Wounded Amazon of the Capitoline Museums, RomeA Greek fighting an Amazon; detail from paintedsarcophagus found in Italy, 350–325 BCE"Amazon preparing for battle" (QueenAntiope orHippolyta) or "Armed Venus", byPierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert, 1860, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
TheAmazons (Ancient Greek:ἈμαζόνεςAmazónes, singularἈμαζώνAmazōn; inLatinAmāzon,-ŏnis) were a people inGreek mythology, portrayed in a number of ancientepic poems and legends, such as theLabours of Heracles, theArgonautica and theIliad. They were female warriors and hunters, known for their physical agility, strength, archery, riding skills, and the arts of combat. Their society was closed to men and they raised only their daughters, returning their sons to their fathers with whom they would only socialize briefly in order to reproduce.[1][2]
Courageous and fiercely independent, the Amazons, commanded by their queen, regularly undertook extensive military expeditions into the far corners of the world, fromScythia toThrace,Asia Minor, and theAegean Islands, reaching as far asArabia andEgypt.[3] Besides military raids, the Amazons are also associated with the foundation of temples and the establishment of numerous ancient cities likeEphesos,Cyme,Smyrna,Sinope,Myrina,Magnesia,Pygela, etc.[4][5]
The texts of the original myths envisioned the homeland of the Amazons at the periphery of the then-known world. Various claims to the exact place ranged from provinces in Asia Minor (Lycia,Caria, etc.) to the steppes around theBlack Sea. However, authors most frequently referred toPontus innorthern Anatolia, on the southern shores of the Black Sea, as the independent Amazon kingdom where the Amazon queen resided at her capitalThemiscyra, on the banks of theThermodon river.[6]
Decades of archaeological discoveries of burial sites of female warriors, including royalty, in theEurasian Steppes suggest that thehorse cultures of theScythian,Sarmatian, andHittite peoples likely inspired the Amazon myth.[7][8] In 2019, a grave with multiple generations of female Scythian warriors, armed and in golden headdresses, was found nearVoronezh in southwestern Russia.[9]
The origin of the word is uncertain.[10] It may be derived from anIranianethnonym*ha-mazan- 'warriors', a word attested indirectly through a derivation, a denominal verb inHesychius of Alexandria's gloss"ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι" ("hamazakaran: 'to make war' in Persian"), where it appears together with theIndo-Iranian root*kar- 'make'.[10]
It may alternatively be a Greek word descended from*n̥-mn̥gʷ-yō-nós 'manless, without husbands' (alpha privative combined with a derivation from*man- cognate withProto-Balto-Slavic*mangjá-, found in Czechmuž) has been proposed, an explanation deemed "unlikely" byHjalmar Frisk. A further explanation proposes Iranian *ama-janah 'virility-killing' as source.[11]
Among theancient Greeks, the termAmazon was popularlyfolk etymologized as originating from the Greekἀμαζός,amazos ('breastless'), from -a ('without') andmazos, a variant ofmastos ('breast'),[12] connected with anetiological tradition once claimed byMarcus Justinus who alleged that Amazons had their rightbreast cut off orburnt out.[13] There is no indication of such a practice in ancient works of art,[14] in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although one is frequently covered.[15] According toPhilostratus, Amazon babies were not fed just with the right breast.[16] AuthorAdrienne Mayor suggests that the false etymology led to the myth.[14][17]
Herodotus used the termsAndroktones (Ἀνδροκτόνες) 'killers/slayers of men' or 'of husbands' andAndroleteirai (Ἀνδρολέτειραι) 'destroyers of men, murderesses'. Amazons are calledAntianeirai (Ἀντιάνειραι) 'equivalent to men' andAeschylus used the termStyganor (Στυγάνωρ) 'those who loathe all men'.[18]
In his workPrometheus Bound and inThe Suppliants, Aeschylus referred to the Amazons as 'the unwed, flesh-devouring Amazons' (...τὰς ἀνάνδρους κρεοβόρους τ᾽ Ἀμαζόνας). In theHippolytus tragedy,Phaedra callsHippolytus, 'the son of the horse-loving Amazon' (...τῆς φιλίππου παῖς Ἀμαζόνος βοᾷ Ἱππόλυτος...). In hisDionysiaca,Nonnus calls the Amazons of DionysusAndrophonus (Ἀνδροφόνους) 'men slaying'.[19][20]Herodotus stated that in the Scythian language, the Amazons were calledOiorpata, which he explained as being fromoior 'man' andpata 'to slay'.
