The legends of female warriors are some of the oldest legends in the ancient world. The reflections of these legends, initially in Greek and then in Roman literature, in the form of stories or brief mentions, are extremely numerous and varied. Roman authors mainly repeated the information of the Greeks, without adding anything new to the literary Amazonian tradition that developed in Greece. These legends and medieval writers were drawn magnetically. They are loved now.
But, speaking about the Amazons now, we mean either the representatives of the "weaker" sex with developed muscles and weapons in their hands, or, in the modern context, - independent and free women. Where did the Amazon legends come from? What are these - vague memories of those archaic times when people lived under matriarchy or really existing "female" peoples of the ancient era? Who are they - warrior maidens from the distant past? What is their life, lifestyle features? Do not judge strictly, the article will contain somewhat fragmentary information about the Amazons, too many centuries have separated us from them.
The term "Amazons" first appears in an ancient Greek epic that tells of the warlike Amazons who live in Scythia. Their father was the god of war Ares, and their mother was the goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite. The word Homer called them means "equal to men." For the ancient Greeks, the Amazons were no less real than any other inhabitants of the "northern lands".
If we move a little into the realm of myths and legends, then we can recall that Hercules had to snatch the belt from the queen of the Amazons, completing his ninth feat, in which he was very successful, by the way, not only completing the task, but also introducing his friend “on the tricks” of Theseus to Queen Hippolyta. He contributed, unknowingly, to the emergence of one of the most beautiful myths of Ancient Greece. Alexander the Great dreamed of the love of Theseus and Hippolyta, unsuccessfully looking for his Amazon in the Scythian steppes.
However, there are many other variants of the origin of the word "amazon". For example, "a masso" (from "masso" - to touch, touch) could mean "not touching" (to men). The concept of "Amazon" could theoretically be derived from the Iranian "ha-mazan" (warriors). And if in the similar-sounding Greek phrase "a mazos" the particle "a" is considered amplifying, then this phrase would be approximately translated as "full-breasted", which is more suitable for the surviving drawings.
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According to Dionysius (mid-2nd century BC, Alexandria), retold by Diodorus Siculus, the most ancient kingdom of the Amazons was located in Libya (North Africa) and disappeared long before the Trojan War. According to them, many warlike tribes lived in Libya, where women served in the military, and men were engaged in housework and raising children. Under the leadership of Queen Mirina, the Libyan Amazons conquered numerous neighboring tribes, passed through Egypt, and conquered all of Asia Minor and Syria. The warriors who died during these campaigns are buried in three huge mounds, which are still called the mounds of the Amazons. These mounds are located 50 km from Algeria. Mirina herself with most of her army died in the battle with the Thracian king Pug and was buried on the Black Sea coast, in northern Turkey. According to legend,some of the Amazons remained to live where their great leader was buried, and some returned to Libya.
Diodorus of Siculus also writes about the Amazons who lived in Scythia, on the banks of the river known to us as Tanais. According to his stories, Tanais is the name of the son of the Amazon, Lysippa, who fell in love with his mother and drowned in the river to avoid the fall. After this tragedy, Lysippus took her daughters to the valley of the Termodont River (southern Black Sea, modern Turkey) and built the huge city of Themiskir there. From there they made military campaigns throughout Asia Minor, even reaching Syria and Egypt. According to legends, the Amazons founded cities such as Ephesus, Smyrna (now Turkish Izmir), Sinop and Paphos. Lysippa was a brave warrior who conquered the tribes up to the Don, and her daughter even surpassed her, having conquered many nations as far as Thrace. Even in ancient times, the Amazons proved that women are capable of fighting as well as men.
As the legends say, the daughter of Lysippa was not only a brave warrior, but also a wise ruler. Under her, Amazon girls from the age of 7 began to study literacy and the mysteries of healing, they were developed physically, taught to endure the hardships of war and hunt. The Amazons, who lived on the banks of the Thermodont River, were the only peoples around them who knew how to ride and had iron weapons, which gave them a significant advantage during battles. Of the weapons, the Amazons had a bow, an ax and a spear, as well as a crescent-shaped shield.
The main weapon of the Amazons was considered "sagaris" - the Scythian name for an ax with a double blade, known to the Greeks as "pelectus" or "labrys". The latter was widespread on the island of Crete in the Bronze Age (3 millennium BC), symbolizing the feminine principle.
In addition to the battle ax, the Amazons actively used bows and arrows and small spears - a typical "Scythian set". They rarely fought on foot - the striking force of their army was cavalry, which also cannot fail to suggest the Scythian tribes.
Considering the supposed "homeland" of the Amazons - the Don steppes and the coast of the Sea of Azov, the Asian theory of their origin looks most likely.
