It was a matter of pride for many cities of western Asia Minor to claim Amazons as “founders.” Diodorus stated that Amazons established a polis at Themiscyra; Apollonius of Rhodes’s Argonautica epic mentions three Amazon territories in Pontus. The only ancient image showing Amazons defending a city wall appears on a large black-figure amphora by the Castellani Painter (sixth century BC); some scholars guess that it represents Themiscyra, but Troy seems more likely. The Amazons of myth and in legendary-historical accounts were never homebodies tied to one place for long. They crisscrossed the steppes east and west, from Thrace to the Altai, or shuttled north and south over the Caucasus range, establishing general territories that shifted over time. Herodotus spoke of the Amazons, Scythians, Sarmatians, and others encamping with their horses; he explained how some tribes constructed felt tents for winter abodes. He and other writers also described migrations of whole peoples over long distances and portrayed nomad bands as mobile communities on horseback and/or horse-drawn wagons. Clay models of nomad wagons have been found in many Scythian burials. Other archaeological evidence shows that the ancient steppe people erected tents of felt and hides, and some even built log structures.14
Landmarks associated with Amazons have a very ancient history. Beginning with Homer, grave mounds in northern Anatolia were said to belong to long-ago Amazons. It was the Scythian custom to raise kurgans
Over their burials, and ancient Phrygians and Lydians also built conspicuous grave mounds. In Greece, Plutarch and Pausanias visited memorials to fallen Amazons who had died during the legendary Battle for Athens (Chapter 17). The Amazon foundation stories of various cities in Anatolia may have arisen from oral traditions that linked Amazons with features of the landscape, such as mounds, campsites, altars, or battlefields, perhaps some dating to early conquests by Scythian forces in which women warriors may have participated. Some scholars suggest that Amazon traditions in Anatolia might even hark back to Hittite times. Still other ancient sites associated with Amazons may have been, like Ephesus, gathering places where women performed military dances with weapons and other sacred rites.15
World History
