RWAAG, Amazons, Questions about Amazons
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Question: Would it have been considered wrong if an Amazon found herself attracted to a man? Would this issue be important if the Amazon felt she was falling in " love " or if she proceeded on to obtain a relationship with this man even if the relationship was strictly sexual?
Answer: Amazons arranged liaisons with men so they could get pregnant. They would raise the girl babies as Amazons and deliver up the boy babies to the men. This was an ideal arrangement for the men because they would have sex without responsibility, something they have been known to even pay for. And, of course, male babies are seen as more valuable, so they probably were easy to give away, if not to the father, then to someone else. The Amazon queen Hippolyta was stolen by Theseus. There is no doubt that Hippolyta was fond of Theseus, because when her charges came to rescue her, she helped repel the Amazons form right alongside her husband. She also became the mother of Theseus' child Hippolytus. The Greeks seemed to think that it was quite right for Hippolyta to love Theseus, and the Amazons thought it wrong. They fought a fierce battle over this and the Amazons were barely defeated.
Question: Could you possibly see the Amazon women as a metaphor for the Persians? Looking at how they are represented in Greek Art?
Answer: Yes and No. The Amazon does seem to represent some kind of enemy metaphorically. But the concept of Amazon is much older than the Persian state. However, all the enemies that it could represent are to the east of Greece. The oldest association would be the Minoan state which was to the east of the Greek mainland. Then the Hittites were to the east in central Asia Minor. Sill later the Phrygians were in western Asia Minor. Sometimes the Amazons were depicted in Oriental dress which suggests this association. But by the time of the Persian wars during the classical period the Greeks were pretty rational. One would think that if this metaphor were true then it would be clearly stated. But it was not. Rather the meaning remained well lodged in the collective sub-conscious of the Greeks. During the classical period the best explanation of the Amazon subject is that it allowed the artist to portray men's and women's bodies in dynamic action. Because this is similar to sexual play it is still a popular subject.
Question: What does the Amazon statue represent?
Answer: This question is better answered about a particular statue. The most likely representation is one of male and female bodies in dynamic interaction. This is interesting because of the similarity to sex-play. Amazons also represent enemies of the state, possibly because they represented foreigners, but also because they were different from the Greek ideals. The Geek men were very patriarchal and plainly liked their women to be compliant and submissive.
Where can I find names of Amazons? I am joining the SCA and have chosen to do an amazon/sarmatian persona but can find no names!
On page 115 of her book, Judy Chicago provides the names and descriptions of some of the Amazons. They are as follows:
Andromache is the name of an Amazon who fought against Hercules.
The topic of the Amazons is much more common in the visual arts than it is in literature. A very nice picture is at Click here.
Question: How did ancient greek representations of amazons in art and literature change over time?
Answer: Material relevant to the question is available at: Click here. Literary descriptions do not match visual depictions. The imagery is more dependent upon the cultural and political climate of the artist than any desire for accuracy. Notice that the imagery is from the classical period and later while the Amazons depicted are from the 13th century BCE.
Question: Who is Penthesilia?
Answer: Penthesilia was an Amazon queen who led a group of Amazons as an ally of the Trojans during the Trojan war. As the Amazon hero it was she who battled Achilles and was killed by him. She was so young and beautiful that Achilles fell in love with her. He would not give up her body and made love with her after she was dead. This rather gruesome story is told by Pausanius. At one time this story was considered a continuation of the Iliad and to the casual observer was part of it. Now it is rather difficult to come by, perhaps because our victorian ancestors considered it perverted.
An encyclopedia entry for Penthesilia is at: Click here
A drawing of a vase painting is at: Click here
Question: Did Amazons allow for non-amazon women to join them? If so, what was the ceremory or rite that they would go through to join if any? And what were the beliefs and customs of the Amazons?