The Amazon state had a well-structured army capable of putting up to 120,000 well-trained female horsemen against the enemy at any time. The high priestess had great power in the country. In addition, the state had written laws, which, according to legend, were adopted by many peoples, including the Hebrew.
The Amazons never went into battle in the open. Their raids were always distinguished by their suddenness and crushing lightning speed, and their distant campaigns through the cities of the ancient world were dictated by the peculiarity of their way of life. The half-starved life in the trans-Volga steppes forced them to mine in rich cities not gold and luxurious utensils, but supplies of food, mainly bread.
All legends, however, agree that the Amazon society was "ethnos gynaikokratoumenoil" - a world ruled by women and no place for men. The famous Greek geographer Strabo wrote that once a year the Amazons raided the Caucasian tribe of the Gargarians (the ancestors of the Ingush and Chechens) with a very specific goal: to conceive children from them. Boys born from such a "union" were returned to their fathers at best, and killed at worst. The girls were taught to work in the fields, hunt and fight; thus, new representatives of the tribe of warring women were born. Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the fair-haired Amazons are the latest invention of artists. Considering the ways of extending their kind, the ancient warriors should have had a typical oriental appearance.
The ancient authors have retained for us only some of the names of the warriors: Hippolyta and Phalester, Anthion and Penfesilia - it was they who stood at the head of the Amazon troops who made conquest campaigns and ruled over many peoples.
The brave Amazons also left their mark in the famous Trojan War. Legend tells how one day, while hunting, Hippolyta, the ruler of the Amazons was accidentally killed by her sister, Penfesilia. Tormented by remorse, the new ruler decided to part with her life - as befits a real Amazon, that is, in battle. The sortie she organized against the Greeks was at first successful, but then Achilles intervened in the battle, who knocked Penfesilia from his horse and pierced her with a spear. Seeing that the warrior he had killed was a beautiful girl, the warrior was saddened and he himself carried her body from the battlefield. The Battle of Troy, according to the legends, claimed the lives of 12 Amazons, who were buried with honors by the Trojans.
The Attic orator Isocrates (436-338 BC) tells about the battle of the Greeks with the Amazons. The military power of the Amazon state was so great that they easily laid siege to Athens.
According to him, the Amazons lost this battle, many of them died, including their leader Antion, after which the confrontation between the Amazons and the Athenians came to naught. The battle of the inhabitants of Athens with the Amazons gave rise to a separate genre of ancient Greek art - the so-called "Amazonomachy", that is, the tradition of depicting warlike Amazons on the battlefield (drawings on terracotta, marble carving). An example is a marble bas-relief from the Pantheon in Athens.
An interesting story of Herodotus about the appearance of the Amazons in the Northern Black Sea region. Having defeated the Amazons in the battle at the river. Thermodont, the Greeks loaded the captives on ships to take them to Greece. However, on the way, the brave warriors managed to free themselves and captured the ship. Not knowing how to manage it, the Amazons trusted the current and sailed to the lands where the Scythian tribes lived, that is, to the Meotian (Azov) Sea. They began to plunder the lands of the Scythians, and they entered into battle with unexpected guests.
However, realizing that their opponents were women, the Scythians decided not to fight with them anymore. They sent their young men to the Amazons and soon they began to live together. However, the Amazons refused the offer to move to the Scythians, saying that they could not get along with the Scythian women who are too different from them, the Amazons, and offered another option: “If you want to have us as your wives, then go to your parents, take your share property, return to us, and we will live separately."
This is how the family of Sauromats appeared, whose traditions in many ways resemble those of the Amazons: Sauromatian women rode horseback, fought, and wore men's clothing. The girl could not get married without killing at least one enemy, which is why many of them died unmarried.
The story of Herodotus has every reason to be considered true, so its confirmation can be found in another author - Pseudo-Hippocrates, who in his work "On Air, Waters and Locations" relied on personal knowledge, and not on the work of Herodotus. Pseudo-Hippocrates supplements the story of Herodotus with new details - a Sauromat woman could get married only after she killed three enemies, and after marriage she ceases to participate in military campaigns, but only until a massive campaign of the entire tribe begins.
As time goes on, there are fewer and fewer references to Amazons. In the II century. AD they disappear from the historical arena. Scythians and Sarmatians scattered by this time in the space from the Black Sea to Kazakhstan.
The old traditions of matriarchy, miraculously preserved until the new era, could not resist the campaigns of Alexander the Great, the mixing of cultures and the great migration of peoples in the IV-VII centuries. It was then that the Amazons - a unique mixture of half-truth and half-fiction - ceased to exist and forever went into the realm of legends.