The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World

545 Pages·2014·11.18 MB·English

by  Adrienne Mayor

T H E A M A Z O N S

T H E
A M A Z O N S
LIVES AND LEGENDS OF WARRIOR
WOMEN ACROSS THE ANCIENT WORLD
A D R I E N N E M A Y O R
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON & OXFORD
Copyright © 2014 by Adrienne Mayor
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent
to Permissions, Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
Jacket image: Saikal, the Kalmyk warrior-h eroine of the
Central Asian Manas epic, illustration by Teodor Gercen
featured on postage stamp, Kyrgyz Republic, 1995.
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mayor, Adrienne, 1946–
The Amazons : lives and legends of warrior women across the ancient world /
Adrienne Mayor.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-14720-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Amazons. 2. Amazons in
literature. 3. Mythology, Greek. 4. Women soldiers—History. 5. Women,
Prehistoric. 6. Women, Prehistoric—Social conditions. I. Title.
BL820.A6M39 2014
398'.352—dc23
2014004926
British Library Cataloging-i n- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon Next LT Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For Sage adrienne
and in memory oF
Sunny Lynn Bo ck
1952–1 995
amazon Spirit

CONTENTS
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Prologue: Atalanta, the Greek Amazon 1
Part 1 Who Were the Amazons?
1 Ancient Puzzles and Modern Myths 17
2 Scythia, Amazon Homeland 34
3 Sarmatians, a Love Story 52
Part 2 Historical Women Warriors and Classical Traditions
4 Bones: Archaeology of Amazons 63
5 Breasts: One or Two? 84
6 Skin: Tattooed Amazons 95
7 Naked Amazons 117
8 Sex and Love 129
9 Drugs, Dance, and Music 142
10 The Amazon Way 155
11 Horses, Dogs, and Eagles 170
12 Who Invented Trousers? 191
13 Armed and Dangerous: Weapons and Warfare 209
14 Amazon Languages and Names 234
Part 3 Amazons in Greek and Roman Myth, Legend, and History
15 Hippolyte and Heracles 249
16 Antiope and Theseus 259
viii Contents
17 Battle for Athens 271
18 Penthesilea and Achilles at Troy 287
19 Amazons at Sea 305
20 Thalestris and Alexander the Great 319
21 Hypsicratea, King Mithradates, and Pompey’s Amazons 339
Part 4 Beyond the Greek World
22 Caucasia, Crossroads of Eurasia 357
23 Persia, Egypt, North Africa, Arabia 377
24 Amazonistan: Central Asia 395
25 China 411
Appendix: Names of Amazons and Warrior Women in Ancient
Literature and Art from the Mediterranean to China 431
Notes 439
Bibliography 485
Index 503
ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOR PLATES
(following p. 128)
1. Amazon queen Melanippe
2. Amazon rider
3. Warrior woman’s skeleton with iron dagger
4. Modern mounted female archer
5. Modern Parthian shot on horseback
6. Amazon on white horse, Etruscan tomb painting
7. Hippolyte offers her belt to Heracles
8. Amazon hunting deer with horse, dog, and eagle
9. Modern female eagle hunter on horseback
10. Amazon slinger
11. Amazonomachy
12. Amazon wielding a battle- axe
13. A pair of Amazons
14. Treasure from Teuta’s pirate empire
FIGURES
P.1. Atalanta in athletic outfit 5
P.2. Atalanta wrestling Peleus 6
1.1. Two Amazon dolls 32
4.1. Earliest known “Amazon” grave 72
4.2. Young warrior woman and male warrior buried with weapons 78
4.3. Battle injuries of women warriors 81