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What is the Amazons?

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Amazons




In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Αμαζόνες) were either an ancient legendary nation of female warriors or a land dominated by women at the outer edges of their known world. The legends appear to have a nugget of factual basis in warrior women among the Scythians, but classical Greeks never ceased to be astounded at such role-reversals. Women in classical Greek society were expected to be passive and dependent on males. In early modern usage, the word is often used to refer to strong and independent women.

The unidentified London cartographer, ca 1770, has placed Amazones in the north of Sarmatia Asiatica, based on Greek literary sources.
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The unidentified London cartographer, ca 1770, has placed Amazones in the north of Sarmatia Asiatica, based on Greek literary sources.

Etymology

The name Αμαζών is probably derived from an Iranian ethnonym, *ha-mazan-, originally meaning "warriors". A connected word is probably the Hesychius gloss Αμαζακάραν · πολεμεον ("to make war", containing the Indo-Iranian root kar- "make" also in kar-ma).

The Greek variant of the name was connected by popular etymology to privative a + mazos, "without breast", connected with an aetiological tradition that Amazons had their right breast cut off or burnt out, in order that they might be able to use the bow more freely (contemporary Greeks drew the bowstring to the sternum); there is no indication of this practice in works of art, in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although the right is frequently covered. Other suggested derivations were: a- (intensive) + mazos, breast, "full-breasted"; a (privative) and masso, touch, "not touching" (men); maza, a Circassian word said to signify "moon", has suggested their connection with the worship of a moon-goddess, perhaps the Asiatic representative of Artemis.

Amazons of Greek mythology

Amazons were said to have lived in Pontus, which is part of modern day Turkey near the shore of the Euxine Sea, where they formed an independent kingdom under the government of a queen, often named Hippolyta ("she lets her horses loose"). They were supposed to have founded many towns, amongst them Smyrna, Ephesus, Sinope, Paphos. According to another account, they originally came to the Thermodon from the Palus Maeotis ("Lake Maeotis", the Sea of Azov).

In some versions, no men were permitted to reside in Amazon country; but once a year, in order to prevent their race from dying out, they visited the Gargareans, a neighbouring tribe. The male children who were the result of these visits were either put to death or sent back to their fathers; the females were kept and brought up by their mothers, and trained in agricultural pursuits, hunting, and the art of war (Strabo xi. p. 503).

In the Iliad, the Amazons were referred to as Antianeira ("those who fight like men"). Herodotus called them Androktones ("killers of men").

The Amazons appear in connection with several Greek legends. They invaded Lycia, but were defeated by Bellerophon, who was sent out against them by Iobates, the king of that country, in the hope that he might meet his death at their hands (Iliad, vi. 186). According to Diodorus, Queen Myrine led them to victory against the Atlanteans, Libya and much of Gorgon.

They attacked the Phrygians, who were assisted by Priam, then a young man (Iliad, iii. 189). Although in his later years, towards the end of the Trojan War, his old opponents took his side again against the Greeks under their queen Penthesilea, who was slain by Achilles (Quint. Smyr. i.; Justin ii. 4; Virgil, Aen. i. 490).

One of the tasks imposed upon Heracles by Eurystheus was to obtain possession of the girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyte (Apollodorus ii. 5). He was accompanied by his friend Theseus, who carried off the princess Antiope, sister of Hippolyte, an incident which led to a retaliatory invasion of Attica, in which Antiope perished fighting by the side of Theseus. In some versions, however, Theseus marries Hippolyta and in others, he marries Antiope and she does not die. The battle between the Athenians and Amazonians is often commemorated in an entire genre of art, amazonomachy, marble carvings such as from the Parthenon.

The Amazons are also said to have undertaken an expedition against the island of Leuke, at the mouth of the Danube, where the ashes of Achilles had been deposited by Thetis. The ghost of the dead hero appeared and so terrified the horses, that they threw and trampled upon the invaders, who were forced to retire. Pompey is said to have found them in the army of Mithradates.

They are heard of in the time of Alexander the Great, when some of the great king's biographers make mention of Amazon Queen Thalestris visiting him and becoming a mother by him. However, several other biographers of Alexander totally dispute the claim, including the highly regarded secondary source, Plutarch. In his writing he makes mention of when Alexander's secondary naval commander, Onesicritus, was reading the Amazon passage of his Alexander history to King Lysimachus of Thrace who was on the original expedition, the king smiled at him and said "And where was I, then?"

The Roman writer Virgil's characterization of the Volscian warrior maiden Camilla in the Aeneid borrows heavily from the myth of the Amazons.

