While most stories about the Amazons locate them alongside mythical and legendary characters, other accounts include references to historical figures, such as Alexander
Above: Wounded Amazon by German artist Franz van Stuck (1863—1928). Van Stuck, who was part of the symbolist movement, often used characters from classical mythology in his paintings.
The Great (356—323 BCE). One source tells how Alexander, who conquered almost all the territory from the western Mediterranean to India before his death at the age of 33, met the Amazon queen Thalestris. According to the story, the queen brought 300 other Amazon women to Alexander, hoping to breed a whole race of children as strong and intelligent as him. In another account, the great Roman general Pompey (106—48 BCE) is said to have found Amazon warriors in the army belonging to Mithradates, king of Pontus.
The mention of Amazons alongside historical figures such as Alexander and Pompey, as well as the fact that they are discussed by classical historians from Herodotus to
Diodorus, has led some scholars to argue that they may have existed. Among different historical opinions, some of which claim that the female warriors were entirely the creation of ancient poets, is the argument that the idea of a warlike group of women was based on the practices adopted by women in some cultures in west Asia— practices that the Greeks may have regarded as “masculine.’
Lyn Green
Bibliography
Davis-Kimball, Jeannine, with Mona Behan. Warrior Women: An Archaeologist’s Search for History’s Hidden Heroines. New York: Warner Books, 2003.
Homer, and Robert Fagles, trans. The Iliad and The Odyssey. New York: Penguin, 2009.
See also: Achilles; BeUerophon; Gorgons; Heracles; Hippolyte; Jason;Theseus.
World History