Answer: This question seems to ignore the fact that there was more than one culture of Amazons and they each would have had their own rules. The list of Amazon cultures are:
At the moment we know the most about the second group, but what we have is entirely from Greek reports and Greek art. With this in mind I can make a few comments. The people of this time were divided very strongly by family, so groups did not readily accept outsiders. But there was a possibility of adoption. A mother would adopt a child by allowing the child crawl between her legs in a public ritual. It was common to have a ritual of coming of age to show that a person was competant as an adult and a warrior. There is a story that Amazons cut of their right breast at this time. But there are no depictions of Amazons with their breast removed. The weapons of the Amazons included spear, bow and arrow, and axe. Of these the axe seems very ceremonial and a ritual of presentation of the axe seems likely. Amazons were also expert horseman which they rode, so there may have been rituals with horses. Some Amazons wore dresses and others wore pants for reasons that you might want to explore.
An index to ancient sources on Amazons is located at: Click here. This material makes really interesting reading.
Question: How many women did the Amazon tribe consist of?
Answer: They had enough to have their own city on the banks of the Thermodon, and they had enough to field an army against Athens. I do not know of any reference to better numbers.
Question: does amazon represent a real world?
Answer: It might, but then, it might not. There is archeological evidence for Amazons in Scythia. The Amazons of the Thermodon seem less likely, but there have been no good archeological studies. The Lybian Amazons are harder because they are older and their location is not known. The stories of the Amazons are examples of strange stories that probably contain truth, but we have not yet determined what it is.
Why did some of the Amazons where pants?
Answer: This seems to reflect the customs of the country where they originated. Amazons commonly appear in Phrygian costumes. Phrygia was the region in western Asia Minor just to the east of Greece. It is also believed that Artists dressed Amazons in the clothing of the enemies of Greece. Pants were worn by soldiers in Persia.
Question: more info on amazons.
Answer: The French seem to think that Amazons rode side saddle, but my favorite picure Boston 95.48 shows one riding bareback. In another Boston 99.523 The Amazon is riding a lion bareback. Also in this one she is riding a horse bare back: Philadelphia MS1752. And this one: Louvre F 203. And here: Louvre MNC 624 And here: Wurzburg K 143. It is interesting that Amazons are pictured riding a horse bareback.
Question: Have any amazon cities ever been discovered?
Answer: You must think of what characteristics there are of an Amazon city so you can identify it from the archeological data of a city that is discovered. Do you think, perhaps that there would be sculptures of Amazons? And perhaps there would be graves with warriors buried with their weapons? You could read the ancient records of Amazons to identify other characteristics.
No city has yet been found, but the site on the Thermodon has not yet been excavated. Women were buried with their weapons in Scythia, and statues of Amazons are all over Greece.
Question: How were Amazons portrayed?
Answer: Amazons were portrayed as brave atheletic warrior women who were untimately defeated by certain brave Greek men heroes. Sometimes they wore the dress of foreigners, and sometimes they wore the dress of Greek women. A web page exclusively about them is located at: Click here
Question: were they ukranien?
Answer: The ancient territory of Scythia is now occupied by Ukraine, Russia and possibly Romania, Moldava, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Some Amazons may have lived in Scythia. Others may have been located in Asia Minor in what is now Turkey. The third group may have been in what is now Tunisia.
Question: what is a Montair
Answer: This is probably a proper name or a place name. I have found the following contexts:
The word probably derives from Mountain air (mont+air) but this has nothing to do with Amazons. I wonder if the word is actually something like Minotaur misspelled.
Question: what is my favorite pet
Answer: Dogs and pigeons were common pets.
Question: Amazon Art
Answer: There is nothing that has been identified as Amazon art. There is little that has been identified as Amazon archeology. There are, however, graves that have been excavated in ancient Scythia of women buried with weapons. You can check on a book about this in the bibliography at Click here
Question: do amazons ever fall in love
Answer: Definitely, but the results might differ. The Amazon community would have had to have been divided into something like family groupings with about a dozen individuals to a group. The purpose of the group would be to maintain logistical support for the Amazon who actually went out and fought. Typically such groupings have the warrior as the leader and a chain of command that would allow things to get done while the leader was away. There must have been some social glue that held this community together. There are a number of possibilities. Most people seem to feel that Lesbian love is what did it, but this is by no means a certainty. It is a possibility, of course. There is also the distinct possibility of a house husband with children. It is also possible that religious bonds were strong enough. So Amazon love could have been a factor that bound the Amazons together.