Scythian origins

In a recent excavation of Sarmatian sites by Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball, a tomb was found wherein female warriors were buried, thus lending some credence to the myths about the Amazons. Following the excavation in 2003 by Dr. Davis-Kimball, she and Dr. Joachim Burger compared the genetic evidence from the site with the nomadic Kazakhs, and have found a striking genetic link – verified later by the University of Cambridge [link]

Before modern archaeology uncovered some of the Scythian burials of warrior-maidens entombed under kurgans in the region of Altay Mountains, giving concrete form at last to the Greek tales of mounted Amazons, the origin of the story of the Amazons has been the subject of speculation among classics scholars. In the 1911 Encyclop?dia Britannica speculation ranged along the following lines.

While some regard the Amazons as a purely mythical people, others assume an historical foundation for them. The deities worshipped by them were Ares (who is consistently assigned to them as a god of war, and as a god of Thracian and generally northern origin) and Artemis, not the usual Greek goddess of that name, but an Asiatic deity in some respects her equivalent. It is conjectured that the Amazons were originally the temple-servants and priestesses (hierodulae) of this goddess; and that the removal of the breast corresponded with the self-mutilation of the god Attis and the galli, Roman priests of Cybele. Another theory is that, as the knowledge of geography extended, travellers brought back reports of tribes ruled entirely by women, who carried out the duties which elsewhere were regarded as peculiar to man, in whom alone the rights of nobility and inheritance were vested, and who had the supreme control of affairs. Hence arose the belief in the Amazons as a nation of female warriors, organized and governed entirely by women. According to J. Vurtheim (De Ajacis origine, 1907), the Amazons were of Greek origin: "all the Amazons were Dianas, as Diana herself was an Amazon". It has been suggested that the fact of the conquest of the Amazons being assigned to the two famous heroes of Greek mythology, Heracles and Theseus – who in the tasks assigned to them were generally opposed to monsters and beings impossible in themselves, but possible as illustrations of permanent danger and damage – shows that they were mythical illustrations of the dangers which beset the Greeks on the coasts of Asia Minor; rather perhaps, it may be intended to represent the conflict between the Greek culture of the colonies on the Black Sea and the barbarism of the native inhabitants.

Herodotus reported that the Sarmatians/Sauromatians were descendants of Amazons and Scythians. Their Scythian/Saka/Cimmerian/Gomerian origins are further proved by their origins from Thermodon's Scythians who invaded there coming from around the Sea of Azov and their use of the bow and arrow as their primary weapon as well as fighting on horseback.

Medieval and Renaissance authors credit the Amazons with the invention of the battle-axe. This is probably related to the Sagaris, an axe-like weapon associated with both Amazons and Scythian tribes by Greek authors (see also Aleksandrovo kurgan). Paulus Hector Mair expresses astonishment that such a "manly weapon" should have been invented by a "tribe of women", but he accepts the attribution out of respect for his authority, Johannes Aventinus.

Minoan origins

When Minoan archaeology was still in its infancy, a theory raised in an essay contributed by L.R. Farnell and J.L. Myres ("Herodotus and anthropology") to Robert R. Marett, Anthropology and the Classics 1908, (pp. 138ff), in regards to the Amazons placed their possible origins in Minoan civilization, drawing attention to overlooked similarities between the two cultures. According to Myres, (pp. 153 ff), the tradition interpreted in the light of evidence furnished by supposed Amazon cults seems to been very similar and may have even originated in Minoan culture.

Minoan women

These women are shown enjoying a freedom and dignity unknown elsewhere in the ancient Near East or classical Greece. The women of Minoan civilization, like the Amazons and the women of Sparta, stood in antithesis to Athenian women, who led secluded lives. Images of women occur more frequently than men in the Minoan archaeological record, both on Crete and in the more recent excavations on the island of Thera (Santorini).[link][link][link] Minoan men were mostly maritimers, spending a great deal of time away from home, at sea. Archeological finds point that this may have encouraged their women to become independent and self-reliant, taking care of the political, military and religious aspects of their civilization. Women are often seen on frescos being saluted by people, and whereas there are many depictions which exist of men showing deference to women, not one shows women deferring to men. Minoan women trained in everything which Minoan males were trained in. They served as priestesses, as functionaries and administrators, and participated in all the physical activities and sports that Cretan males participated in. These were not backyard sports either, the most popular sports in Crete were incredibly violent, very physical and dangerous such as wrestling, boxing and bull-jumping. One of the most revealing images of the status of women in Minoan society is the famous "Toreador fresco" in which young women, shown with the conventional white skin, and darker-skinned men, engage in the dangerous sport that appears to involve somersaulting over the back of a charging bull.[link] In the Minoan culture young girls were initiated and trained in same activities as boys.[link] Women also seem to have participated in every occupation and trade available to men. They were skilled craftswomen and entrepreneurs, the large top-heavy bureaucracy and priesthood seems to have been equally staffed with women. In fact, the priesthood was dominated by women.[link] Female figures in Minoan art seem to depict them over their male counterparts, painted twice the size of the Minoan males. Males appear small in scale, compared to the dominant female. Minoan period also seems to suggest that the men hardly ever engaged in wars. It was their female deities and women depicted on frescos and figures with swords and battle-axes. Not until the late Minoan period did a male deity appear. At first he was an agricultural god and later, he began to carry weapons, suggested that a male-dominated religion had already been enforced.

