In untangling the myths and realities of warrior women of antiquity, at least three categories of “Amazons” emerge (and sometimes converge). In the contexts of history, Greek mythology, and non-Greek settings, the women we call Amazons fall into the following groups.
1. Real nomadic horsewomen archers of the steppes. The historical reality of Amazon-1 ike women contemporary with the ancient Greeks is now fully documented by archaeological evidence. The lives of these once-living counterparts of mythic and legendary Amazons are accessible to us through excavations of burials, scientific analysis of bodily remains and grave goods, comparative ethnological studies, linguistics, and historical sources both ancient and modern.
2. Amazon queens Hippolyte, Antiope, and Penthesilea and other Amazons of classical mythology. The adventures and biographies of warrior women who battled Greeks took shape in the storytelling imagination interwoven with strands of reality from the domain of steppe nomads. In the major myths about Greeks versus Amazons, despite their bravery, erotic appeal, and prowess the women are almost always killed or captured.
3. Women warriors in non-Greek traditions from the Black Sea to China. Amazon-1 ike heroines appear in Egyptian romances, Persian legends, epic traditions of the Caucasus and Central Asia, and Chinese chronicles. These non-Greek stories diverge from the grim Greek mythic script that doomed Amazons to defeat and death. Among the cultures the Greeks designated as “barbarian,” myths, legends, and historical accounts express great pride in their own heroic warrior women who won victories over men and survived to fight again. When non-Greek societies faced female fighters among their enemies, many tales recount how they eagerly sought to have these Amazons as lovers, companions, and allies instead of killing them.
After Heracles, Amazons were the single most popular subjects in Greek vase paintings. Amazons appeared in city murals and monumental civic sculptures in Athens and other Greek cities; tombs and places
FiG. 1.1. Left, Amazon doll with helmet, articulated arms and legs, terra-cotta, fifth century BC, Greek, Aegina, Inv. CA955, Musde de Louvre, Paris. Photo: Gerard Blot. © RMN-Grand Palais/ Art Resource, NY. Right, Amazon doll with articulated legs, dressed as a hoplite, terra-cotta, signed MAECIUS, Asia Minor, Inv. CA1493, Musde de Louvre, Paris. © Musde de Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Les frferes Chuzeville/Art Resource, NY.
Linked to Amazons were revered in the Greek and Anatolian landscape. Some of the most poignant and little-known ancient artifacts are dolls representing Amazons, discovered in the graves of young girls in Greece and Asia Minor. Had the little girls lived to be married, they would have dedicated these dolls to the goddess Artemis. Clay dolls in the Louvre and other collections are identified as Amazons by their pointed Scythian-style caps with lappets (earflaps), like the caps of many Amazons in Greek art, and by their armor and weapons. The doll on the left in Figure 1.1 Was made Athens in 450-400 BC. She is six inches tall, and her molded hair and helmet were once brightly painted. (Early artistic
Images of Amazons have helmets like those of Greek hoplites; the goddess Athena often wears a similar helmet, but a nude Athena doll is unlikely.) Movable arms and legs allowed the owner to dress this doll in miniature Amazon-style clothing. The doll on the right was discovered in a young girl’s grave in Roman-era Asia Minor. About ten inches tall, she wears an imposing helmet, with long hair curling over her shoulder. She is dressed as a classical Amazon, in a belted tunic that exposes one breast, with a studded belt around her waist and across her chest. Articulated legs allow her to “walk.” Her broken arm held a bow, spear, or shield. This doll is a remarkable find, for it bears the signature of its maker, Maecius.27 Whether these dolls were treasured toys or ritual figures, the fact that Amazon figurines belonged to girls is striking. They suggest that Amazons were female models available to young women in the classical world.
Did men, women, or both tell the earliest tales—oral traditions— about Amazons and their living counterparts on the steppes? It does not really matter, since the stories spread throughout Hellenic society and every listener—men and women, boys and girls—could understand the message of equality extended to barbarians and even women. Amazon myths and legends offered a vision impossible in Greek society but rumored to exist in a faraway land called Scythia, the Amazon homeland.
World History