There was also the possibilty of love causing Amazon bonds to be broken. An Amazon might fall in love with a man who she wanted to submit to. If she was a leader this would be a problem for other Amazons who would have to replace her. Theseus made off with an Amazon queen named Hippolyta. This angered the other Amazons so much that they tried to rescue her. But she loved Theseus so much that she fought beside him when they attacked. Sadly, she was killed in the attack but she had already born Theseus a son named Hippolytus. If a follower Amazon fell in love fewer problems would be encountered but the group would need to replace a pair of hands.
A love afair could also be carried on outside the bonds of the Amazon community. Myth has it that once a year the amazons would visit a tribe of men for the purpose of getting themselves pregnant. This seems impractical. More likely they would visit one man frequently until they got pregnant. Love could easily influence who they chose and allow them to make long term arrangements with that man.
Question: Does she wear a helmet
Answer: Yes an Amazon would wear a helmet, but probably a leather one and not a bronze one.
Question: did they fight with men together or with other women together
Answer: Amazons were women warriors who fought as a team against other warriors who were often men. Sometimes they had men who were allies.
Question: what did they wear?
Answer: I do not think the pictures of Amazons that the ancient Greeks drew were very accurate. Their women, that they used as models, wore clothes that were not practical for an Amazon. The Amazons wore clothes that were more similar to the warriors of their time. But since the Amazons rode their horse bareback they needed protection form the horse. For this they wore a girdle or long pants. The girdle would have covered from waist to mid-thigh to be good protection. They could not let their breasts interfere with their bowstrings so they wore a triangular bandage over their breasts. Over their torso they wore a leather cuirass. The cuirass fit like a sleeveless t-shirt. On their lower body they wore a leather apron that looked like a knee-length skirt. On the calf of their legs they wore leather greaves. These were leather sleaves that covered the leg from ankle to the knee. On their feet they wore a slipper-like shoe that was heavy enough to protect their feet when they were off the horse but not so heavy that they would be able to march in it.
On their head they wore a leather helmet that was either a skull cap or a tapered cone. The helmet had straps on the side so it could be fastened under the chin. The ancient Greeks decorated this with a crest of horsehair, but the Amazons might have had their own hair coming through in a pony tail. If the weather was cool they would have worn a tunic either under or over the leather. This is the short skirt that you often see. In the cold weather they would have worn a himation, which is simply a large robe-like garment that covers the entire body.
The leather could have been decorated in a number of ways. The most practical would hve been pieces of wood, bone or metal, that would have reinforced the armor against being cut. Designs would have been similar to that found on pottery, but descriptions of armor of the period describe quite elaborate scenes with whole battles and stories being depicted.
When the Amazons were not fighting, they were dressed in simple robes or tunics. During their religious ceremonies they would have worn the same fancy flounced skirts that the minoan ladies wore.
Question: rulers
Answer: There were two rulers of the Amazon nation, one for war and the other for domestic affairs.
Question: What weapons did they use
Answer: Mainly they fought on horseback; They used bow and arrow, javelin and double bit axe.
Question: Wasn't it unusual that women went to war at that time?
Answer: The notion of women going to war was radical and disturbing to the Ancient Greeks. Amazons were classified as monsters. But the Amazons had good motivations to go to war. War at the time of the Trojan war involved a lot of rape and pillage. One way for women to defend themselves was to become warriors. Also the archaic Greeks may have displaced what was for the women a golden age. The age of The Goddess is described in this way in historical records. The Amazons may have decided to fight for the worship of The Goddess simply because it was so favorable to women.
Question: Can you think of any interesting research paper topic on the "Amazons"?
Answer: Several fascinating topics have occured to me
Question: are there any cults that still worship the Amazons?