The ancient Greeks never had any doubts that the Amazons were, or had been, real. Not the only people enchanted by warlike women of nomadic cultures, such exciting tales also come from ancient Egypt, Persia, India, and China. Greek heroes of old had encounters with the queens of their martial society and fought them. However, their original home was not exactly known, thought to be in the obscure lands beyond thecivilized world.[21] As a result, many classical scholars consider Amazons to be entirely fictional figures, invented by Greek men to serve as "anti-women" or to symbolize Persians.[22] Some authors preferred comparisons to cultures of Asia Minor or evenMinoan Crete. The most obvious historical candidates areLycia andScythia andSarmatia in line with the account byHerodotus. In hisHistories (5th century BCE) Herodotus claims that theSauromatae (predecessors of theSarmatians), who ruled the lands between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, arose from a union of Scythians and Amazons.[23]
Herodotus also observed rather unusual customs among theLycians of southwest Asia Minor. The Lycians obviously followedmatrilineal rules of descent, virtue, and status. They named themselves along their maternal family line and a child's status was determined by the mother's reputation. This remarkably high esteem of women and legal regulations based on maternal lines, still in effect in the 5th century BCE in the Lycian regions that Herodotus had traveled to, suggested to him the idea that these people were descendants of the mythical Amazons.[24]
Modern historiography no longer relies exclusively on textual and artistic material, but also on the vast archaeological evidence of over a thousand nomad graves from steppe territories from the Black Sea all the way to Mongolia. Discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons (bows and arrows, quivers, and spears) prove that women warriors were not merely figments of imagination, but the product of theScythian andSarmatian horse-centered lifestyle, however it is not known for certain if these people were the inspiration for the Amazons of Greek mythology.[25][26]
Early records refer to two events in which Amazons appeared prior to theTrojan War (before 1250 BCE). Within theepic context,Bellerophon, Greek hero, and grandfather of the brothers and Trojan War veteransGlaukos and Sarpedon, faced Amazons during his stay inLycia, when KingIobates sent Bellerophon to fight the Amazons, hoping they would kill him, yet Bellerophon slew them all. The youthful KingPriam ofTroy fought on the side of thePhrygians, who were attacked by Amazons at theSangarios River.[30]
There are Amazon characters inHomer'sTrojan War epic poem, theIliad, one of the oldest surviving texts in Europe (around 8th century BCE).The now lost epicAethiopis (probably byArctinus of Miletus, 6th century BCE), like theIliad and several other epics, is one of the works that in combination form theTrojan War Epic Cycle. In one of the few references to the text, an Amazon force under queenPenthesilea, who was ofThracian birth, came to join the ranks of the Trojans afterHector's death and initially put the Greeks under serious pressure. Only after the greatest effort and the help of the reinvigorated heroAchilles, the Greeks eventually triumphed. Penthesilea died fighting the mighty Achilles in single combat.[31] Homer himself deemed the Amazon myths to be common knowledge all over Greece, which suggests that they had already been known for some time before him. He was also convinced that the Amazons lived not at its fringes, but somewhere in or aroundLycia in Asia Minor - a place well within the Greek world.[citation needed]
Troy is mentioned in theIliad as the place ofMyrine's death.[32][33] Later identified as an Amazon queen, according toDiodorus (1st century BCE), the Amazons under her rule invaded the territories of theAtlantians, defeated the army of the Atlantian city of Cerne, and razed the city to the ground.[34][15]
