Amazons
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2008-07-13T19:54:26Z
XPTO
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/* Renaissance literature */
{{otheruses|Amazon (disambiguation)}}
[[Image:Amazon preparing for the battle (Queen Antiope or Armed Venus) - Pierre-Eugene-Emile Hebert 1860 - NG of Arts Wash DC.jpg|right|thumb|Amazon preparing for the battle (Queen Antiope or Armed Venus), by [[Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert]] 1860 ([[National Gallery of Art]], Washington DC)]]
The '''Amazons''' (in [[Ancient Greek|Greek]], {{lang|grc|Αμαζόνες}}) are a nation of all-female warriors in [[Greek mythology]]. [[Herodotus]] placed them in a region bordering [[Scythia]] in [[Sarmatians|Sarmatia]]. Notable queens of the Amazons are [[Penthesilea]], who participated in the [[Trojan War]], and her sister [[Hippolyte]], whose magical girdle was the object of one of the [[labours of Hercules]]. Amazonian raiders were often depicted in battle with Greek warriors in [[amazonomachies]] in classical art .
In [[Greek historiography|Hellenistic]] and [[Roman historiography|Roman era]] historiography, there are various accounts of Amazon raids in [[Asia Minor]]. The Amazons become associated with various historical peoples throughout [[Late Antiquity]]. From the Early Modern period, their name has become a term for [[woman warriors]] in general.
==Etymology==
This word is probably derived from an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] [[ethnonym]] ''*ha-mazan-'', with a meaning "warriors". A connected word is probably [[Hesychius of Alexandria]]'s gloss {{polytonic|ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι}} (''hamazakaran'': "to make war" (Persian), containing the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]] root ''kar-'' "make" also in ''[[karma|kar-ma]]'').{{Fact|date=March 2008}}
Among Classical Greeks, ''amazon'' was given a [[popular etymology|naive etymology]] as from ''[[privative a|a-]]'' (privative) + ''mazos'', "without [[breast]]", connected with an [[etiology|etiological]] tradition that Amazons had their right [[mastectomy|breast cut off]] or [[breast ironing|burnt out]], so they would be able to use a bow more freely and throw spears without the physical limitation and obstruction; there is no indication of such a practice in works of art, in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although the right is frequently covered.
== Greek mythology ==
<!-- comment out missing image [[Image:AmazonBattle.JPG|thumbnail|right|''Amazon Preparing for Battle'' or ''Armed Venus'', by [[Pierre-Eugène-Emile Hébert]].]]-->
[[Image:Amazonomachia Louvre Ma2119 2.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Amazonomachy]]'' (fight between Greeks and Amazons), relief of a sarcophagus (ca. 180), found in Thessaloniki, 1836.]]
Amazons were said to have lived in [[Pontus]], which is part of modern day [[Turkey]] near the shore of the [[Euxine Sea]] (the [[Black Sea]]). There they formed an independent kingdom under the government of a queen, often named [[Hippolyta]] ("loose, unbridled mare").<ref>This area is known to have been occupied in the Late Bronze Age by a transhumant group known to the Hittites as the [[Kaskians|Kaŝka]]; though they were not directly known to Greeks, modern archaeologists have detected that they finally defeated their enemies, the Hittites, about 1200 BCE; they left no inscriptions.</ref> The Amazons were supposed to have founded many towns, amongst them [[Smyrna]], [[Ephesus]], [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]], and [[Paphos]]. According to the dramatist [[Aeschylus]], in the distant past they had lived in [[Scythia]], at the ''Palus Maeotis'' ("Lake Maeotis", the [[Sea of Azov]]), but later moved to [[Themiscyra]] on the River [[Thermodon]] (the Terme river in northern Turkey). [[Herodotus]] called them ''Androktones'' ("killers of men"), and he stated that in the Scythian language they were called ''Oiorpata'', which he asserted had this meaning.
In some versions of the myth, no men were permitted to have sexual encounters or reside in Amazon country; but once a year, in order to prevent their race from dying out, they visited the [[Gargareans]], a neighbouring tribe. The male children who were the result of these visits were either [[infanticide|put to death]], sent back to their fathers or [[child abandonment|exposed in the wilderness]] to fend for themselves; the females were kept and brought up by their mothers, and trained in agricultural pursuits, hunting, and the art of war.<ref>[[Strabo]] xi. 503.</ref>
In the ''[[Iliad]]'', the Amazons were referred to as ''Antianeira'' ("those who fight like men").
