Looking back at the lives and legacies of the remarkable women rulers I have highlighted in the preceding pages, it seems to me that my fascination with them and my desire to tell their stories, connecting the historical dots between medieval and modern times, may have had deeper roots in my own thoughts and memory, a sensibility cultivated in the soil of my childhood and upbringing.

I grew up in a highly educated and intellectual family, surrounded by capable, socially active, and professionally accomplished women. My paternal grandmother, wife of an ayatollah and mother of six sons and four daughters, was foremost among them. She was the undisputed queen of her huge household and enjoyed the unwavering affection of my grandfather.