Answer: No Amazon ever rose to the status of a goddess. Medusa is the closest. She became a gorgon but she was still mortal. The Greeks considered the Amazons to be freaks, but this is probably a put-down of women. But it is doubtful that any ancient woman would have admitted to worshiping an Amazon. No good Christian would worship an Amazon because they were pagan. That leaves any Amazon worship to contemporary cults, or perhaps witches.
The only Greek goddess that is regularly worshipped today is Aphrodite. Some of the ancients worshipped Aphrodite as a goddess of war but today she is reverred as the Goddess of Love, which would be considered very un-Amazonian.
The Amazons could very possibly be an historic people, and they could have been a cult themselves. If religion was the glue that held their society together, then they could have been a cult. There are a number of stories about their worship. Most people feel that the Amazons worshipped Artemis, because Artemis, with here bow and arrow was very like an Amazon. But Artemis came from the North, and the Amazons came from the south and moved northwards. Originally they came from Africa, and they may have brought Athena with them. Because Athena is the Goddess of Victory in War, her nature fits with that of the Amazons.
Question: I heard that amazon women used to burn off one of their breasts in order to fire a bown and arrow. Is this true? Is it?
Answer: The Greeks told this story as true, but I doubt it. This story just made Amazons out to be what the Greeks thought, monsters. Real Amazons may have bound their breasts so they would not interfere with the bow-string. The psychology of the story needs to be considered. Was this story helpful in repressing women, or did it glorify them? Many of the stories about Amazons were merely sex inversions and not productive. When you cut off your breasts, does this make you into a man? When you cut off your penis does this make you into a women? Freud thought women had feelings of inferiority because they had penis envy. Do men have feelings of inferiority because they have breast envy?
Question: when did the trojan war start
Answer: The traditional date for the Trojan war is 1194-1184 BCE.
Question: Why did girls,when they were 11 to 13, get marrried so young?
Answer: This is so they could receive an important part of their education from their husbands, who were about 30.
Question: What is the symbology behind the double axe? I have seen many gold jewelry axes on a trip to Greece, especially in Crete!!! Thanks!
Answer: It was a religious symbol of the ancient minoans. It may have represented a butterfly as the symbol of transformation.
Question: What cultures are headed by the female?
Answer: There have been many cultures headed by a queen, but only the Amazons had a culture with political control entirely in the hands of women.
Question: Could there be a connection between the political life of Aspacia and the relatively sudden (as von Bothmer stated) influx of depictions of Amazons on vases in the 5th century BC? Specifically, could an argument be made correlating Aspacia with either An
Answer: You seem to be suggesting that people regarded Aspasia as an Amazon. There seems to be a big contrast between an Amazon and a hetaera. But the source of Amazon imagery is a big mystery. You do need some substantiation from the fifth century for your claim. Looking at Amazon images from that period is a good idea.
Question: Can you tell me more about Medusa being an Amazon?
The following is from Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.21.1:
"Not far from the building in the market-place of Argos is a mound of earth, in which they say lies the head of the Gorgon Medusa. I omit the miraculous, but give the rational parts of the story about her. After the death of her father, Phorcus, she reigned over those living around Lake Tritonis, going out hunting and leading the Libyans to battle. On one such occasion, when she was encamped with an army over against the forces of Perseus, who was followed by picked troops from the Peloponnesus, she was assassinated by night. Perseus, admiring her beauty even in death, cut off her head and carried it to show the Greeks. [6] But Procles, the son of Eucrates, a Carthaginian, thought a different account more plausible than the preceding. It is as follows. Among the incredible monsters to be found in the Libyan desert are wild men and wild women. Procles affirmed that he had seen a man from them who had been brought to Rome. So he guessed that a woman wandered from them, reached Lake Tritonis, and harried the neighbours until Perseus killed her; Athena was supposed to have helped him in this exploit, because the people who live around Lake Tritonis are sacred to her."
Question: Since Amazons felt it was wrong to marry, how were they looked upon by the Greek society?
Answer: The Greeks regarded the Amazons as monsters to be defeated as enemies of society and social order.
