Teuta

Femër Friday! This week’s focus is on the Illyrian Queen, Teuta.

After the death of her husband, Agron in 231 BC, Teuta assumed regency and made quite a name for herself. Proving a force to be reckoned with, she quickly garnered a reputation as a pirate Queen; ordering raids on neighboring states and continuing a tradition of piracy on the Adriatic coast.

This eventually grabbed the attention of the larger, more powerful Roman Empire as it directly affected their shipping and trade routes across the Adriatic Ocean and Ionian Sea. After meeting with Roman officials and settling this dispute, Teuta reportedly had one of them murdered for insulting her and the other imprisoned, so much for not shooting the messenger!

Unfortunately, there are only a few written accounts of Teuta from that time, most of which are blatantly colored by misogyny and Roman nationalism. Reading between these lines, however, one thing remains clear, historically there were a handful of women that openly challenged the Roman Empire and Teuta was one of them (Boudica the Celtic Queen is another fascinating person worth reading up on). 

It takes a powerful person to leave a great enough impression on their enemy that they are written about and remembered, millennia later.