Born: Unknown, Iraq (assumed)
Died: Unknown
Country most active: Iraq
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Baranamtarra was a very prominent figure in her period of time.
While she was the wife of a Priest-King of Lagash in ancient Mesopotamia, yet it was not to the position of her husband, apparently, that she owed her importance. She possessed in her own right great estates. Her business affairs were regarded as official and were discharged by ministers of state at her command. It would almost seem as though Baranamtarea was the queen-regent or that her husband was only a prince-consort. Many state documents were dated in the queen’s name rather than that of the so-called king. The records of her contributions to the religious cults show her as one of the earliest great philanthropists.
Perhaps we should remember Baranamtarra as the first successful business woman to leave her impress on the world. She was known to the people of her day as “The Woman,” which simple but effective title of course set her apart from the rest of the world. She was also called “The Exalted or Magnified One,” and her palace was known as the “House of The Woman.”
With her vast wealth and great business ability she exercised a power which perhaps few women in the Ancient World knew.