Their reputation among the ancient Greeks was not at all good: the Amazons were regarded as ferocious and fearless warriors who rode into battle on horseback armed with bows and arrows. They wore pants, got tattoos, and took drugs during orgasms – or so the story went.
In short: “The Greeks were shocked because the society of the ancient Greeks was patriarchal, dominated by men,” American historian Adrienne Meyer told DW. “Women kept the house, did the weaving and took care of the children.”
In a society where women had equal rights, it would have been difficult for patriarchy to take action. This is why the Amazons were demonized by claims that they enslaved men and murdered male offspring. But the Greeks also held them in great fascination, immortalizing warrior women in statues, frescoes, and vases. There were even Amazon dolls for children.
The best way for an ancient Greek hero to prove his bravery was to defeat a powerful Amazon queen. Take Theseus, king of Athens, who is said to have kidnapped the chief Amazon, Hippolyta, and made her his wife — a story taken up 2,000 years later by English playwright William Shakespeare in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Or Achilles is said to have killed Penthesilea in battle, but he removed her helmet as she lay dying and ultimately regretted his act. There are many variations of these stories – yet from the perspective of the male storytellers, the outcome is always clear: in the end, the men prevail.
Fact or Fiction: Did the Amazons Really Exist?
The Amazons were first mentioned in writing by the Greek poet Homer in his epic “The Iliad” about the Trojan War (circa 8th century BC), and others followed. For a long time, the Amazons were widely dismissed as mythological characters born from the imagination of ancient storytellers.
But according to Meyer, recent spectacular archaeological discoveries in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan and other parts of Central Asia provide evidence that female warriors actually existed at the time and in the places where the Greeks wrote their mythological stories. “So far, more than 300 graves of women buried with arrows, axes and swords, some of whom were war injuries, have been excavated,” she says.
The inspiration for the Amazons were the mounted archer women of the various Scythian tribes who lived around the Black Sea and on the plains of Eurasia, Meyer explains: “The Greeks began learning about Scythian women as they settled and established colonies around the Black Sea. The lifestyle of the nomadic tribes was egalitarian, and women participated in the same activities as men.”
However, the origin of the name “Amazon” remains uncertain. Meyer speculates that it may have come from the Old Persian “ha-mazon”, meaning “female warrior.” Another possibility is that it is derived from the Circassian word “amazen”, meaning “mother of the forest or moon.”
A historian named Hellanicus (5th century BC) attempted to give a different meaning to the word foreign in Ancient Greek and translated it as “without breasts”. This led to the widespread misconception that the Amazons removed their right breast to facilitate drawing a bow or throwing a spear. This is complete nonsense, says Meyer: “This bizarre idea was criticized even in ancient times, and no ancient artist ever depicted a single-breasted Amazon.”
Gay ‘man-haters’ who kill little boys?
Scholars of antiquity nevertheless continued to tell absurd stories about the Amazons. Thus, the belief spread that in their all-female community, they tolerated only girls and abandoned, mutilated or even killed boys after birth.
This raises the question: How did men reproduce if they were not welcomed into their ranks? According to Meyer, ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Strabo wrote that groups of women warriors met with other tribes that also included men. “Men and women pair up and have sex, then go their separate ways,” she says.
However, none of these accounts mention killing or mutilation: “When warrior women had children, they kept the girls and sent the newborn boys back to the father’s tribe,” Meyer says. This led scholars in the early modern period to view them as heartless mothers who easily gave away their children. However, as Meyer points out, this was actually a widespread practice among nomadic peoples in ancient times: a son raised by another tribe was promised good relations in the future.
Claims that the Amazons were homosexual first appeared in the early 20th century. Russian writer Marina Tsvetaeva suggested that the Amazons were symbols of lesbian love in ancient times, an idea later adopted by other writers and historians. But Meyer disagrees: “The Greeks were not embarrassed about homosexuality but there are no ancient reports that the Amazons were homosexual.”
Did Amazon invent pants?
Pants are a common outfit these days. But in ancient Greece, people wore garments made of large, rectangular pieces of fabric that were artfully folded and fastened together with pins or belts. Meyer says that the invention of the alien-looking “pants” was attributed to three different warrior queens. Although this has not been proven, “They were certainly part of the core identity of mythological and real warrior women. Very practical clothing for their difficult lives on horseback in harsh lands and climates! Trousers were absolutely essential for riding horses to prevent abrasions.”
In ancient artworks, Amazons are often depicted wearing a tunic and pants or leggings made of wool or hemp. They were not only ahead of their time in terms of clothing, but they also decorated themselves with tattoos: “Since the time of Herodotus (5th century BC), naturally mummified bodies of men and women, buried in permafrost, have been recovered from Scythian tombs. Their skin is decorated with real and fantastic animals, including deer, horses, tigers and griffins,” says Meyer. To the Greeks, this was another sign of how “uncivilized” the Amazons were, as tattoos were used to mark and humiliate prisoners and slaves.
drugs by campfire
Was it the Scythians or the Amazons who used drugs to get intoxicated? In the reports of the ancient poet Herodotus, we read: “They sit in a circle around the fire and throw this plant on the coals. As it burns, people breathe in the smoke and become intoxicated, just as the Greeks get intoxicated with wine. They keep throwing more into the fire and become even more intoxicated and dance and sing around the fire.” According to Meyer, this plant was probably hemp. “Archaeologists have discovered individual hemp burning kits in the graves of women and men – small charcoal braziers, some made of gold, containing burnt hemp seeds.”
modern day amazon
There have always been strong, independent women. For Mayer, such women epitomize “the spirit of the Amazon.”
Historians say, “Sometimes they remain hidden and sometimes they emerge from the shadows of persecution and into the popular consciousness.”
In popular culture, female warriors have been immortalized in films and series such as “The Hunger Games” or “Game of Thrones.” In real life, says Meyer, they fight as soldiers today — including in Ukraine, “the ancient homeland of real warrior women and the legendary Amazon.”
This article was originally written in German.