ThePoetBacchylides (6th century BCE) and the historianHerodotus (5th century BCE) located the Amazon homeland inPontus at the southern shores of the Black Sea, and the capitalThemiscyra at the banks of theThermodon (modernTerme river), by the modern city ofTerme. Herodotus also explains how it came to be that some Amazons would eventually be living inScythia. A Greek fleet, sailing home upon defeating the Amazons in battle at the Thermodon river, included three ships crowded with Amazon prisoners. Once out at sea, the Amazon prisoners overwhelmed and killed the small crews of the prisoner ships and, despite not having even basic navigation skills, managed to escape and safely disembark at the Scythian shore. As soon as the Amazons had caught enough horses, they easily asserted themselves in the steppe in between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and, according to Herodotus, would eventually assimilate with the Scythians, whose descendants were the Sauromatae, the predecessors of theSarmatians.[35][2]
Strabo (1st century BCE) visits and confirms the original homeland of the Amazons on the plains by theThermodon river. However, long gone and not seen again during his lifetime, the Amazons had allegedly retreated into the mountains. Strabo, however, added that other authors, among themMetrodorus of Scepsis andHypsicrates claim that after abandoning Themiscyra, the Amazons had chosen to resettle beyond the borders of theGargareans, an all-male tribe native to the northern foothills of theCaucasian Mountains. The Amazons andGargareans had for many generations met in secrecy once a year during two months in spring, in order to produce children. These encounters would take place in accordance with ancient tribal customs and collective offers of sacrifices. All females were retained by the Amazons themselves, and males were returned to the Gargareans.[36] 5th century BCE poetMagnes sings of the bravery of theLydians in a cavalry-battle against the Amazons.[37][38][39]
Hippolyte was an Amazon queen killed byHeracles, who had set out to obtain the queen's magic belt in a task he was to accomplish as one of theLabours of Heracles. Although neither side had intended to resort to lethal combat, a misunderstanding led to the fight. In the course of this, Heracles killed the queen and several other Amazons. In awe of the strong hero, the Amazons eventually handed the belt to Heracles. In another version, Heracles does not kill the queen, but exchanges her kidnapped sisterMelanippe for the belt.[40][10][41][39]
QueenHippolyte was abducted byTheseus, who took her to Athens, where she was married to him and bore him a son,Hippolytus. In other versions, the kidnapped Amazon is calledAntiope, the sister of Hippolyte. In revenge, the Amazons invaded Greece, plundered some cities along the coast of Attica, and besieged and occupied Athens. Hippolyte, who fought on the side of Athens, according to another account was killed during the final battle along with all of the Amazons.[41][42]
According toPlutarch, the godDionysus and his companions fought Amazons atEphesus. The Amazons fled toSamos and Dionysus pursued them and killed a great number of them at a site since calledPanaema (blood-soaked field).[43] The Christian authorEusebius writes that during the reign ofOxyntes, one of the mythical kings of Athens, the Amazons burned down the temple atEphesus.[44]
In another myth Dionysus unites with the Amazons to fight againstCronus and theTitans.Polyaenus writes that after Dionysus has subdued the Indians, he allies with them and the Amazons and takes them into his service, who serve him in his campaign against theBactrians.Nonnus in hisDionysiaca reports about the Amazons of Dionysus, but states that they do not come from Thermodon.[19][45]
Amazons are also mentioned by historians and biographers ofAlexander the Great who reports QueenThalestris's seeking him out in order to bear him a child.[46] However, other biographers of Alexander dispute the claim, including the highly regardedPlutarch. He noted a moment when Alexander's naval commanderOnesicritus read an Amazon myth passage of hisAlexander History to KingLysimachus ofThrace who had taken part in the original expedition. The king smiled at him and said: "And where was I, then?"[47]
A story in theAlexander Romance[48] involves his conquest of the Amazons, carried out mainly by an exchange of threatening letters.
