There are names in history and folklore that are immediately recognizable: Blackbeard, Dracula, Krampus, etc. All are infamous in their particular sectors of history or folklore, and all are men.
However, what if I were to tell you that women were actually the first pioneers in their respective areas? Often overlooked, it was they who set the stage for others to shine. Below, we cover the three mentioned figures’ predecessors, as well as other female leaders in their fields.
Carmilla
When you think of the origin of vampires, you will probably think of Dracula, the father of the night, born in Transylvania.
However, the novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu was published in 1871 to 1872, while Dracula, the novel by Bram Stoker, was published about 25 years later in 1897.
Carmilla’s story was set in Styria, Austria, while Dracula’s was set in Transylvania, Romania.
Carmilla, the character, is a vampire who develops a fascination with a human named Laura, and the novel is largely considered to revolve around female desire without the involvement of men.
There are a few probable reasons why Carmilla was overlooked and Dracula became the famous figure representing vampires instead. The novel’s implied homoerotic themes, while more in line with the seductive nature associated with vampire folklore, were considered taboo at the time it was published, especially because they involved two women. It’s speculated that when Dracula was published, its themes were better received, pushing it to its rise in fame. Most likely, it was simply released at the right time to be well received.
Enheduanna
Living around 2300 BCE, Enheduanna was a triple threat: a Mesopotamian princess, poet and high priestess who is considered by historians to be the first writer and named author in the world.
Her name is pronounced as such: en-heh-joo-a-nuh.
She was born the daughter of King Sargon of Akkad, founder of the Akkadian Empire. He was the one who appointed her as priestess, or “entu,” of the moon god Nanna, also known as Sin.
Her most famous works include The Exaltation of Inanna (Ninmeshara), Inanna and Ebih and a collection of 42 temple hymns. She wrote in Sumerian.
Her work inspired centuries’ worth of later Mesopotamian literature and was also used as curriculum in scribal schools.
Ada Lovelace
If you are a CISE major, you have likely heard of the world’s first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace. The English mathematician and writer earned the title when she wrote a detailed method for calculating Bernoulli numbers using her associate Charles Babbage’s mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine. Her finding is considered by many to be the first computer program ever created.
Grýla
Originating from Icelandic folklore, Grýla is a giant ogress monster, a troll-like woman who is rumored to live in the mountains and hunt disobedient children to boil alive for her stew.
She’s connected to Christmas and is used as a myth to scare naughty children into being good, much like her German counterpart Krampus. However, Grýla debuted in texts and stories as early as the 13th century, while Krampus saw his prime in the 1800s. His specific date of creation is not entirely known, though it is estimated to date back to the 16th century in Alpine folklore.
Ching Shih
Ching Shih, known as Zheng Yi Sao among the Cantonese, is considered one of, if not the most successful pirates in history, having commanded the Red Flag Fleet, composed of about 1,800 ships and 80,000 outlaws, during the early 1800s.
The infamous Blackbeard, in comparison, only commanded four ships and 300 pirates. So, while she did not come before his time from 1680 to 1718, she still blew him out of the water, pun absolutely intended.
Born in 1775, 57 years after Blackbeard’s death, she took over her husband’s confederation after his death in 1807. While she technically inherited leadership of the armada, she ruled strictly and made the confederation much more active in its conquests. The size of her forces vastly outnumbered most other navies of the time, including the British Royal Navy, the Portuguese Navy and the Qing Dynasty, all of which failed to defeat her in battle.
Shih ultimately ended her fearsome career as a pirate in 1810 when she negotiated a peaceful surrender. She was able to secure full pardons for herself and for much of her crew. She retired in wealth, living out the rest of her days as a respected gambling house owner in Guangdong before dying of old age in 1844 at the age of 69.
If that’s not an iconic life, I don’t know what is.
Female Demons of Seduction
Across multiple countries, it’s said that there exists a female monster enchantress who lures men to their deaths. She’s called La Diablesse in the Caribbean, the Yakshi in India, sirens and succubi in Europe, the Deer Woman in Native American traditions and many more versions across other countries’ folklore.
Across most of these stories, the woman-demon uses her physical beauty to lure men into nature, resulting in their deaths. Even though the stories of these “she-devils” all developed separately from each other, their similarity is uncanny.
It’s probably because these stories reflect common patterns across societies: subconscious fears, the influence of female seduction, patriarchal systems, etc.
For concepts deemed taboo, dangerous or mysterious, it’s common for societies to attribute those traits to the supernatural, as they do not understand the ideas.
Scheherazade
Although fictional, Scheherazade’s story is the reason famous stories like “Aladdin,” “Ali Baba” and “Sinbad” exist in the first place. She is the narrator behind One Thousand and One Nights, also called Arabian Nights.
Her story starts with her husband, King Shahryar, who, after being betrayed by his first wife, vowed to marry a virgin every night and execute her before the sun rose in order to prevent infidelity. One of these wives was Scheherazade. She was the daughter of the king’s vizier, and she volunteered to marry him.
She had a clever plan: Every night, she told an entertaining story that would always intentionally stop at a cliffhanger, convincing the king to spare her so he could hear the next part. Eventually, over the course of 1,001 nights, he abandoned his plan after falling in love with her.
Following These Firsts
The importance of acknowledging the gender of these contributors is greatly understated, because while moving forward in any field is important for all those concerned, highlighting the simple fact that it was a woman who did these things inspires others of the same demographic.
Historically, it has been more common for men to take credit for work that women achieved. If we continue to normalize this and look past the female pioneers who defined history, favoring the scope of the achievement over the author, we will be setting the precedent that this level of achievement is reserved for one type of audience only.
To be the first writer, the first influential myth, the greatest conqueror of the seas—these are exceptional feats that need to have their achievers acknowledged, especially by gender in today’s world. Not only to accurately record our history, but to inspire children who will go on to become the ones who define that history in our future.