) was the unsung heroine of the American Revolution. As one of the intellectual leaders of the rebellion, she wrote countless pamphlets, plays, and treatises explaining ...

  • Minoan Queen

    Minoan Queen

    We don't know her name. And unless somebody deciphers Linear A, we probably never will. All we know is that she existed, and that her world was beautiful. The centerpiece of our main illustration ...

  • Miriam Makeba

    Miriam Makeba

    Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), the beloved South African legend, was famous the world as "Mama Africa" for her music and her courageous opposition to apartheid. Throughout her long career Miriam was ...

  • Murasaki Shikibu

    Murasaki Shikibu

    Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 973-1014) was one of the world's great literary geniuses. She wrote the first novel in history---The Tale of Genji---and with it created not only a timeless masterpiece of ...

  • Nu Wa

    Nu Wa

    Nu Wa (also spelled Nu Gua or Nu Kua) is the ancient Chinese creator goddess. She's usually depicted with a dragon body---sort of like a mermaid, but with awesome powers over the universe. Nu Wa ...

  • Nzinga

    Nzinga

    Nzinga (1582-1663) was the queen of Ndongo and Matamba, historical states in what is now Angola. This altogether remarkable woman seized the throne and held it for 40 years, successfully resisting ...

  • Pele

    Pele

    Pele is the living, breathing volcano goddess of Hawaii. Her home is Kilauea, which is also her body. The name "Pele" means molten lava; the mountain's flanks are her flanks, the drops of airborne ...

  • Persephone

    Persephone

    Persephone was a pre-Greek goddess who got drafted into the Olympic pantheon along with her mother Demeter. It's a fair bet that she was the Queen of the Underworld long before the Greeks, with ...

  • Phillis Wheatley

    Phillis Wheatley

    Some people are just born geniuses. Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784) was kidnapped from Senegal and sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight, eventually landing up with the Wheatley family of ...