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In ancient wars, the fighting was predominantly fought by men in most cultures. However, there were many exceptions throughout ancient history. Celtic women in particular had various roles in the military, some of which involved fighting alongside their husbands.

• 3500 BC-1800 BC: The Rigveda is written at approximately this time. It mentions a warrior queen name Vishpla, who lost a leg in battle and had an iron prosthesis made, and returned to warfare.
• 1760 BC: Eurypyle, leader of an all-female expedition against Babylonia, captures the capital of the Amorites.
• 1560 BC-1530 BC: Approximate reign of Ahhotep I, female pharaoh and war leader.
• 1479 BC-1458 BC: Approximate reign of Hatshepsut, female pharaoh and war leader.
• 1300s BC: Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II, may have accompanied her husband into battle.
• 1300 BC: Hittite fortresses dating from 1300 BC depict women warriors with axes and swords.
• 1240 BC: Deborah, Judge of Israel, accompanies Barak on a military campaign in Qedesh, according to Judges 4:6‑10.
• 1240 BC: Jael assassinates Sisera, a retreating general who was the enemy of the Israelites, according to Judges 5:23-27.
• 12th century BC: Fu Hao, consort of Wu Ding, king of China, leads 13,000 men into battle.
• 1105 BC: According the legendary history of Britain, Queen Gwendolen fights her husband Locrinus in battle for the throne of Britain. She defeats him and becomes queen.
• 849 BC–844 BC: According the legendary history of Britain, Queen Cordelia (on whom the character in Shakespeare's King Lear is based), battles her nephews for control of her kingdom, personally fighting in battle.
• 811 BC-808 BC: Reign of Shammuramat of Assyria. She may have been the inspiration for the legendary warrior queen Semiramis.
• 738 BC-733 BC: Approximate reign of Queen Zabibe of the Midianites She commanded armies with several women in them. She is succeeded by Samsi. Her army contains several women.
• 733 BC-710 BC: Reign of Samsi, queen of the Midianites. She fights Tiglath-Pileser III. Her army contains several women as well.
• 7th century BC or 6th century BC: Cloelia, a Roman girl who was given as a hostage to the Etruscans, escapes her captors and leads several other girls to safety.
• 6th century BC: A story by Sun Tzu describes how Ho Lu, King of Wu, tested his skill by ordering him to train an army of 180 women.
• 6th century BC-4th century BC: Women are buried with both jewelry and weapons on the Kazakhstan-Russia border at roughly this time.
• 510 BC: Greek poet Telesilla defends the city of Argos by rallying women with war songs.
• 5th century BC: Hippocrates writes of Scythian Amazons fighting battles.
• 5th century BC: The Lady of Yue trains the soldiers of the army of King Goujian.
• 5th century BC: Queen Tomyris of the Massagetae fights and defeats Cyrus the Great.
• 5th century BC: A six-foot tall Anglo-Saxon woman is buried with a knife and a shield in Lincolnshire, England.
• 480 BC: Artemisia I of Caria, Queen of Halicarnassus, participates in the Battle of Salamis.
• 480 BC: Greek diver Hydna and her father sabotage enemy ships before a critical battle, thus causing the Greeks to win.
• 460 BC: Herodotus describes the Amazons, a legendary tribe of warrior women who may have had a basis in reality.
• 4th century BC: Cynane, a half-sister to Alexander the Great, accompanies her father on a military campaign and personally kills an Illyrian leader named Caeria in hand-to-hand combat.
• 4th century BC: Pythagorean philosopher Timycha is captured by Sicilian soldiers during a fight. She and her husband are the only survivors. When questioned by the Sicilian tyrant, she bit off her tongue and spat it at his feet in a gesture of defiance.
• 4th century BC: Chinese writer Shang Yang writes The Book of Lord Shang. In it, he recommends dividing the members of an army into three categories; strong men, strong women, and the weak and old of both genders. He recommended that the strong men serve as the first line of defence, that the strong women defend the forts and build traps, and the weak and elderly control the supply chain.
• 334 BC: Ada of Caria allies with Alexander the Great and personally handles a siege to reclaim her throne.
• 333 BC: Battle of Issus. Persian princess Drypteis is probably captured along with the rest of the royal family by Alexander the Great. Stateira is captured as well.
• 332 BC: Nubian queen Candace of Meroe intimidates Alexander the Great with her armies, causing him to withdraw from Nubia, instead heading to Egypt.
• 330 BC: Alexander the Great burns down Persepolis, reportedly at the urging of Thaïs, a hetaera who accompanied him on campaigns.
• 326 BC: Roxana, wife of Alexander the Great accompanies him on his campaign in India.
• 326 BC: Indian Queen Cleophis fights Alexander the Great.
• 3rd Century BC: Berenice I of Egypt fights in battle alongside Ptolemy I.
• 321 BC: Ptolemy fights the Cyrenians. Cyrenian women make palisades, dig trenches, provide the men with projectiles, take care of the wounded, and prepare provisions.
• 319 BC: Eurydice III of Macedon fights Polyperchon.
• 317 BC: Olympias battles Eurydice III of Macedon.
• 316 BC: Queen Stratonice tricks Docimus into leaving his stronghold, causing him to be captured by her forces.
• 3rd Century BC: Sarmatian queen Amage battles a Scythian prince who would not stop his incursions into her protectorates. She personally kills him, but allows his son to live on the condition that he obey her edicts.
• 3rd Century BC: Spartan princess Arachidamia acts as captian of a group of female soldiers who fought Pyrrhus during his siege of Lacedaemon.
• 3rd Century BC: Earliest graves of women warriors found near the Sea of Azov are buried at this time.