TheTalmud[49] recounts that Alexander wanted to conquer a "kingdom of women" but reconsidered when the women told him:
If you kill us, people will say: Alexander kills women; and if we kill you, people will say: Alexander is the king whom women killed in battle.
Virgil's characterization of theVolsci warrior maidenCamilla in theAeneid borrows from the myths of the Amazons.Philostratus, inHeroica, writes that theMysian women fought on horses alongside the men, just as the Amazons. The leader was Hiera, wife ofTelephus. The Amazons are also said to have undertaken an expedition against theIsland of Leuke, at the mouth of theDanube, where the ashes ofAchilles were deposited byThetis. The ghost of the dead hero so terrified the horses, that they threw off and trampled upon the invaders, who were forced to retreat.[15]Virgil touches on the Amazons and their queen Penthesilea in his epicAeneid (around 20 BCE).
An Amazon myth has been partly preserved in two badly fragmented versions around historical people in 7th century BCE Egypt. The Egyptian princePetechonsis and allied Assyrian troops undertook a joint campaign into theLand of Women, to theMiddle East at the border to India.Petechonsis initially fought the Amazons, but soon fell in love with their queenSarpot and eventually allied with her against an invading Indian army. This story is said to have originated in Egypt independently of Greek influences.[52][53]
Sources provide names of individual Amazons, that are referred to as queens of their people, even as the head of a dynasty. Without a male companion, they are portrayed in command of their female warriors. Among the most prominent Amazon queens were:
Otrera, daughter of the nymph Harmonia and god of war, Ares. She is the mother of Hippolyta, Antiope, Melanippe, and Penthesilea and the mythical founder of theTemple of Artemis in Ephesus.
Hippolyta, daughter of Otrera and Ares. She is part of the Theseus and Heracles myths, in which Antiope is her sister. Alcippe, the only Amazon known to have sworn a chastity oath, belongs to her entourage.
Penthesilea, who kills her sister Hippolyte in a hunting accident, comes to the aid of the hard-pressed Trojans with her warriors, is defeated by Achilles, who mourns her.
Myrina, who leads a military expedition in Libya, defeats the Atlanteans, forms an alliance with the ruler of Egypt, and conquers numerous cities and islands.
Thalestris, the last known Amazon queen. According to legend, she meets the Greek conquerorAlexander the Great in 330 BCE. Her home is the Thermodon region, or, variably, theGates of Alexander, south of the Caspian Sea.
Diodorus lists another group withMyrina as the queen who commanded the Amazons in a military expedition in Libya, as well as her sisterMytilene, after whom she named thecity of the same name. Myrina also named three more cities after the Amazons who held the most important commands under her,Cyme,Pitane, andPriene.
BothJustin in hisEpitome of Trogus Pompeius and Paulus Orosius give an account of the Amazons, citing the same names. QueensMarpesia andLampedo shared the power during an incursion in Europe and Asia, where they were slain. Marpesia's daughterOrithyia succeeded them and was greatly admired for her skill on war. She shared power with her sisterAntiope, but she was engaged in war abroad when Heracles attacked. Two of Antiope's sisters were taken prisoner, Melanippe by Heracles andHippolyta by Theseus. Heracles latter restored Melanippe to her sister after receiving the queen's arms in exchange, though, on other accounts she was killed byTelamon. They also mention Penthesilea's role in the Trojan War.[56][57][58]
Perhaps the most important is QueenOtrera, consort ofAres and mother by him of Hippolyta and Penthesilea.[60] She is also known for building a temple toArtemis at Ephesus.[61]
Palaephatus, who himself might have been a fictional character, attempted to rationalize the Greek myths in his workOn Unbelievable Tales. He suspected that the Amazons were probably men who were mistaken for women by their enemies because they wore clothing that reached their feet, tied up their hair in headbands, and shaved their beards. Probably the first in a long line of skeptics, he rejected any real basis for them, reasoning that because they did not exist during his time, most probably they did not exist in the past either.[63][64][65] He himself contradicted this in his rationalizing ofOedipus and theSphinx, portraying the latter as an Amazon woman named "Sphinx."