Minoan religion

The world of ancient Greece at one point was based on a goddess religion. They belong to a matrilineal tradition that ancient sources tell us was found through out early Mycenaean and Minoan cultures. The Amazon Serpent-Goddess-Trinity-Athene, a deity, was also present in Minoan culture, her warrior-like character being one of their most powerful Goddesses. Their Goddess was in all probability a prototype of such later Greek goddesses as Athena, Demeter, Artemis and Aphrodite.

In Greek art and stories there have been instances where it shows the Amazons carrying a particular double-axe, known as Labrys, such as the story of when Heracles slew the Amazon Aella ("Whirlwind") who was known for wielding a double-axe. According to archeological finds this double-axe was used specifically by Minoan priestesses for ceremonial uses given rise to the theory of a connection between the Amazons and Minoan Warrior priestesses. To find such an axe in the hands of an Minoan woman would strongly suggest, like the Amazons, they held powerful positions within the Minoan culture. In the Near East, axes of this sort are often wielded by male divinities and appear to be symbols of the thunderbolt, but in Crete, unlike the Near East, this axe is never held by a male divinity, only by females[link]. A prime piece of evidence in support of the view that women dominated Minoan culture is the "Snake Goddess." It is theorized that Minoan religion centred on a dominant goddess of fertility whose young male consort's annual death and rebirth symbolised the decay and regrowth of vegetation. This theory is given additional creditability with the discovery in 1971 of evidence for human sacrifices at the Protopalatial Sanctuary at Anemospilia (Archanes). An 18-year-old male, the skeleton so tightly contracted that he is considered to have been trussed in a fashion comparable to that of the sacrificial bull on the Ayia Triadha sarcophagus, was found lying on his right side on a platform in the center of the room. Among his bones was a bronze dagger 0.40 m. long, on each side of which was incised the frontal head of a boar. Close beside the platform (or sacrificial altar) had stood a pillar with a trough around its base, the trough probably designed to catch the blood from animal (and human) sacrifices. The dead youth's bones were discolored in such a way (those on his upper/left side being white, those on his lower/right side being black) as to suggest to a visiting physical anthropologist that the youth, estimated to have been 5' 5" tall, had died from loss of blood. The skeleton remains of a young woman of 28 years of age was also found near by, who it is theorized was killed due to an earthquake while carrying the human sacrifice. Along with this discovery there also a find of 12 young skelton remains of children who seem to have been brutaly killed.[link] This suggest that the Minoans indulged in this "barbaric" form of blood sacrifices. Although the sex of the children could not be determined, such activities could have been the origins of late classical Greek story telling of the Amazons killing off all males within their society and the story of the women of Lemnos found in Jason and the Argonauts who murdered their fathers and husbands.[link][link]

Minoan symbolic labrys of gold, 2nd millennium BC: many have been found in the Arkalochori cave. Of all the Minoan religious symbols, the axe was the holiest
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Minoan symbolic labrys of gold, 2nd millennium BC: many have been found in the Arkalochori cave. Of all the Minoan religious symbols, the axe was the holiest

Minoan Warrior Priestesses

As with the tales of the Amazons ruling over their societies with no male counterparts, frescos from Knossos show that Minoan civilization more then likely was ruled by Queen Goddesses. According to Jacquetta Hawkes (1968, p. 76.), the absence of manifestations of the all-powerful male ruler that were so widespread at this time and in this stage of cultural development as to be almost universal suggest Minoan thrones may have been queens. This is given credibility with archeological finds which suggest that unlike royal courts elsewhere, such as in Egypt and the Orient, where one would expect at the very least there to have been two thrones for a King and a Queen, instead in the sacred room at Knossos, and apparently also in the state apartment in the residential quarter, the throne stood single and alone for the Goddess Queen. According to Minoan culture, Minoan priestesses often accompanied their male counterparts into battle. These priestesses dramatized the Minoan goddesses' presence on the battlefield. In their warlike character the Minoan women, like that of the Amazons, are reflexes of the Woman Goddess whom they worshipped. Like the Warrior Goddess who carries an axe into battle, they too are depicted carrying the battle-axe and in this they are shown to be closely related to the religion of historic Cretan civilization, of which the weapon is the conspicuous symbol. Their other weapon, the bow, also seems to have origins in Cretan culture and attributed to the God Apollo whom the Cretans seem to have revered. Prior to the dominance of patriarchal society in ancient Greece itself, even in Laconia, women enjoyed unusual freedom, and there were stories of their having borne arms for their country. There were similar tales at Argos and in Arcadia, and at the Olympian Heraeum were a footrace of maidens was conducted in honour of Hippodamia. Recent excavations on Crete show that female initiation rites were a common occurrence in their societies, to mark periods in the transition from one life-stage to another, such as the transition from childhood to adulthood.[link][link]