The Amazons also make an appearance with the [[Argonauts]], who came across the island of [[Lemnos]] on their way to the land of [[Colchis]]. They found Lemnos inhabited only by women and ruled by Queen [[Hypsipyle]]. They named the island ''Gynaikokratumene'', a Greek word which roughly translates to "reigned by women". [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] writes that the women received Jason and his companions in battle array -- "Hypsipile assumed her father's arms, and led the van, terrific in her charms." The young queen tells them that Lemnos was invaded in the past and all of the men were killed. The Amazons invite the Argonauts to take their fallen husbands' places. What the Argonauts do not realize is that the men of the island were slain by their own womenfolk. The Argonauts fortunately were not persuaded to stay long. As they sailed away through the [[Hellespont]] and crept up the [[Euxine]] they are told -- "flee the Amazonian shore, Else Themyscira soon, with rude alarms, Had seen the assembled Amazons in arms."
The Amazons appear in [[Greek art]] of the [[Archaic period]] and in connection with several Greek legends. They invaded [[Lycia]], but were defeated by [[Bellerophon]], who was sent out against them by [[Iobates]], the king of that country, in the hope that he might meet his death at their hands (''Iliad'', vi. 186). The tomb of [[Myrine]] is mentioned in the ''Iliad''; later interpretation made of her an Amazon: according to [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]],<ref>Book ii.45-46; book iii.52-55.</ref> Queen Myrine led her Amazons to victory against [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] and much of [[Gorgon]].
They attacked the [[Phrygia]]ns, who were assisted by [[Priam]], then a young man (''Iliad'', iii. 189). Although in his later years, towards the end of the [[Trojan War]], his old opponents took his side again against the Greeks under their queen [[Penthesilea]] "of [[Thrace|Thracian]] birth" ([[Quintus Smyrnaeus]]), who was slain by [[Achilles]], in the ''[[Aethiopis]]''<ref>The epic, by [[Arctinus of Miletus]], is lost: only references to it survive.</ref> that continued the ''Iliad''. (Quintus Smyrn. i.; [[Justin II|Justin ii]]. 4; Virgil, ''Aeneid'' i. 490).
One of the tasks imposed upon [[Heracles]] by [[Eurystheus]] was to obtain possession of the [[girdle]] of the Amazonian queen [[Hippolyte]] (''[[Apollodorus]]'' ii. 5). He was accompanied by his friend [[Theseus]], who carried off the princess [[Antiope (mythology)|Antiope]], sister of Hippolyte, an incident which led to a retaliatory invasion of [[Attica, Greece|Attica]], in which Antiope perished fighting by the side of Theseus. In some versions, however, Theseus marries Hippolyta and in others, he marries Antiope and she does not die. The battle between the Athenians and Amazons is often commemorated in an entire genre of art, [[amazonomachy]], in marble [[bas-relief]]s such as from the [[Parthenon]] or the sculptures of the [[Mausoleum of Maussollos|mausoleum of Halicarnassus]].
[[Image:Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, visits Alexander (1696).jpg|left|thumb|Thalestris, Queen of the Amazons, visits [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] ([[1696]])]]
The Amazons are also said to have undertaken an expedition against the [[Snake Island (Black Sea)|island of Leuke]], at the mouth of the [[Danube]], where the ashes of Achilles had been deposited by [[Thetis]]. The ghost of the dead hero appeared and so terrified the horses, that they threw and trampled upon the invaders, who were forced to retire. [[Pompey]] is said to have found them in the army of [[Mithridates VI of Pontus|Mithridates]].
They are heard of in the time of Alexander, when some of the great king's biographers make mention of Amazon Queen [[Thalestris]] visiting him and becoming a mother by him. However, several other biographers of Alexander dispute the claim, including the highly regarded [[secondary source]], [[Plutarch]]. In his writing he makes mention of a moment when Alexander's secondary naval commander, [[Onesicritus]], was reading the Amazon passage of his Alexander history to King [[Lysimachus]] of [[Thrace]] who was on the original expedition: the king smiled at him and said "And where was I, then?"
The Roman writer [[Virgil]]'s characterization of the [[Volsci]]an warrior maiden [[Camilla (mythology)|Camilla]] in the ''[[Aeneid]]'' borrows heavily from the myth of the Amazons.
===Lists===
There are several (conflicting) lists of names of Amazons.
Quintus Smyrnaeus (''Posthomerica'' i) lists the attendant warriors of Penthesilea: "Clonie was there, Polemusa, Derinoe, Evandre, and Antandre, and Bremusa, Hippothoe, dark-eyed Harmothoe, Alcibie, Derimacheia, Antibrote, and Thermodosa glorying with the spear."
Names of Amazons listed by ancient authors{{Who|date=April 2008}} include:
* Ainiaan, enemy of [[Achilles]] and an [[Amazons|Amazon]], one of the twelve who accompanied [[Penthesilea]] to the [[Trojan War]]. Her name means "swiftness."{{Fact|date=April 2008}}
* Antianara, succeeded [[Penthesilea]] as Queen of the Amazons. She was best known for ordering her male servants to be crippled and castrated "as the lame best perform the acts of love".{{Fact|date=April 2008}}
* Antibrote, one of the twelve followers of Penthesilea in [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]]'s ''Posthomerica'' (book i)
* [[Antiope (mythology)|Antiope]]
* Asteria, sixth Amazon killed by Heracles.{{Fact|date=April 2008}}
* [[Cleite]], one of the twelve followers of Penthesilea . Her ship was blown off course and she landed in [[Italy]], founding the city of [[Clete]].
