This military voyage across North Africa, the Middle East and Asia Minor took place even before the Trojan War. Queen Mirina led her combat friends to feats in the name of glory, as well as to conquer new lands. In her fate there were many unusual and glorious: she made friends with the god of Egypt and made the peoples tremble, defeated enemy armies and founded cities. What could be true in her life and what could not?
We can draw the story of this woman's life from the scant information that the ancient Greek writer Diodorus Siculus told us.
To new shores
The ancient historian said that the tribe ruled by Myrina lived on the island of Hespera, located in North Africa. Men watched over the children and ran the household, and women led them and, if necessary, fought. Over time, peaceful life began to tire them: the island was clearly too small for energetic ladies, they had nowhere to turn around. The few neighbors that lived next to them on Hesper, they conquered quite quickly, sparing only the city of Mene. They did this for two reasons: firstly, the Moon was worshiped here, and the Amazons were also considered priestesses of this cult. And secondly, there was an active volcano nearby, and I quite successfully "persuaded" it not to erupt.
The brave but superstitious warriors did not dare to anger the forces of nature. After capturing the island, the Amazons cleared the adjacent lands of hostile tribes and founded the city of Herrones. It became the base for preparations for further conquests.
At Herrones, Myrina began to gather troops. There were 30 thousand cavalry and 3 thousand infantry. The cavalry was the main striking force, since the women understood that it would be problematic for them to compete with men in hand-to-hand combat on foot. A large number of cavalry in those days was considered an advantage over armies, the main forces of which consisted of infantry. Walking Amazons were needed mainly to guard the camp, collect trophies and escort prisoners. The army moved into a country inhabited by Atlanteans. According to Diodorus, they lived somewhere in the Northern Mediterranean. The inhabitants of Atlantis brought their troops to the battlefield.
Mirina calculated everything correctly, and the very first blow of the Amazon cavalry mixed the ranks of the enemy infantry, putting it to flight. True, few were able to escape. After that, the queen ordered the massacre of the entire male population in the captured Atlantean city of Kerne. She ordered to destroy it to the ground, and take women and children into slavery.
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Knowing the strength and anger of the warrior, the rest of the cities of Atlantis surrendered to her without a fight. Then Mirina showed mercy - on the site of the destroyed Kern, a city was founded, which was named after her.
Having fallen under the rule of the Amazons, the Atlanteans asked them for help against other warriors who called themselves Gorgons. They posed a great danger to the conquered Atlanteans, and Mirina decided to help them.
How many fellow warriors killed in the battle of the Amazons is unknown, but it is reported that there were 3 thousand prisoners. They were guarded by foot Amazons, who had neither combat experience nor, apparently, elementary caution. At night, the Gorgons managed to disarm and kill the guards, and then attacked the cavalry warriors who were celebrating the victory. Those, though not immediately, but gave them a worthy rebuff, and then, thanks to their numerical superiority, defeated the rebellious gorgons. Only now they didn't take prisoners …
At the burial site of the killed fighting friends Mirina ordered to build three large mounds.
Let's go East
Then Libya is listed in the gallery of the queen's victories. But Ancient Egypt managed to conclude a treaty of friendship with Mirina. It was signed by the god Horus, who ruled the country at that time.
The army of the Amazons moved on and defeated the nomads - the ancestors of the Arabs, after which Syria was next. She, too, could not resist the strength of the warriors and was subdued. And the enterprising Cilicians managed to appease them with gifts and the promise of complete obedience. Mirina kept them free. Asia Minor lay ahead, and the Amazons began to conquer it. Many countries fell, in which the queen founded new cities and gave them the names of Amazon companions. She did not forget herself either, and in Anatolia there was another settlement - the "namesake" of the queen.
The brave women and the island of Lesvos were not spared. True, when approaching it, their fleet fell into a storm, and Mirina, in order to propitiate the heavens, made a vow - to build the sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods. The higher forces allowed the naval paratroopers to reach the coast. There they rested, gained strength and conquered all of Lesvos. In memory of this, two new towns appeared - Mytilene and Samothrace. In the latter, the queen ordered the founding of the promised sanctuary.
With each battle, fewer and fewer faithful warriors remained in the ranks - veterans of Mirina's army. And the replenishment, consisting of representatives of the conquered tribes, was not reliable. This was the reason for the terrible defeat that the Amazon army suffered when it entered the battle with the united forces of the Thracian king Pug, who was helped by the Scythian ruler Sipil. They put on the battlefield the staunch Thracian infantry and cavalry, which were not inferior to the Amazons in fighting qualities.
The battle was long and hard. The warriors were defeated, having lost most of their combat friends in battle, among whom was Mirina …
The women had to leave everything they had won and return to their native lands.
There they again began to have problems with the gorgons, who recovered their strength and, under the leadership of Queen Medusa, threatened the Amazons with new troubles. However, Medusa was killed by the son of Zeus, Perseus, about which a myth was later formed. By the way, the Gorgon queen fought in snakeskin armor …
The final point in the existence of the tribes of women warriors was put by another son of the main god of Olympus - Hercules, who, not enduring the humiliation of men by women, personally killed everyone - both the Amazons and the Gorgons. Hesper's Island and Lake Tritonis disappeared after a devastating earthquake.
Either girls or visions?
Scientists still argue whether Mirina existed in the world and whether there was a real prototype of the queen of the Amazons who made a military campaign. Or this whole story from beginning to end was invented by an ancient Greek historian.
The fact is that there is no evidence to support these events. And even the geography of the campaign itself is very vague, and many conquered lands are generally difficult to identify (suffice it to mention Atlantis). In addition, many pundits are simply sickened by the idea that women could create a strong military organization capable of winning battles against men and making great conquests. Most of this is attributed to mythology. But…
If we take into account the fact that Libyan women in ancient times really had great rights (they could participate in battles and campaigns, as well as choose their own husbands), then the appearance of a certain strong personality capable of capturing other warrior women with them becomes quite possible. And hence the echoes of the legends and legends about the queen of the Amazons, which eventually developed into the story of Mirin. Women who seized power in their tribe could make two or three successful forays around the neighborhood, but they would hardly have been enough for more.
We must pay tribute to the author of the Amazonian epic - he did not attribute the conquest of Egypt to the warriors, explaining this by an agreement with the god Horus. Nice excuse! In reality, the female army would be very problematic to capture one of the strongest states at that time. Well, taking into account the development of writing and science in Ancient Egypt, such a clash should have been somehow reflected in the sources of this country, which, of course, is not. That is why Diodorus explained everything that happened by an agreement with Horus.
In conclusion, it should be said that the story of the warrior Mirina is rather a beautiful fairy tale than a historical fact. However, her name nevertheless lives on in reality: it is worn by a city and a village in modern Greece, and the genus of butterflies was also named so.
Oleg TARAN