Minoan Queen's megaron in the Eastern wing of the Knossos Palace. (restoration drawing)
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Minoan Queen's megaron in the Eastern wing of the Knossos Palace. (restoration drawing)

Minoan dress

Crete was a theocracy so the Queen was dressed as a goddess or priestess. This meant Hair in ringlets perhaps with a crown on the head, vestlike blouse which exposed the breasts, profuse necklaces, rings, and bracelets, A girdle which resembled an apron or a sash, and a fancy flounced skirt. When seen in profile, the full, rounded breasts, coloured white and with dark-coloured erect nipples, protrude significantly. The wide belt or girdle must also serve to pull in the rib cage, forcing the chest out and adding to the projection of the breasts. Although they might be partially supported by the pulled-back sides of the tight bodice, their firmness and lack of any indication of sagging would suggest that the woman not only is young but also has not yet had any children.[link] Some have theorized that this might have been the origins of the sexual powers which the Amazons seem to have wielded over men. Much has been said about the Amazons "cutting off" their right breast. It is more then likely that the Amazons did need to cover their right breast in battle, since it would have been extremely painful for a bowstring to have caught any part of the breast when the bow was fired. Even though it was not customary for the women of ancient Greece to cover either breast at this time, younger women were able get away with covering the right breast. This might have been origins of classical Greek and Roman literature accounts of "one breasted" females as Justin (third century A.D.) 2.4 has written, "They burned their right breasts in infancy,". While older women would have needed both breasts confined during hard manual labor of any kind. According to historical sources, women of that time period had been known to have used a triangular bandage. These methods would have been entirely adequate for the tasks at hand. Women of that period on a hot day would wear minimum clothing like a two-piece outfit consisting of a triangular bandage and a girdle. As the weather got colder they would have added a pull-over vest and leggings. Amazons in Greek art do appear in what look like embroidered leggings similar to which Minoans were known to wear. We also know that in mythologicial writings it says that Hercules was sent for the girdle of the Queen of the Amazons. Both the Minoan men and women wore girdles, over a loincloth, given some credit to the likelihood that this is from where the Amazon girdle was adopted from. During religious ceremonies the Amazons are shown wearing some fancy flounced skirts that were similar to what the Minoan ladies wore. There are also images of Amazon head pieces that look much like the head-wear which Minoan women are shown wearing. For the first time, archeologists encounter a race of hat-conscious women with entirely different styles portrayed on the terracottas.

Minoan vs Mycenaeans

Current findings has some who theorize that the legend of the Amazons might have been formed by these Minoan women of Crete, at the time of Ariadne, a fertility goddess, who did not want to submit to male dominated Gods of which the like Theseus, King of Athens, was trying to establish. The Amazons of Greek mythology might have been created by early Archaic civilization to reflect the conflicts that existed between Minoans and Mycenaeans. This also calls into question the popular stereotypes of the so-called "peace-loving" Minoans and "warlike" Mycenaeans. Recent research has determined that the Minoans did, in fact, build walls which some theorize were for defensive purporses, and evidence for them has been found at Malia, Gournia, and at Petras. It is also more then likely that the Minoans were enemies of the mainland Mycenaeans, just as the Amazons were said to have been, and just as the Amazons of Greek mythology were the objects of armed conflicts with mainland Archaic, so were the Minoans. The theory this raises is that by turning Minoan priestesses into the Amazons of Greek mythology, the Archaics were fighting something, the powerful positions held by Minoan women, which they believed was a threat to their male dominated societies. This theory can further be given credit since the mainland Mycenaeans, who started to believe in a patriarchy system, would have strongly expressed their revulsion for Minoan women holding such authority within a culture which was predominately matrilineal and Goddess worship; and by the way Amazons were depicated in classical literature. There are written records in where this has been proven where the Mycenaeans write unflatering stories about the warrior priestesses on battle grounds to where they try to intimidate the Minoans by humiliating their goddesses, such as the story of Pasiphae. A theory which has arose from all this is the possibility that the Amazons were groups of rebel women in the ancient Greek world who revolted against the overthrow of their female dominated Goddesses. Since it has already been established that female dominated Goddesses as well as matrilineal societies were part of the early ancient Greek world that were suddenly replaced by patriarchical societies with male dominated gods, this theory might not be so far-fetched. Especially when taken into consideration that the axe represented a powerful symbol to Minoan priestesses and the Amazons are often depicted riding into battle with the ax elevated, more than likely as a physical weapon, but maybe another reason for this was its mystical sign against the unbeliever trying to overthrow their religion. The Mycenaeans may have displaced what was for the women of that time a golden age, since the age of The Goddess is described in this way in historical records. These women might have decided to fight for the worship of The Goddess simply because it was so favorable to women, a revolt by women against the male god patriarchy that was being imposed upon them by men, and in later times these stories of female warriors were transformed into the Amazons of Greek mythology. Given as to how ultimately the Mycenaeans defeated the Minoans, we have only the Mycenaean stories, and later on of classical Greek and Roman scholars to record such events. During Homer's time about a third of Crete's was populated with Minoans, many of whom had migrated into Asia Minor who some believe founded cities and colonies throughout the Mediterranean, on the Black Sea region and Pontus, traditionally the homelands which classical Greeks and later scholars associate with the Amazons. One interesting factor in this which might suggest that ancient historians believed the theory of a connection between the Amazons and a Minoan migration into Asia Minor and possible blending with local populations is Herodotus describtion of the Lycians: "The Lycians came originally from Crete,...in their manners they resemble in some ways the Cretans, in others the Carians..."~Herodotus Lycians 1.173