• 3rd Century BC: Queen Berenice II participates in battle and kills several of her enemies.
• 3rd Century BC: Laodice I raises troops for the Laodicean War.
• 3rd Century BC: Huang Guigu acts as a military official under Qin Shi Huang. She leads military campaigns against the people of northern China.
• 3rd Century BC: Legendary Empress Jingu of Japan may have led an invasion against Korea in the 3rd century BC. However, the story is regarded as fictional by most scholars.
• 300 BC: The Wetwang Chariot Burial, the grave of a woman containing a chariot suitable for warfare, was buried in Yorkshire at 300 BC and discovered in March 2001.
• 280 BC: Spartan princess Chelidonis acts as captian of a group of female warriors during a siege of Sparta.
• 271 BC: A group of Gothic women who were captured by Romans while fighting dressed as men are paraded through Rome wearing signs that say "Amazons".
• 231 BC: Queen Teuta of Illyria begins piracy against Rome. She eventually fights against Rome when they try to stop the piracy.
• 217 BC: Arsinoe III of Egypt rides at the head of infantry and cavalry to fight Antiochus the Great at the Battle of Raphia.
• 203 BC: Sophonisba, a Carthaginian, commits suicide rather than be handed over to the Romans as a prisoner of war.
• 186 BC: Gaul princess Chiomaca fights the Romans and Galatians. She refuses to leave the battlefield even when the call for retreat is sounded.
• 170 BC-150 BC: Reign of Kushite queen Shanakdakheto. Bas-reliefs of her show her wearing armor and wielding a spear.
• 2nd century BC: Hypsicratea, concubine of Mithridates VI of Pontus, fights in battles beside him.
• 2nd century BC: Queen Rhodogune of Parthia is informed of a rebellion while preparing for her bath. She vowed not to brush her hair until the rebellion was ended, and directed a long war and won it without breaking her vow. .
• 131 BC: Cleopatra II of Egypt leads a rebellion against Physcon, successfully driving both him and Cleopatra III out of Egypt.
• 102 BC: A battle between Romans and Celts takes place. Plutarch describes it: "the fight had been no less fierce with the women than with the men themselves... the women charged with swords and axes and fell upon their opponents uttering a hideous outcry."
• 100 BC: Cimbrian women are reported to ride in "wagon castles", from which they would shoot arrows at their enemies. They would sometimes come out of the wagon castle to fight with swords.
• 48 BC: Arsinoe IV of Egypt fights Cleopatra VII.
• 41 BC: Fulvia, wife of Mark Antony, organized an uprising against Augustus.
• 31 BC: Cleopatra VII of Egypt combines her naval forces with that of Mark Antony to fight Octavian. She is defeated.
• 24 BC-21 BC: Nubian queen Amanishabheto battles the Roman Army.
• 1st century: A woman is entombed with a sword in Tabiz, Iran. The tomb is rediscovered in 2004.
• 1st century: Agrippina the elder accompanies Germanicus to war, earning her a reputation as a model of heroic womanhood.
• 1st century Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, allies with the Roman Empire and battles other Britons.
• 1st century: Agrippina the Younger, wife of Emperor Claudius, commands Roman legions in Britain. The defeated Celtic king Caractacus bowed before her throne as well as that of Claudius.
• 1st century: Chinese woman Lu Mu leads a rebellion against Wang Mang.
• 1st century: Triaria, wife of Lucius Vitellius the younger, is involved in military campaigns.
• 9: Thusnelda elopes with Arminius, who had been fighting her against the forces of her father.
• 18-27: The Red Eyebrow Rebellion leads to the collapse of the Chin dynasty and the beginning of the Han dynasty. The rebellion is led by a woman.
• 21: Debate erupts as to whether or not Roman governors' wives should be with their husbands in the providences. Caecina Serverus said that they should not because they "paraded among the soldiers" and that "a woman had presided at the exercises of the cohorts and the manoeuvres of the legions".
• 43: The Trung Sisters and Phung Thi Chinh fight against the Chinese in Vietnam.
• 61: Boudica, a Celtic chieftain in Britain, leads an uprising against the occupying Roman forces.
• 69-70: Seeress Veleda of the Bructeri tribe wields a great deal of influence in the Batavian rebellion.
• 2nd century: The British Museum has a relief carving of two women fighting dating from the second century. Each has a short sword and a shield.
• 193: Julia Domna accompanies her husband, Emperor Septimius Severus, in his campaigns in the East.
• 3rd century: Trieu Thi Trinh fights the Chinese in Vietnam.
• 3rd century: Julia Avita Mamaea accompanies her son, Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, on military campaigns.
• 269: Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, leads a revolt in the East against the Roman Empire.
• 271: A group of Gothic women are captured by Romans while armed and dressed as men.
• 4th century: Li Xiu takes her father's place as military commander for the Emperor of China and defeats a rebellion.
• 375: Queen Mavia battles the Romans.
• 378: Roman Empress Albia Domnica organizes her people in defense against the invading Goths after her husband had died in battle.
• 450: A Moche woman is buried with two ceremonial war clubs and 28 spear throwers. The grave is rediscovered in 2006, and is the first known grave of a Moche woman to contain weapons.
• 226 - 651: Period of the Sassanid Empire in Persia. The legendary warrior woman Gordafarid may have lived at this time.

1. ^ Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (1991). The Encyclopedia of Amazons. Paragon House. p. 192. Cite error: The named reference "Amazons" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

• Women in ancient warfare