Nitocris
Flourished circa 550 B.C.E., Babylon (modern-day Iraq)
Nitocris, queen of Babylon in the sixth century B.C.E., was the daughter of the famed King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, whose son (after Nebuchadnezzar’s death) was overthrown by Nergal-sharezer, Nitocris’ husband. After Nergal-sharezer’s death, she married Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, helping him to oust her unpopular young son and take the throne. Throughout each reign, she seems to have been influential, counseling her father and continuing some of his building projects after his death. With Nabonidus, she had a daughter, Bel-Shalti-Nanna.