Amazons cults and tombs in Ancient Greece

According to ancient sources, (Plutarch Theseus[link], Pausanias[link]), Amazon tombs could be found frequent throughout what was once known as the ancient Greek world. Some are found in Megara, Athens, Chaeronea, Chalcis, Thessaly at Scotussa, in Cynoscephalae and statues of Amazons are all over Greece. At both Chalsis and Athens Plutarch tells us that there was an Amazoneum or shrine of Amazons that implied the presence of both tombs and cult. On the day before the Thesea at Athens there were annual sacrifices to the Amazons. In historical times Greek maidens of Ephesus performed an annual circular dance with weapons and shields that had been established by Hippolyte and her Amazons. They had initially set up wooden statues of Artemis, a bretas, (Pausanias, (fl.c.160): Description of Greece, Book I: Attica[link]). With the fall of the Minoan civilization, other then the mythological Amazons, there has yet to be discovered a culture which historically was known to exist, their social infrastructure so well organized and somewhat familiar to scholars which was dominated by women the way Minoan culture was.

two female fighters with their names Amazonia and Achillea
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two female fighters with their names Amazonia and Achillea

Amazons in Greek & Roman art

In works of art, battles between Amazons and Greeks are placed on the same level as and often associated with battles of Greeks and centaurs. The belief in their existence, however, having been once accepted and introduced into the national poetry and art, it became necessary to surround them as far as possible with the appearance of not unnatural beings. Their occupation was hunting and war; their arms the bow, spear, axe, a half shield, nearly in the shape of a crescent, called pelta, and in early art a helmet, the model before the Greek mind having apparently been the goddess Athena. In later art they approach the model of Artemis, wearing a thin dress, girt high for speed; while on the later painted vases their dress is often peculiarly Persian – that is, close-fitting trousers and a high cap called the kidaris. They were usually on horseback but sometimes on foot. They can also be identified in vase paintings by the fact that they are wearing one earring. The battle between Theseus and the Amazons is a favourite subject on the friezes of temples (e.g. the reliefs from the frieze of the temple of Apollo at Bassae, now in the British Museum), vases and sarcophagus reliefs; at Athens it was represented on the shield of the statue of Athena Parthenos, on wall-paintings in the Theseum and in the Stoa Poikile. Many of the sculptors of antiquity, including Pheidias, Polyclitus, Cresilas and Phradmon, executed statues of Amazons; and there are many existing reproductions of these.

Amazon-like figures in history and folklore

Blenda leads the women in the defense of their villages, by Hugo Hamilton (1830)
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Blenda leads the women in the defense of their villages, by Hugo Hamilton (1830)

Armed women have often acted as royal bodyguards throughout history. Chandragupta Maurya (322298 BC), the first emperor to develop a centralized state in India, had a personal guard composed of giant Greek women. Female royal guards re-appear 2000 years later in the history of India as guards for the Nizams of Deccan and Hyderabad. And on the island of Sri Lanka, the Kandy royal family had a royal guard of female archers. In Europe, Celtic and Germanic tribes often had women fighting with their husbands. Tacitus tells us that Boadicea had more women than men in her army.

There is also a woman in the Old Testament, Deborah, who may be one of the first recorded instances of a woman participating in battle. She was a prophetess, a warrior, a leader, and a Judge of Israel, all in one. She correctly predicted that the enemy general, Sisera, who faced Israel at this time would be slain by a woman (the woman who killed him and also received credit for the army's victory was named Jael.) This story is chronicled in Judges.

Among the Mongols and the ancient Turks were many heroic women. One such was the mother of Jenghiz Khan. In Jenghiz Khan's army women could fight along men if they wished and some did so, as reported by Muslim writers during the invasion of Western Iran by Chormagan a Mongol general.

