AMAZON
WOMEN WARRIORS PART - 3
New
Russian Gravesite Proves Amazon Warrior Women Were Very Much Real
:
![](amazonpot.jpg)
Battle
of Greeks against Amazons (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
For
centuries, scholars assumed that Greek myths about fierce warrior
women they called Amazons were just that — myths.
But
new archaeology confirms what modern historians like Adrienne Mayor
from Stanford University had begun to suspect: Amazons were very
much real, and they were actually Scythian nomads.
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Earlier
this month in Russia, archaeologists found the gravesites of four
female warrior women — buried together along with their weapons.
Mayor says it's the first time archaeologists have discovered remains
of warrior women within a range of ages, from about 45 to 50 years
old down to about 12 years old.
“These
four women were companions in warfare, probably died in a skirmish
and were buried together,” she says.
Notorious
ancient Greek historians never doubted that Amazon women existed,
she says, but modern historians and scholars haven’t been
able to track down the myth’s origins and ultimately believed
the warriors were products of the Greeks’ imagination.
Historians
thought the Amazons mentioned in mythology were a variety of things:
stand-ins for Persians, invented just to be slaughtered by Greek
male warriors, or used to serve as propaganda to oppress Greek women,
Mayor says.
“They
thought of them as symbols of a sort of monstrous women because
their lifestyle was the opposite of proper Greek female roles,”
she says.
But
the new discovery proves otherwise.
“I
think all those are sort of questionable,” she says. “Now,
of course, we have compelling evidence that real women living the
lifestyle of Amazons in myth really existed.”
![](pot2.jpg)
Amazon
dueling Greek warrior (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Interview
Highlights :
On
the culture of Amazon women, who are thought to have been Scythian
nomads 2,500 years ago :
“They
belong to tribes of nomads, of the steps. They roamed the vast territory
of the region known in antiquity as Scythia. That was a land stretching
from the Black Sea all the way east to Mongolia. The Chinese built
the Great Wall of China to keep them out. So these were fierce warlike
tribes. They were the first people to domesticate and then ride
horses, and they perfected the invention of the recurve bow. So
their lives centered on horses and archery. And they taught boys
and girls how to ride and shoot from childhood so that everyone
in the tribe could hunt and defend the tribe.”
On
how the Greek mythology portrayed Amazon women :
“Well,
Homer did first describe them in his epic poem about the Trojan
War, the ‘Iliad,’ that was written in about 750 to 650
B.C., and Homer called the Amazons 'the equals of men.' One ancient
historian from Greece said that these tribes in Scythia were so
savage that even the women went to war. So there were several ancient
historians, such as Herodotus in the 5th century B.C. and then later
Strabo and Plato ... They never doubted that Amazons really existed,
and they related them to the real women of the nomadic tribes.
“But
the myths, we don't know the origin of the myths. They were first
written down by Homer. They were the mythic archenemies of the Greeks,
the greatest heroes of myth — Pericles or Hercules, Theseus,
Achilles. They all to prove their valor and skills in duels with
Amazon queens. And remember all you can only win honor if you fight
and defeat a really powerful and strong adversary. So Amazons fit
that role. Theseus of Athens, he captured the Amazon Antiope, brought
her back to Greece to be his bride, and then, according to myth,
a huge Amazon army vowed revenge and they invaded Athens to rescue
her. That monumental mythic battle against the Amazons was Athens’
proudest victory. They portrayed images of that hard-won victory
everywhere in their city, in the Acropolis and on the shield of
Athena. Amazons played a role in the legendary Trojan War. As we
know, Penthesilea was the queen of the Amazons. She brought a band
of female warriors to fight on the side of the Trojans, and she
dueled with the Greek champion Achilles. He won, but in the myth
he regretted killing such a brave and beautiful enemy. And there
are vase paintings from the 5th century B.C. that show him killing
her and then making eye contact and supposedly falling in love with
the dying Amazon.”
![](pot3.jpg)
Amazon
on horseback (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
On
the myth that the Amazons were so dedicated to their warcraft that
they would cut off one of their breasts to shoot their bows better
:
“That
is a libel. It's a fake fact that has stuck like super glue for
more than 2,500 years. If people think they know anything about
Amazons, it's that supposed fact. That story first surfaced in about
490 B.C. A patriotic Greek historian attempted to force a Greek
meaning on the word Amazon. Amazon is not a Greek word originally,
and it was borrowed from some other ancient culture. We don't know
which, but because it sounded a little bit like the word for breast
— ‘mazos’ — and if you put an ‘A’
in front of it, it means 'without.' So they thought he suggested
it meant 'without breast' and that demanded a story. So people said,
‘Well, maybe they cut off one breast so they could draw a
bow, shoot arrows.’ And that's a physiologically silly idea.
“And
in fact, it was rejected by other Greek writers in antiquity, and
even more significantly, not one ancient artist ever bought that
idea. All Amazons in Greek and Roman art are double-breasted, and
anyone who practices archery knows that breasts are not a hindrance.”
On
the fascination with Amazon women warriors, like those depicted
in the "Wonder Woman" film :
“Well,
the ancient Greeks, they were fascinated because it was so different
from their own mothers and wives and daughters. And the idea that
women could be equals of men was sort of disturbing to them, but
also attractive. They had very ambivalent feelings about it. I think
many people do today still have ambivalent, mixed feelings about
that. I kind of think for the ancient Greeks, the stories of those
audacious Amazons that fought their biggest heroes, that sort of
gave them a kind of safe place, an exciting way to imagine equality
between the sexes in a sort of myth.
“I
think today, the struggles to find balance and harmony between men
and women, that's just universal, you can see it in Greece and Persia
and Egypt and China and India in their stories of warrior women.
And now the fact that we can read the myths and now know the realities
about an egalitarian culture that not only gives us sort of romantic,
thrilling stories about men and women who could be equals, but now
we know that there was a kernel of truth underlying those stories.
I think there's sort of always been Amazons in myths. Sometimes
they're hidden, sometimes they're out in full view. But now the
historical reality is coming to light and it's thanks to archaeological
discoveries like the one reported this month.”
Source
:
https://www.wbur.org/
hereandnow/2020/01/14/
amazon-women-archaeology
-myths