Question: They would have been wise to worship Athena, but the reports are that they worshipped Ares and Artemis.
Question: i need to know a answer for leisure in relation to mycenaean society
Answer: There was no leisure in Mycenaean society. All their time was taken up by work or religious ritual.
Question: How did the name "Amazon" come about.
Answer: The ancient Greeks thought it meant without a breast because the Amazons cut off their right breast. This seems very unlikely though because the Amazons are never shown without a breast. In ancient Iranian Ha-maz-an was a warrior, and this seems a more likely source. An Amazon could have originally been a warrior in either the Hittite or Minoan civilization.
Question: Is it possible that the Amazons were a nomadic hunter-herder society similar to the ones on the Russian steppes? This would enable them to all be efficient in weapons (especially bows & arrows) and horseback riding, and also explain why there are no Amazon city archaeological finds... I also heard something about the word Amazon being a reference to their supposed worship of ARtemis, the moon goddess, but I don't remember it well.
Answer: Yes, the Amazons most likely were a nomadic hunter-herder society. But There is real question whether this was possible in north central Asia Minor where the Greeks located them. If they made cities they were made of cloth, because weaving is the only technical skill applied to them. Cloth cities would have had no remains. Amazons worshipped Ares (their father). They also are said to worship Artemis who seems very like them. They should have worshipped Athena who might have allowed them to survive a little longer.
Question: Do you have any resources on the Lemnian women in Greek myth? How do they compare to the Amazon warrior women?
Answer: Information on the Lemnians is available at: Click Here. Most of this information is from the Voyage of the Argo by Appolonius of Rhodes. But Lemnos is mentioned frequently in Homer and Hesiod but not in this context. Homer does mention Hypsipyle in Book VII: "Many ships had come with wine from Lemnos, sent by Euneus the son of Jason, born to him by Hypsipyle. The son of Jason freighted them with ten thousand measures of wine, which he sent specially to the sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus." The women of Lemnos were involved in a single incident which really did not indicate a lifestyle that the Amazons had. But the two stories could have a common ancestor in a society in the past where women had more of a ruling function.
Question: I enjoyed reading your amazon history - thanks for your effort - Do you know the name of the movie that was produced about Amazons? I remember it as a child about a group of woman that ruled themselves and had men has there slaves.
Answer: Movies about Amazons:
Question: I need to know of some artists during the classical age on the Queen Amazon Penthesilea from the Aeneid
Answer: An image of Penthesilea is at Click here
Question: how did goddess hippolyta look
Answer: Click here. Of course she was an Amazon Queen and not a goddess.
Question: Why though are the possible matriarcal tribes whom have been hypothesized as such called 'Amazons' (when that is in South America) and Tunis is in No. Africa?
Answer: See Weinbaum, Batya, Islands of Women and Amazons, Representations and Realities. A good guess is that when the Sahara dried up over 6000 years ago the Amazons of Africa migrated to Crete. From there they emigrated to Asia Minor. Rumor is that there was then a diaspora but the location of their emigration was lost. Isabella of Spain wanted the Spanish explorers to look for Amazons and rewarded them well when they found evidences. Needless to say they "found" evidences all over the world. The Amazon River and California both received names resulting from Isabella's zeal.
Question: can you find me anythingb on hoplight's
Answer: The Hoplite was a heavily armed foot soldier that fought with other similarly armed warriors. They fought closely bunched in ordered rows and columns called phalanxes. They were armed with heavy shield, spear, and sword. These formations were used during the classical period and they made the old style of fighting based on the chariot ineffective.
Question: Who were the Agrionia?
Answer: Agrionia is a Greek religious festival in honor of Dionysus (wine-god that is celebrated annually at Orchomenus in Boeotia.
Question: Would the Queen of the Amazons have worn any sort of more symbolic, richer(?) or different types of armour and/or livery..aside from the "golden girdle"?
Are there any modern descendants of the amazons today? or did they all dissapate...and how so?