Late Antiquity, Middle Ages, and Renaissance literature
Stephanus of Byzantium (7th-century CE) provides numerous alternative lists of the Amazons, including for those who died in combat against Heracles, describing them as the "most prominent of their people". Both Stephanus and Eustathius connect these Amazons with the placename "Thibais", which they claim to have been derived from the Amazon Thiba's name.[66] Several of Stephanus's Amazons served aseponyms for cities in Asia Minor, like Cyme and Smyrna or Amastris, who was believed to lend her name to the city previously known as Kromna, although in fact it was named after the historicalAmastris. The city Anaea in Caria was named after an Amazon.[67][68]
In his workGetica (on the origin and history of theGoths,c. 551 CE),Jordanes asserts that the Goths' ancestors, descendants ofMagog, originally lived in Scythia, at theSea of Azov between theDnieper andDon Rivers. When the Goths were abroad campaigning against PharaohVesosis, their women, on their own successfully fended off a raid by a neighboring tribe. Emboldened, the women established their own army underMarpesia, crossed the Don and invaded eastward into Asia. Marpesia's sisterLampedo remained in Europe to guard the homeland. They procreated with men once a year. These women conquered Armenia, Syria, and all of Asia Minor, even reachingIonia andAeolis, holding this vast territory for 100 years.
InDigenes Akritas, the twelfth century medieval epic of Basil, the Greco-Syrian knight of theByzantine frontier, the hero battles and then commits adultery with the female warrior Maximo (killing her afterwards in one version of the epic), descended from some Amazons and taken by Alexander from the Brahmans.[69][70]
Famous medieval travellerJohn Mandeville mentions them in his book:
Beside the land of Chaldea is the land of Amazonia, that is the land of Feminye. And in that realm is all woman and no man; not as some may say, that men may not live there, but for because that the women will not suffer no men amongst them to be their sovereigns.[72]
Medieval and Renaissance authors credit the Amazons with the invention of thebattle-axe. This is probably related to thesagaris, an axe-like weapon associated with both Amazons and Scythian tribes by Greek authors (see alsoThracian tomb of Aleksandrovo kurgan).Paulus Hector Mair expresses astonishment that such a "manly weapon" should have been invented by a "tribe of women", but he accepts the attribution out of respect for his authority,Johannes Aventinus.
Ariosto'sOrlando Furioso contains a country of warrior women, ruled by Queen Orontea; the epic describes an origin much like that in Greek myth, in that the women, abandoned by a band of warriors and unfaithful lovers, rallied together to form a nation from which men were severely reduced, to prevent them from regaining power. The Amazons and Queen Hippolyta are also referenced inGeoffrey Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales in "The Knight's Tale".
