The Amazons
Posted on | February 16, 2008 |
The Amazons were a race of warrior women who lived in a region known today as Turkey. They were known as Androktones, or “killers of men.” The Amazon name is derived from the word amazoi, which means “breast less” in Greek. It is believed they were given this name because they would remove the right breast of the young girls so as not to hinder the drawing of the bow.
In addition to the bow and arrows, the Amazons fought with swords, double sided axes, and carried a crescent-shaped shield. Their fighting was primarily from horseback and they were known to travel far from their homeland to fight.
Mythology
The Amazons worshiped Artemis, virgin goddess of the hunt, and Ares, the god of war. Once each year they would travel to a neighboring village to engage in sexual relations with the men in order to propagate the species and ensure their survival. When the babies were born, males would either be killed, returned to their fathers, or abandoned in the woods. The females were taken back to the Amazon village and raised as warriors.
Although they fought against Priam of Troy when he helped defend the Phrygians against an Amazon attack, they followed their queen Penthesilea to Troy and joined forces with him during the Trojan War. The queen was wounded in battle by Achilles, who is said to have immediately thereafter fallen in love with her great beauty.
Heracles traveled to the land of the Amazons to complete the ninth labor put upon him by Eurystheus, in which Heracles was to bring the girdle of Hippolyte back to Greece. The girdle had been given to the Amazons by Ares, and it was believed by many that the Amazons were descendants of Ares and Otrera.
Queen Hippolyta was killed by Heracles when he stole the girdle from her. Afterwards, the Athenian hero Theseus kidnapped the queen’s sister, Antiope, and took her back to Athens. Upon his return he married Antiope.
The legend continues by saying the Amazons went in search of their queen, and became embroiled in a fierce battle when they reached Athens. The famous battle scene between the Athenians and the Amazons has been captured in the marble carvings at the Parthenon.
While the Argonauts were traveling across the island of Lemnos they found only female inhabitants, ruled by Queen Hypsipyle. Jason and his men were invited to join the Amazon women and named the island Gynaikokratumene, meaning “reigned by women.” The Argonauts were told the men of the island had been killed during an invasion, and were invited to take the places of the husbands. Instead of taking the Amazons up on their offer, the men decided not to remain on the island. The Argonauts were unaware that the Amazons had killed all of the men on the island, and that they would have suffered the same fate had they remained. As the Argonauts sailed away, they realized they had narrowly escaped suffering a terrible fate.
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