Summary The Hellenistic world, with its many new cultural trends and traditions, has often proved a challenging period for scholars. In the wake of changing political, religious, cultural, economic, and social conceptions and practices, gender roles and notions also underwent significant change, leading to the emergence of strong female figures. Up to now, however, no major encompassing research work on elite Hellenistic women has been published. This volume aims to fill this historiographical gap by gathering together contributions covering a wide range of geographical, chronological, and cultural backgrounds. While mostly focused on royal women, the chapters included here also seek to provide readers with an accurate and diverse description of the female experience in the Hellenistic period. The contributors to this book, both renowned scholars and new voices in the discipline, together advocate for a fresh approach that goes beyond the often problematic approaches of earlier historiography and provides a new understanding of elite women in the period. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Power of Names, Women, and the Aeacid Dynastic Image Elizabeth D. Carney 2. Oh, Heaven is a Place on Earth. Imperial Paradigm and Local (Female) Agency in Late Achaemenid and Early Hellenistic Bactria: A Model of Paradise Politics Marco Ferrario 3. The Wives of Lisymachus. A Study of Dynastic Relations Branko F. van Oppen de Ruitter 4. Polygamy and Queenship under Antiochus II. The King's Wife Laodice I and the basilissa Title (or the Lack Thereof) Altay Co?kun 5. Queenship in Pergamon. Public Agency and Dynastic Image María Dolores Mirón 6. The Dream of Queen M?y? in Gandh?ran Art Ashwini Lakshminarayanan Index of Names and Places