Amazons continued to be subject of scholarly debate during the European Renaissance, and with the onset of theAge of Exploration, encounters were reported from ever more distant lands. In 1542,Francisco de Orellana reached theAmazon River, naming it after theIcamiabas [pt],[73] a tribe of warlike women he claimed to have encountered and fought on theNhamundá River, a tributary of the Amazon.[74][75][76] Afterwards the whole basin and region of the Amazon (Amazônia in Portuguese,Amazonía in Spanish) were named after the river. Amazons also figure in the accounts of bothChristopher Columbus andWalter Raleigh.[77]
Beginning around 550 BCE. depictions of Amazons as daring fighters and equestrian warriors appeared on vases. After theBattle of Marathon in 490 BCE theAmazon battle -Amazonomachy became popular motifs on pottery. By the sixth century BCE, public and privately displayed artwork used the Amazon imagery for pediment reliefs, sarcophagi, mosaics, pottery, jewelry and even monumental sculptures, that adorned important buildings like theParthenon in Athens. Amazon motifs remained popular until the Romanimperial period and intoLate antiquity.[78]
Apart from the artistic desire to express the passionate womanhood of the Amazons in contrast with the manhood of their enemies, some modern historians interpret the popularity of Amazon in art as indicators of societal trends, both positive and negative. Greek and Roman societies, however, utilized the Amazon mythology as a literary and artistic vehicle to unite against a commonly held enemy. The metaphysical characteristics of Amazons were seen as personifications of both nature and religion. Roman authors like Virgil, Strabo, Pliny the Elder, Curtius, Plutarch, Arrian, and Pausanias advocated the greatness of the state, as Amazon myths served to discuss the creation of origin and identity for the Roman people. However, that changed over time. Amazons in Roman literature and art have many faces, such as theTrojan ally, the warrior goddess, the native Latin, the warmongering Celt, the proud Sarmatian, the hedonistic and passionate Thracian warrior queen, the subdued Asian city, and the worthy Roman foe.[79][80][81]
InRenaissance Europe, artists started to reevaluate and depict Amazons based on Christian ethics.Queen Elizabeth of England was associated with Amazon warrior qualities (the foremost ancient examples of feminism) during her reign and was indeed depicted as such. Though, as explained inDivina Virago by Winfried Schleiner, Celeste T. Wright has given a detailed account of the bad reputation Amazons had in the Renaissance. She notes that she has not found any Elizabethans comparing the Queen to an Amazon and suggests that they might have hesitated to do so because of the association of Amazons with enfranchisement of women, which was considered contemptible.[82] Elizabeth was present at a tournament celebrating the marriage of theEarl of Warwick andAnne Russell atWestminster Palace on 11 November 1565 involving male riders dressed as Amazons. They accompanied the challengers carrying their heraldry. These riders wore crimson gowns, masks with long hair attached, and swords.[83]
It engendered all the aspirations of the Romantics: their desire to transcend the boundaries of the ego and of the known world; their interest in the occult in nature and in the soul; their search for a national identity, and the ensuing search for the mythic origins of the Germanic nation; finally, their wish to escape the harsh realities of the present through immersion in an idealized past.[84]
On medievalBorgia Velletri map picture of females with bow and arrow and with spear and shield with descriptionThe land formerly of illustrious women of place North (on the bottom) onEdilus fluuius maximus (Volga).[85][86]
Speculation that the idea of Amazons, specifically the Amazons known to the Greeks, contains a core of reality is based on archaeological discoveries atkurgan burial sites in the steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia. The varied war weapon artifacts found in graves of numerous high-rankingScythian andSarmatian warrior women have led scholars to conclude that the Amazonian legend has been inspired by the real world: About 20% of the warrior graves on the lowerDon and lowerVolga contained women dressed for battle similar to how men dress. Armed women accounted for up to 25% of Sarmatian military burials. Russian archaeologistVera Kovalevskaya asserts that when Scythian men were abroad fighting or hunting, women would have to be able to competently defend themselves, their animals, and their pastures.[88]
In early 20th centuryMinoan archeology, a theory regarding Amazon origins in Minoan civilization was raised in an essay byLewis Richard Farnell andJohn Myres. According to Myres, the tradition interpreted in the light of evidence furnished by supposed Amazon cults seems to have been very similar and may have even originated in Minoan culture.[89]