Answer: There are many images of Amazons but few, if any that were dependent upon direct observation. Descriptions have the same problem. We have reason to believe the image that are available are inaccurate, because Amazons were in reality either Hittites or Minoan Cretes. The identification of Amazons with Minoan Cretes is most likely at this time. 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.
Unfortunately the Minoan civilization was destroyed by the eruption of Thera in 1450 BCE. Over half the population of Crete lost their lives in this disaster. By the time of the Trojan war the majority of the population was Dorian and few Minoans remained. The Amazons may have been lost as well. There are stories of Amazons who survived the Trojan war but these stories are not well documented. There are also stories of an Amazon diaspora, but evidence is lacking. Herodotus noted women warriors among the Scythians and archeological evidence has been found, but it is not clear these warriors are related to the Amazons of myth.
Question: is there a sword which is traditional to the Amazon warrior in history?
Answer: The type of sword used by amazons is an interesting question. Here are some examples:
Question: I've looked through many of the sections on your site regarding the idea that Amazon women removed their right breast for better aim of spears and bow and arrows. Do you have any type of book or source you can suggest that gives a bit more insight as to whether it is a truth or myth?
Answer: If you study representations of Amazons in ancient art you find not a single Amazon with a breast removed. This story seems to come from an ancient interpretation of the name 'Amazon' as meaning without breast. Not only must you study about Amazons, but also you must study about the cultures that wrote about them. The Greeks seem to have used the stories of the Amazons to illustrate how women are not to behave. Most women would think of losing a breast as a serious punishment for misbehavior. This might disuade them from behaving like Amazons.
Question: I seem to be finding more myth concepts than truths. Also a lot of doubt that women could "possibly" even have had their own civiliation or even been good warriors. I personally think that part is probably the greatest myth.
Answer: There are truths associated with the Amazons, but we still do not know what they are. Right now I favor the idea that the source of the Amazon stories is that the Minoan warriors took priestesses with them to help them fight. These priestesses dramatized the Minoan goddesses' presence on the battlefield. The Mycenaeans wrote the stories to intimidate the Minoan warriors. Since the Mycenaeans ultimately defeated the Minoans we have only the Mycenaean stories to record this event. Other stories, such as the story of Pasiphae, also serve to humiliate the Minoan goddesses. Within the later Greek cultures the Amazons served as a general symbol for enemy. Other features of other enemies were then added on to the older characteristics.
Question: what did the amazon do with baby boys
Answer: The smartest thing would have been to raise them respectfully and train them to be productive and considerate citizens. They would then love their mothers and take care of them in their old age. Some stories indicate that they did a less intelligent thing and give them up to their fathers to raise. The boys then lost the advantage of a mother's care in their early years. Somewhat worse was the idea that they sold the boys into slavery. The Amazons would have got some money but the boys would have the humiliation of being slaves. Though children were definitely sold into slavery, this was not the practice of a responsible parent. Some unwanted children were abandoned to die, and though some might think the Amazons would do this, it was certainly a very wasteful action. Usually only babies who were seriously defective were exposed and this was because they would only require care and never be able to contribute to society. The stupidist thing for the Amazons to do was to make the boys slaves in their own society. By humiliating them with menial tasks and lowered status the Amazons would teach the boys to hate women. When they grew older they would seek opportunities to rape and abuse any women they were involved with.
Question: I am trying to do an Amazon-type persona for the SCA. What years would the Amazons have been active? Who would the descendants of the Amazon tribes have been?
Answer: My best guess is that Amazons were actually Minoan priestesses. In art and myth Amazons are treated more like mascots than members of a culture. These priestesses seem to have inspired the Minoan armies rather than actually fight. Their ritual dramatized the action of the goddesses on the enemy. Their tools of war are symbols of weapons and instruments of magic. The ax can be seen a butterfly on a stick which serves as a wand of transformation. The warriors had to be transformed from cherubs to heroes in order for victory to be won. Perhaps the warriors could look forward to sexual favors upon victory. If I am right the Amazons would have been active from about 3500 BCE to about 1500 BCE.