In Scandinavia, women who did not yet have the responsibility for raising a family could take up arms and live like warriors. They were called shieldmaidens and many of them figure in Norse mythology. One of the most famous shieldmaidens was Hervor and she figures in the cycle of the magic sword Tyrfing. The Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus relates that when the Swedish king Sigurd Ring and the Danish king Harald Wartooth met at the Battle of Bravalla, 300 shieldmaidens fought on the Danish side led by Visna. Saxo relates that the shieldmaidens fought with small shields and long swords.

The shieldmaiden Hervor dying after a battle with the Huns in Hervarar saga
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The shieldmaiden Hervor dying after a battle with the Huns in Hervarar saga

Similarly, the Valkyries of Norse mythology are minor female deities, who serve Odin. The name means choosers of the slain. The valkyries' purpose was to choose the most heroic of those who had died in battle and to carry them off to Valhalla where they became einherjar. This was necessary because Odin needed warriors to fight at his side at the preordained battle at the end of the world, Ragnarok.

A legend which may be based on the Greek Amazons appears in the history of Bohemia. As the story goes, a large band of women, led by a certain Vlasta and her henchwoman Sarka, carried on war against the duke of Bohemia, and enslaved or put to death all men who fell into their hands; eventually, they were mercilessly defeated by the duke. In the 16th century the Spanish explorer Orellana asserted that he had come into conflict with fighting women in South America on the Maranon River, which was named after them the Amazon or river of the Amazons, although others derive its name from the Indian amassona (boat-destroyer), applied to the tidal phenomenon known as the "bore".

The armored warrior maiden (whose gender is often unsuspected) is a frequent character in the European chivalric epic. The most famous of these female knights is Bradamante -- daughter of Aymon, sister to the knight Renaud de Montauban (Rinaldo, Ranaldo) and legendary ancestor to the house of Este -- who is destined to marry the knight Ruggiero (or Rugiero). Her adventures are a major element in the Italian Renaissance epics Orlando Innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo and its continuation Orlando furioso by Ariosto. A similar character is the pagan warrior knight Clorinda who battles against the Christian crusaders in Torquato Tasso's epic Jerusalem Delivered. The vogue of such female knights in literature would continue though the seventeenth century and inspired not only dramatic recreations but also actual military feats (such as the duchess of Montpensier's participation in the Fronde). The best known historical Medieval Amazon chatacters are Sichelgaita of Salerno, Jeanne d'Arc, queen Margaret I of Denmark and Jeanne Hachette. Medieval noblewomen often had a rudimentary military training, as it was the task of the lady of the castle to lead the defence of the castle if the lord was away.

Dahomey Amazons holding muskets. The horns are indicators of rank
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Dahomey Amazons holding muskets. The horns are indicators of rank

The Dahomey Amazons were a 6000 strong military unit of Dahomey (now Benin) in West Africa who were active from the 16th to the late 19th century. They were largely successful in their battles with neighboring kingdoms, and were finally defeated by the French.

Libya has a long history of Amazon women, which probably pre-dates the Greek Amazons. Even today, Gadaffi is guarded by female soldiers. Other African ethnic groups who used fighting women were the Igbo and Fulani, who integrated the women into their armies.

In the kingdom of Siam in the 19th century, the king had a personal battalion of 400 spear-wielding women. They were chosen from the most beautiful women of the country, and were said to be excellent spear-throwers, though they were regarded as too valuable to be sent to war. Almost all countries have female combatants in their history one time or the other; it is simply the matter of more or less. Around 400 women secretly took part as soldiers in the American Civil War. For notable cases of women became soldiers, reference may be made to Mary Anne Talbot and Hannah Snell.

In the Finnish Civil War 1918, the Reds had woman guard units (naiskaarti). They often fought more furiously than their male counterparts and seldom surrendered, as they knew what to expect if captured. Their furiosity made a lasting impression on the winning Whites, and it is said the woman guard of Sahalahti was the only unit to ever defeat German Jagers on field in that war.

In the 20th century, the states of the Soviet Union and Israel took the initiative to train and utilize women for light infantry and other combatant roles. Although these moves were initially motivated by the shortage of manpower, for example on USSR's western front in WWII, they led the way for the use of female combatants by the U.S. and other western nations.

Modern depiction of Amazons

It has been noted that until the 20th century, Amazons were typically depicted in literature as an alien adversary that threatened the masculinity of heroes. As such, the typical goal of the heroes has been to defeat and humiliate them as a way of reasserting male superiority.

