Who was the first woman ruler?

Question

I've found that speaking of the first woman ruler in history, most common materials (like Wikipedia or Britannica) point at the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut, living in the 16th century BCE. As a source at Wiki there's provided an American archaeologist James Henry Breasted, who established the study of Egyptology in the United States.

But he died around 80 years ago. So is that still accurate to our knowledge of ancient history? Who was the first woman ruler in history, according to current scientific researches?

Answer 1

The first (known) female Pharaoh is Sobekneferu (or Neferusobek) that ruled Egypt three centuries before Hatshepsut, from 1806 to 1802 BC. Sobekneferu is probably the earlier female ruler (in general, not only Egypt's) whose name we know and for whose reign we can be reasonably certain.

James Henry Breasted regarded Hatshepsut as "the first great woman in history of whom we are informed.", and I think you read that with emphasis on "first" when you should have read it with emphasis on "great" and "informed". Hatshepsut had a very long and (mostly) peacefull reign, and is commonly quoted as one of the most succesfull Pharaohs.

Another candidate for the earlier female ruler is Nitocris, a female Pharaoh mentioned by Herodotus:

[Hdt. 2.100.1] After him came three hundred and thirty kings, whose names the priests recited from a papyrus roll. In all these many generations there were eighteen Ethiopian kings, and one queen, native to the country; the rest were all Egyptian men.
[Hdt. 2.100.2] The name of the queen was the same as that of the Babylonian princess, Nitocris. She, to avenge her brother (he was king of Egypt and was slain by his subjects, who then gave Nitocris the sovereignty) put many of the Egyptians to death by treachery.
[Hdt. 2.100.3] She built a spacious underground chamber; then, with the pretence of inaugurating it, but with quite another intent in her mind, she gave a great feast, inviting to it those Egyptians whom she knew to have had the most complicity in her brother's murder; and while they feasted, she let the river in upon them by a vast secret channel
[Hdt. 2.100.4] This was all that the priests told of her, except that when she had done this she cast herself into a chamber full of hot ashes, to escape vengeance.

Nitocris is traditionally placed at the end of the Sixth Dynasty, with her rule being from 2184 – 2181 BC, however her historicity is strongly disputed as she isn't mentioned anywhere else.

Lastly, a much earlier candidate is Merneith (Meritnit, Meryet-Nit or Meryt-Neith), a 30^th century BC (possible) ruler of Egypt, for who very little is known.

Answer 2

Kubaba or Kug-bau is said to have been a Sumerian ruler circa 2500 BCE and possibly the oldest rags-to-riches story that we know of: she was an alewife/tavern-keeper before she became queen.

Kubaba (in the Weidner or Esagila Chronicle; Sumerian: Kug-Bau) is the only queen on the Sumerian King List, which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500-2330 BC) of Sumerian history. She is one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Iraqi history. Most versions of the king list place her alone in her own dynasty, the 3rd Dynasty of Kish, following the defeat of Sharrumiter of Mari, but other versions combine her with the 4th dynasty, that followed the primacy of the king of Akshak. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was a tavern-keeper.

_{^{(I ran across her in one of the stories in the anthology, After Hours: Tales from Ur-Bar.)}}

Answer 3

Kubaba is a queen (the only one) mentioned in the Sumerian King list as ruler of Kish. According to Wikipedia that puts her at roughly 2500-2330 BC. I doubt there are any earlier female Sumerian rulers, and Sumer is to a first approximation the oldest historical civilisation (in the sense that historical records of it are earlier than those of anywhere else).

Answer 4

Answers to the question:

What is the oldest recorded female name in history?

Name some earlier persons who seem to have probably or possibly been female rulers, and lived before the legendary Queen Nitocris.

Merneith (also written Merit-neith and Meryt-Neith) was a consort and a regent of Ancient Egypt during the First Dynasty. She may have been a ruler of Egypt in her own right, based on several official records. If this was the case and the earlier royal wife Neithhotep never ruled as an independent regent, Merneith may have been the first female pharaoh and the earliest queen regnant in recorded history. Her rule occurred around 2950 BC1 for an undetermined period.

Wikipedia:Merneith

And of course the chronology of early Egyptian history is uncertain by several hundred years so Merneith might have lived a century or two before or after 2950 BC.

Neithhotep or Neith-hotep was an ancient Egyptian queen consort living and ruling during the early First Dynasty. She was once thought to be a male ruler: her outstandingly large mastaba and the royal serekh surrounding her name on several seal impressions previously led Egyptologists and historians to the erroneous belief that she may have been an unknown king.2

As the understanding of early Egyptian writings developed, scholars learned that Neithhotep was in fact a woman of extraordinary rank. She was subsequently considered to be the wife of unified Egypt's first pharaoh, Narmer, and the mother of Hor-Aha.2 More recent discoveries suggest that Neithhotep might have instead been a spouse of Hor-Aha, and the mother and co-regent of successive ruler Djer. Archeological evidence also indicates that she may have ruled as pharaoh in her own right, and as such would have been the earliest known female monarch in history.3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neithhotep[3]

Narmer, the possible husband or father-in-law of Neithhotep, is believed to have united upper and lower Egypt and to have ruled sometime during the period of about 3273 to 2987 BC (for a lot shorter time than all of the 286 years of that period, of course).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmer[4]

Kubaba (in the Weidner or Esagila Chronicle),1 Sumerian: 𒆬𒀭𒁀𒌑, kug-Dba-u₂, is the only queen on the Sumerian King List, which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500–2330 BC) of Sumerian history. In the early Hittite period, she was worshipped as a goddess.

Kubaba is one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Mesopotamian history. Most versions of the king list place her alone in her own dynasty, the 3rd Dynasty of Kish, following the defeat of Sharrumiter of Mari, but other versions combine her with the 4th dynasty, that followed the primacy of the king of Akshak. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was an alewife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubaba[5]

So before Hapshepsut (c. 1507-1458 BC) there was Sobekneferu who ruled Egypt about 1806-1802 BC, the first female ruler whose reign is considered certain.

And before Sobekneferu there might have been the rather legendary Kubaba whose story seems rather fanciful, but who would have ruled centuries before Sobeknewferu.

And before Sobekneferu and the possibly legendary Kubaba there might have been the legendary Nitocris, possibly a daughter of Pepi II and Queen Neith, and possibly a sister and successor of King Merene, at the end of the 6th dynasty and of the Old Kingdom era. If real, Nitocris would have become queen regnant sometime about 2194 to 2152 BC.

And before Nitocris there was Merneith, a queen consort in the 4th dynasty sometime roughly about 2950 BC, who might have also become queen regnant. If Merneith was a queen regnant and Neithhotep was not, Merneith would have been the first queen regnant.

And before Merneith there was Neithhoptep, a queen consort near the beginning of the first dynasty, centuries before Merneith, who might have also become queen regnant.

Since Neithhop may have ruled before 3000 BC, at the very dawn of recorded history, she would probably be the first recorded queen regnant, if she was a queen regnant.