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Shvoong Home>Social Sciences>Anthropology>The AMAZONS (SAUROMATAE) Summary

The AMAZONS (SAUROMATAE)

Book Summary   by:Naiman    
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The AMAZONS (SAUROMATAE) The Amazons have been an enduring Hellenic legend for better than 2800 years. They were said to be a tribe of woman warriors inhabiting the steppe region around the Sea of Azov (other variants of the tale speak of the upper Danube, or the Caucasus, as their homeland). Sourced out of a culture noted for the extreme lengths to which it repressed its women - treating them as little more than domesticated animals - the tale of the Amazonoi is fairly clearly an elaborate version of the "upside-down" story; a tall tale relating a circumstance in which every normal mode of society is turned on it''s head. According to the myth they met a Scythian tribe, the Gargarii, once a year to mate and kept only female children, selling or giving the boys to neighboring tribes, or in some cases mutilating them and retaining them as slaves. The Amazons were supposedly ruled by two queens, one for internal matters and one for war. A number of complex tales grew up around the idea, eventually having them invade Asia Minor, found the city of Ephesus, retreat back into the north, and at other times interact with every Hellenic warrior-hero from Herakles through Theseus to Alexander. Why, then, do I bother including them in this archive? Because there may be a germ of truth to the story. I don''t believe in the existence of an all-female tribe of warriors, but recent archeological evidence in the region has supported the idea of at least some steppe-dwelling females achieving status as warriors. Then too, the Central Asian Massagetae, ruled at an early date by the warrior-queen Tomyris lends some credence to the idea. Herodotus tells us that the Scythians knew of the Amazons, refering to them as Oiorpata ("man-slayers"), and while he is as often called the "Father of Lies" as he is the "Father of History", he apparently lived among the Scythians for a time, and may very well collected first-hand data about what that people believed concerning their part of the world. So, here is a listing of Amazonian queens, with a bit of commentary as well. Take it with whatever degree of skepticism you feel is necessary. · Harmonia · A legendary ancestor-queen ascribed to the Amazons by the Romans. · Otere · Lyssippe · According to Greek sources, Lyssipe built the city of Themiscyra by Thermodon (the Sea of Azov) and introduced the worship of "Artemis" (perhaps the Anatolian mother-goddess Kybyle ?). · Valaska · Dlasta · Melanippe · Ephasia Hippo · Ephasia was the mythological founder of the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. · Andromache.............................................c. late 1400''s ? · Eurayle.
..............................................mid 1300''s · Hippolyta..........................................fl. c. 1300 · In myth, Hippolyta''s belt was stolen by Herakles, sparking a Graeco-Amazonian war. · Antiope............................................fl. c. 1280 · According to Herodotus, Antiope abdicated and fled with the Athenian king Theseus, leading to an invasion of Greece by the Amazons and their Scythian allies. There is some (but not much) archeological evidence to support the idea of an invasion of Attica from the north during this period - this may be connected to the roughly contemporaneous invasions of the "People of the Sea" at about this time). · Molpadia ("Death Song")............................fl. c. 1280 · Clete · Penthesilea........................................fl. c. mid 1200''s · Penthesilea led the Amazons in support of her ally, Priam of Troy, and was killed by the Achaean hero Achilles. · Antianara.......................................fl. later 1200''s · ?? · Marpesia the Invader...............................fl. c. 800''s with... · Lampedo............................................fl. c. 800''s · Marpesia was said to have led an invasion of Syria and Anatolia; this may be connected to the roughly contemporaneous Cimennian ear East. · Orithia..............................................late 800''s · ?? · Thalestris.........................................fl. c. 330 · Popular legend of the period stated that Alexander the Great was visited by the Amazon queen Thalestris during his Persian campaign. She stayed with him 13 days and nights in the hopes that the great warrior would father a daughter on her. Reports are conflicting - one of Alexander''s generals, Lysimachus, laughed whenever he heard the story told, and other writers dismissed it as "complete fiction". · The later "history" of the Amazons is unknown. According to tradition, they intermarried with a Scythian tribe to form a new egalitarian society, the Sauromatae. From "Sauromatae" we get the name of the second great Iranic nation (after the Scythians) to rule the steppe - the Sarmathians
Published: March 28, 2007   
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