The Myceneans were able to subdue the Minoans only after the Minoan culture was devastated by the eruption of the Thera volcano in about 1650 BCE. They must have been subserviant to the Minoans for quite a while and regarded them as a great enemy. They took the mascot of the Minoans to be the general symbol for their enemies. Through the classical period this symbol was in common use, but the artists kept adapting the symbol to new enemies. Thus the garb of the Amazons changes constantly. The classical Greeks seem to have forgotten what the Minoans looked like and there is no correlation between the costumes pictured by the Minoans and the same costumes pictured by the classical Greeks. The classical Greeks put contemporary costumes on all their images. Thus you must deal with what Amazons might have really worn and what the classical Greeks pictured them as wearing. My guess is that the Amazons dressed in the garb of the snake goddess: flounced skirt, tight girdle, and vest-like garment that exposes the breasts.
At the time of Homer about a third of Crete was populated with Minoans. Some of the Minoans also migrated to Asia Minor with Sarpedon. There may also have been colonies of Minoans throughout the Mediterranean. But the Minoan culture was almost totally gone by the time of the Trojan war. The ancient Greeks collapsed the Minoan culture down to a single generation with a single ruler, Minos. This makes the decendants of the Minoans hard to trace.
Question: I am doing research on the amazons. I need to see some images of amazon head pieces (masks etc). Can you help me?
Answer: I do not think Amazons are pictured with masks and I doubt they ever wore them. But if they were originally Minoan priestesses as I think they you might want to consider that Minoan priestesses are sometimes shown with the head of a bee. Isopata seal ring
Question: Well,it's more a comment than a question. Your site is great, thought I don't believe all your answers are true. First I believe that not all the Amazons came from the south( Libya) but that the Libyans,the Anatolian and the Thermodontine Amazons were distinct societies, that the Thermodontine colonies hadn't been founded by the Libyan Amazons but by Amazons from Scythia. The Libyans made conquests in Western Asia Minor and the islands of Lemnos and Lesbos. I believe that the Amazons have roots in more countries than we think, that the Northern Amazons migrated to Scythia from India, then after a natural disaster moved to the shores of the Thermodon( around 1600BC) and erected the cities of Themiskyra, Lykastia and Chadesia. The Libyan Amazons I think were mostly native from Africa and that they had relations with the Northern Amazons. Libya wasn't the only cradle of the Amazon civilization. That India was the mother country of the Scythian Amazons and that the Scythian Amazons founded the Thermodontine colonies. I doubt that the Scythian had been in Scythia not before the Trojan War cause Scythia gave birth to the Thermodontine cities. Second it was Antiope and not Hippolyte who had been stolen by Theseus, A Midsummer dream just made confusion between those 2 queens.Well I'm better to stop before writing you a 13 feet alexandrin about my doubts of the historical veracity of some of your answers. I love your images, for texts I have doubts.Continue your good work but it seems to me too much based in the romanticism of the Renaissance.I also believe that the Amazon Empire ended at the time of the Mithridatic Wars.
Answer: It is not enough to believe the answers are not true. Rather you must come up with evidence to the contrary. You can try to find a reference in a book that corresponds. But a reference in an ancient source is far better than a recent one. Unless there is archaeological evidence. But no archaeological evidence has yet been found. Women warriors have been found in Scythia, but it is had to correlate these women with the literary references. In fact a carefull study of the Amazons leads mostly to dead ends. The references are not consistent and there is no helpful archeology. It seems to me that the sories of the Amazons begin with the conflicts between Minoans and Mycenaeans. It seems to me that the Mycenaeans misinterpreted Minoan priestesses as women warriors when in fact they were dramatizing the behavior of goddesses. In view of this belief I do not see how you can confuse my writing with the romanticism of the Renaissance. Hopefully you will find the time to chase down the references for some of your ideas. They would be much more valuable then.
Question: Regarding the references to Amazon cutting or burning off the right breast- many women today shoot bows and throw javelins. They have two breasts. Have any studies of modern female athleates influenced this belief?