In the 20th century, Amazons were depicted with increasing sympathy. Today, the typical depiction of the characters is as an isolated community of powerful and beautiful warriors whose respect and cooperation the male heroes are challenged to earn. The most famous modern example of an Amazon is the superhero Wonder Woman. Amazons were also frequently featured on the ' (Xena's sidekick, Gabrielle, was herself an Amazon, and Xena, while technically not being one, fits the image of a warrior-woman) and ' television series. Robert E. Howard's minor character Red Sonja, who was fleshed out more in the Conan the Barbarian comic books and subsequently in her own movie, also owes much to this modern sympathetic treatment of Amazons. Esther Freisner has published a series of anthologies on the theme of Chicks in Chainmail, containing humorous takes on Amazon characters by a number of science fiction and fantasy writers.

In the , they are referred to in the episode Tomorrow is Yesterday. They overhauled the ship's computer, live on Cygnet XIV. The computer kept calling Capt. Kirk "Dear".

The comic book series , in which every male on Earth, except one, is wiped out in a mysterious plague, includes a hyper-feminist cult called the Daughters of the Amazon, who believe that Mother Earth cleansed itself of the "aberration" of the Y chromosome.

A Buck Rogers episode, Planet of the Amazon Women, features a society composed solely of women, because all men were either killed in war or held as prisoners of war by their enemy.

A episode features similar women in "Angel One". These women are large and strong and dominate the smaller, weaker, more servile men.

, a computer game, features these women under the command of Artemis who is, depending on the scenario/campaign played, are either the player's allies or deadly enemies, since Artemis can either "bless" the game player's leader (with extra pork from hunting or fighting forces) or "curse" the game player's leader (usually by attacking and destroying parts of the player's city), depending on the scenario/campaign played. Some scenarios also feature independent amazons, such as the Military 2 scenario and The Labors of Hercules scenario.

A Sliders Episode depicts women in control of a Earth, due to a germ warfare virus killing most of the men, and causing the survivors to be sterile, and left the women unaffected by it. When the male Sliders were found, they were mistaken for men that somehow escaped the plague, not knowing that they're from our plane of existence, travelling to different dimensions.

A Stargate SG-1 episode, Birthright, has the military unit from Earth asking woman warriors on another planet for aid against spaceborne and dimensional enemies.

A Thundarr the Barbarian episode, Attack of the Amazon Women, depicts a race of Amazon warriors located in what was left of Mt. Rushmore. These women were blue-skinned and amphibious, capable of existing on land and underwater indefinitely. It's possible they were a nod toward the people of Marvel Comics' Atlantis as they were blue-skinned water breathers as well. Thundarr and his companions came to the aid of Dionna, the deposed queen of these Amazons, aiding her small band of rebels in defeating Strya, a half-woman, half-shark sorceress who had conquered her kingdom and found an "ancient" nuclear warhead, which she intended to use in her attempt at conquest.

In Dune Messiah, Alia Atreides' bodyguards are referred to as 'Amazons', they are assumedly female.

In God Emperor of Dune the God Emperor Leto II Atreides holds the human race in bondage for millennia with a female army called the Fish Speakers.

Another computer game, Diablo II, depicts these women in it as a combat class.

In the Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan, the Aiel people have amazon warriors, called Far Dareis Mai, "Maidens of the Spear".

In Asterix graphic novel Asterix and the Secret Weapon, Caesar sends an army of beautiful female legionaries to fight the Gauls, knowing the men won't strike a woman. His plan fails, however, when the women hold a fete with make-up, clothing, and hair products, and the women all drop their weapons to shop.

In the Futurama episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", the characters crash-land on a planet called "Amazonia" inhabited by a race of giant women (Amazonians).

An Outer Limits episode, "Lithia", depicts women who have survived a nuclear and germ warfare attack which killed all men. In this, a man, who was a Major in the US Military, was cryogenically frozen as part of an experiment before the war broke out, and revived by some women. He found that humanity survived the war, but were all women. Reproduction was carried out by using frozen sperm, but the virus kills male babies. Due to a social taboo, he was placed back into cryogenic stasis. This episode, made in 1998, was broadcast on the Sci-Fi channel in 2006.

A few episodes of the Thundercats feature women of this nature on "Third Earth". They are referred to as "Warrior Women", and have a hierarchy that includes a queen as the head of society. They live in structures built in trees, much like the Lothlorien flets found in Lord of the Rings and are allies of the ThunderCats.

Almost all the ship "Bilkis"?s crew from anime Geneshaft (about a future world where the majority of the population are women) are female soldiers.

Sources

About twenty-five hundred years ago, Herodotus in Histories in book four records:

110. About the Sauromatai the following tale is told:--When the Hellenes had fought with the Amazons,--now the Amazons are called by the Scythians /Oiorpata/, which name means in the Hellenic tongue "slayers of men," for "man" they call /oior/, and /pata/ means "to slay,"--then, as the story goes, the Hellenes, having conquered them in the battle at the Thermodon, were sailing away and conveying with them in three ships as many Amazons as they were able to take prisoners. These in the open sea set upon the men and cast them out of the ships; but they knew nothing about ships, nor how to use rudders or sails or oars, and after they had cast out the men they were driven about by wave and wind and came to that part of the Maiotian lake where Cremnoi stands; now Cremnoi is in the land of the free Scythians. There the Amazons disembarked from their ships and made their way into the country, and having met first with a troop of horses feeding they seized them, and mounted upon these they plundered the property of the Scythians.