Postcard promoting Munich asCapital of German Art of theOlympia-Sommer 1936. The Amazon holds a longbow and a victory wreath.Amazon on a special stamp promoting the 1938 German "Brown Ribbon" horse races
The city ofSamsun in modern-daySamsun Province,Turkey features anAmazon Village museum, to help bring attention to the legacy of the Amazons and to promote both academic interest and tourism. The Amazon warriors have been seen as a symbol of empowerment for feminist movements. The legacy has empowered and encouraged other women to build their strength and stand against societal norms.[90] They have inspired countless amounts of women to stand up for themselves and what they believe. An annualAmazon Celebration Festival takes place in theTerme district.[91][92]
During theOttoman–Egyptian invasion of Mani in 1826, in the battle of Diros the women of Mani defeated the Ottoman army and for this were given the name of 'The Amazons of Diros'.[93]
From 1936 to 1939, annual propaganda events, calledNight of the Amazons (Nacht der Amazonen) were performed in Nazi Germany at theNymphenburg Palace Park inMunich.[94] Announced as evening highlights of theInternational Horse Racing Week Munich-Riem, bare-breasted variety show girls of the SS-Cavalry, 2,500 participants and international guests performed at the open-air revue. These revues served to promote an allegedly emancipated female role and a cosmopolitan and foreigner-friendly Nazi regime.[citation needed]
Steven Pressfield's 2002 novelLast of the Amazons is amythopoeia of Plutarch's texts, that surroundTheseus's abduction of QueenAntiope and the Amazons' attack on Athens. An accurate and detailed portrayal of the Archaic Greek world, its life, people, weapons etc. dramatizedas real as the sky.[95]
William Moulton Marston, alongside his wifeElizabeth Holloway and their loverOlive Byrne, created their rendition of the mythicalAmazons, whose members included the superheroineWonder Woman, forDC Comics. Marston's Amazons are noteworthy for not just being physically superior to mortal men but also technologically superior, being able to create healing rays andundetectable jet planes that can be controlled through brain waves alone, although this element of Amazon society is applied inconsistently in appearances written after Marston's death.[96]
GastroPhobia is a webcomic by Daisy McGuire, about the adventures of an exiled Amazon warrior and her son living in Ancient Greece, roughly 3408 years ago.
The Kazakhstani film studio "Kazakhfilm" released the film Томирис (Tomyris) in late 2019. She is portrayed byAlmira Tursyn [d].[97][98] Girls of her tribe in order to get permissions to marry, in the film, has to bring few enemies heads.
The postscript for the 1980 film9 to 5 mentioned that Franklin Hart was abducted by a tribe of Amazons when helping Consolidated Companies' chairman of the board Russell Tinsworthy with a project in the Brazilian jungle.[99]
TheMino, orMinon, (Our Mothers) were a late 19th to early 20th-century all-female official military regiment of the formerKingdom of Dahomey (present-dayBenin). Since the early 18th-century women contingents had already joined the army, usually during deployment, in order to inflate the army size. However, women proved themselves courageous and effective in active combat, and a regular unit was established. Western observers, who had allegedly perceived certain Amazon-like physical and mental qualities in these women, came up with the trivial epithetDahomey Amazons.[100]
The LibyanAmazonian Guard created by Muammar Gaddafi in the early 1980s.
During the period 1905–1913, members of the militantSuffragette movement were frequently referred to as "Amazons" in books and newspaper articles.[101]
InUkraine Katerina Tarnovska leads a group called the Asgarda which claims to be a new tribe of Amazons.[102] Tarnovska believes that the Amazons are the direct ancestors of Ukrainian women, and she has created an all-female martial art for her group, based on another form of fighting calledCombat Hopak, but with a special emphasis on self-defense.[102]
^Flavius Philostratus, Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean (August 5, 2019)."Flavius Philostratus, On Heroes". The Center for Hellenic Studies. Archived fromthe original on January 26, 2021. RetrievedJanuary 10, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^It has been suggested that what Orellana actually engaged was an especially warlike tribe of Native Americans whose warrior men wore long hair and thus appeared to be women. See Theobaldo Miranda Santos,Lendas e mitos do Brasil ("Brazil's legends and myths"), Companhia Editora Nacional, 1979.
^Fomenko, I.K.; Shcherbakova, E.I. (2017)."The Western Trail of the "Kazan Dragon""(PDF).Zolotoordynskaya Tsivilizatsiya = Golden Horde Civilization (in Russian) (10):378–389.
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