Answer: The notion of the Amazon's cutting off a breast is pretty silly. Breasts are very important to a woman's identity and hardly anyone wants to lose one. The story is probably a silly interpretation of the word 'amazon' as meaning without breast. Of course shooting an arrow in the nude would be very painful if the string caught your breast. But Amazons probably did not fight any more nude that the males. The wearing of a cuirass was common practice. Not only would this armour protect the breast but it would also tend to flatten it so it was not so obvious. This would work on both breasts.
Question: What was involved in the suposed initiation rites of girls to womanhood, since suposedly the removal of the breast is only fictional? Was it somewhat sexual in nature?
Answer: Myths are not fictional. They are not supported by other facts however. Many people believed these stories were true. This belief may have had an impact that a fiction would not have had. In the Minoan culture girls were initiated. Young girls were sent on a hike over rocky terrain with bare feet. Inevitably their feet were cut. This injury was to represent the pains they would suffer in child birth. Some cults also seem to have had an initiation rite where the girl was switched on her bare bottom. One of these rituals was illustrated at Pompeii. The girls at Pompeii exercised naked in front of the boys as a sort of initiation rite. The most relevant intiation rite involved the bride in Greece. The wedding involved a precession of the bride to the groom's home where she immediately had sex with her husband behind closed doors, while being serenaded by the wedding party.
More eastern cultures had a more severe rite. A maiden would confine herself to a temple and have sex with any man who chose to. She would remain in the temple until she finally became pregnant. The Greeks did not participate in this practice, except for the slaves of Aphrodite. Young girl slaves were sometimes donated to the temple of Aphrodite where they served as temple prostitutes. This was especially true at the Temple of Aphrodite at Corinth.
Question: What did prostitutes wear?
Answer: Slaves were often not allowed to wear clothes to limit their ability to escape. Prostitutes in ancient Greece were slaves who went naked. Hetaerae were entertainers and not prostitutes. They wore the garments of their country of origin.
Question:Why were women not allowed to participate in war?
Answer: It is not that women were not allowed to participate, it is that they were not allowed to prepare to be warriors, nor were they allowed to be part of an attacking army. The Amazons did this and this was considered the opposite of the way things should be done. Men thought that the role of women was at home and that the men should take care of affairs outside the home. Women were supposed to bare and raise children and do other domestic duties such as weaving, cooking, and carrying water. It was the way women raised the male children that allowed the children to grow up to be great warriors. This was the main way that they participated in war. But they also had to edure the effects of war. If a city were captured the men were killed and the women enslaved. In defense of a city women could sometimes be found alongside the men.
Question: When did the Amazons live?
Answer: There are several sets of Amazons in Greek myth and they have to be considered separately:
Comment: So, you're publishing an article titled "Amazon Women in Ancient Greek Art" and you're illustrating it with BXXXXX (A doll from Mattel not named because of the way Mattel defends its copyright) dolls? Really? How about actually using, maybe, ancient Greek art?
Response: There are no Mattel dolls anywhere imaged on my site. Their use would be distracting to the message of my site. What you see imaged are other dolls that are used by adults for reasons of fashion (These dolls are 16 inch while Mattel BXXXXX dolls are 11.5 inch). I do not use ancient Greek art because each Greek artifact is the property of a museum somewhere and each illustration must be used by permission. This can be expensive and a lot of work to get permission. I do have some images of artifacts that I own. But this also is an expensive option. I have numerous illustrations that I executed myself in the manner of the ancient Greeks. This is also time consuming but I plan to do more of this in the future.
You might also consider the challenge of illustrating ancient Greek Amazons. There are no known comtemporary images of Amazons. The images from classical Greece are anywhere from 500 years to 1000 years after the fact. And there are not that many of them. The further you get from the reality of the Amazons the more fantasy is incorporated into their images. In reality the images that I present are not as bad as most. But they are certainly not the last word. My hope is that they stimulate the reader to read more and then ask a question that will stimulate further research. Recently, up until this letter other ancient Greek women have been more interesting to my readers. Your reading could change that.
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RWAAG, Amazons, Questions about Amazons