111. The Scythians meanwhile were not able to understand the matter, for they did not know either their speech or their dress or the race to which they belonged, but were in wonder as to whence they had come and thought that they were men, of an age corresponding to their appearance: and finally they fought a battle against them, and after the battle the Scythians got possession of the bodies of the dead, and thus they discovered that they were women. They took counsel therefore and resolved by no means to go on trying to kill them, but to send against them the youngest men from among themselves, making conjecture of the number so as to send just as many men as there were women. These were told to encamp near them, and do whatsoever they should do; if however the women should come after them, they were not to fight but to retire before them, and when the women stopped, they were to approach near and encamp. This plan was adopted by the Scythians because they desired to have children born from them.

112. The young men accordingly were sent out and did that which had been commanded them: and when the Amazons perceived that they had not come to do them any harm, they let them alone; and the two camps approached nearer to one another every day: and the young men, like the Amazons, had nothing except their arms and their horses, and got their living, as the Amazons did, by hunting and by taking booty.

113. Now the Amazons at midday used to scatter abroad either one by one or by two together, dispersing to a distance from one another to ease themselves; and the Scythians also having perceived this did the same thing: and one of the Scythians came near to one of those Amazons who were apart by themselves, and she did not repulse him but allowed him to lie with her: and she could not speak to him, for they did not understand one another's speech, but she made signs to him with her hand to come on the following day to the same place and to bring another with him, signifying to him that there should be two of them, and that she would bring another with her. The young man therefore, when he returned, reported this to the others; and on the next day he came himself to the place and also brought another, and he found the Amazon awaiting him with another in her company. Then hearing this the rest of the young men also in their turn tamed for themselves the remainder of the Amazons;

114, and after this they joined their camps and lived together, each man having for his wife her with whom he had had dealings at first; and the men were not able to learn the speech of the women, but the women came to comprehend that of the men. So when they understood one another, the men spoke to the Amazons as follows: "We have parents and we have possessions; now therefore let us no longer lead a life of this kind, but let us go away to the main body of our people and dwell with them; and we will have you for wives and no others." They however spoke thus in reply: "We should not be able to live with your women, for we and they have not the same customs. We shoot with bows and hurl javelins and ride horses, but the works of women we never learnt; whereas your women do none of these things which we said, but stay in the waggons and work at the works of women, neither going out to the chase nor anywhither else. We therefore should not be able to live in agreement with them: but if ye desire to keep us for your wives and to be thought honest men, go to your parents and obtain from them your share of the goods, and then let us go and dwell by ourselves."

115. The young men agreed and did this; and when they had obtained the share of the goods which belonged to them and had returned back to the Amazons, the women spoke to them as follows: "We are possessed by fear and trembling to think that we must dwell in this place, having not only separated you from your fathers, but also done great damage to your land. Since then ye think it right to have us as your wives, do this together with us,--come and let us remove from this land and pass over the river Tana also".

116. They crossed over the Tana rising sun for three days' journey from Tana North Wind for three days' journey from the Maiotian lake: and having arrived at the place where they are now settled, they took up their abode there: and from thenceforward the women of the Sauromatai practise their ancient way of living, going out regularly on horseback to the chase both in company with the men and apart from them, and going regularly to war, and wearing the same dress as the men.

117. And the Sauromatai make use of the Scythian tongue, speaking it barbarously however from the first, since the Amazons did not learn it thoroughly well. As regards marriages their rule is this, that no maiden is married until she has slain a man of their enemies; and some of them even grow old and die before they are married, because they are not able to fulfil the requirement of the law." [link]

Legendary Amazons from Greek myth

See also

External links

  • [link] Rasa von Werder's interview of Dr. Jeanine Davis-Kimball about the girl who carries the Amazon - DNA.

References

  • A. D. Mordtmann, Die Amazonen (1862)
  • W. Stricker, Die Amazonen in Sage und Geschichte (1868)
  • A. Klugmann, Die Amazonen in der attischen Literatur und Kunst (1875)
  • H. L. Krause, Die Amazonensage (1893)
  • F. G. Bergmann, Les Amazones dans l'histoire et dans la fable (1853)
  • P. Lacour, Les Amazones (1901)
  • articles in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie, and W. H. Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie
  • George Grote, History of Greece, pt. i. ch. 11.
  • J. A. Salmonson, The Encyclopedia of Amazons (1991), ISBN 0385423667

 

 

 

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