May I suggest Zenobia? She was Queen of Palmyra and a considerable force to be reckoned with. "Zenobia" is latinized from her Aramaic name of Bat Zabbai. She was described as beautiful and powerful. A Roman chronicler said: "Her face was dark and of a swarthy hue. Her eyes were black and powerful, her spirit divinely great, and her beauty incredible. So white were her tetth that many thought she had pearls in place of them. Her voice was clear and like that of a man. Her sternness, when necessity demanded, was that of a tyrant; her clemency, when her sense of right called for it, that of a good emperor." She invaded Egypt and took it from the Romans... and then tried to set up a rival empire in the East. Aurelian managed to defeat her... barely. She had a reputation for fighting and drinking and hunting like a man, which in combination with feminine beauty, is quite a recipe for power. Carolly