*Helene, daughter of [[Tityrus]]. She fought [[Achilles]] and died after he seriously wounded her.
* [[Hippolyte]], the Amazonian queen who possessed a magical [[girdle]] she was given by her father [[Ares]], the god of war.
* Melanippe, sister of Hippolyte. Heracles captured her and demanded Hippolyte's girdle in exchange for her freedom. Hippolyte complied and Heracles let her go.
* [[Otrera]], the consort of [[Ares]] and mother of Hippolyta and Penthesilea.
* [[Penthesilea]]
* [[Thalestris]], a queen of the Amazons in the ''[[Alexander Romance]]''.
=== Hero cults ===
According to ancient sources, ([[Plutarch]] [[Theseus]]<ref>http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:BiDerPMT15YJ:classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/theseus.html+Amazon+statues+in+Scotussa&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4</ref>, [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]), Amazon tombs could be found frequently throughout what was once known as the ancient Greek world. Some are found in [[Megara]], [[Athens]], [[Chaeronea]], [[Chalcis]], [[Thessaly]] at '''Scotussa''', in [[Cynoscephalae]] and statues of Amazons are all over Greece. At both '''Chalsis''' and [[Athens]] [[Plutarch]] tells us that there was an Amazoneum or shrine of Amazons that implied the presence of both tombs and cult. On the day before the Thesea at Athens there were annual sacrifices to the Amazons. In historical times Greek maidens of [[Ephesus]] performed an annual circular dance with weapons and shields that had been established by [[Hippolyte]] and her Amazons. They had initially set up wooden statues of [[Artemis]], a bretas, ([[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], (fl.c.[[160]]): Description of Greece, Book I: Attica<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/pausanias-bk1.html Ancient History Sourcebook: Pausanias: Description of Greece, Book I: Attica<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>).
[[Image:Gladiatrix relief.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Two [[female gladiator]]s with their names '''Amazonia and Achillea''']]
=== In art ===
In works of art, battles between Amazons and Greeks are placed on the same level as and often associated with battles of Greeks and [[centaurs]]. The belief in their existence, however, having been once accepted and introduced into the national poetry and art, it became necessary to surround them as far as possible with the appearance of not unnatural beings. Their occupation was hunting and war; their arms the bow, spear, axe, a half shield, nearly in the shape of a crescent, called ''pelta'', and in early art a helmet, the model before the Greek mind having apparently been the goddess Athena. In later art they approach the model of Artemis, wearing a thin dress, girt high for speed; while on the later painted vases their dress is often peculiarly [[Iran|Persian]] – that is, close-fitting trousers and a high cap called the kidaris. They were usually on horseback but sometimes on foot. They can also be identified in vase paintings by the fact that they are wearing one earring. The battle between Theseus and the Amazons (''[[Amazonomachy]]'') is a favourite subject on the friezes of temples (e.g. the reliefs from the frieze of the temple of [[Apollo]] at [[Bassae]], now in the [[British Museum]]), vases and sarcophagus reliefs; at [[Athens]] it was represented on the shield of the statue of [[Athena Parthenos]], on wall-paintings in the [[Theseum]] and in the [[stoa|''Stoa Poikile'']]. There were also three standard [[Amazon statue types]].
==In historiography==
[[Herodotus]] reported that the Sarmatians were descendants of Amazons and Scythians, and that their females observed their ancient maternal customs, "frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men". Moreover, said Herodotus, "No girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle". In the story related by [[Herodotus]], a group of Amazons was blown across the [[Sea of Azov|Maeotian Lake]] (the [[Sea of Azov]]) into [[Scythia]] near the cliff region (today's southeastern [[Crimea]]). After learning the Scythian language, they agreed to marry Scythian men, on the condition that they not be required to follow the customs of Scythian women. According to Herodotus, this band moved toward the northeast, settling beyond the [[Don River (Russia)|Tanais]] ([[Don River (Russia)|Don]]) river, and became the ancestors of the [[Sarmatians|Sauromatians]]. According to [[Herodotus]], the [[Sarmatians]] fought with the Scythians against [[Darius the Great]] in the [[5th century]] B.C.
Hippocrates describes them as: "They have no right breasts...for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm." But experts agree{{Fact|date=March 2008}} that the Amazons would not have had the medical knowledge to manage the inevitable massive hemorrhage or infection if such ablation of the breast actually occurred. Others claim{{Fact|date=March 2008}} that amputation of the breast followed by cauterization could have been performed with instruments specifically designed for this purpose. (See also [[breast ironing]], a current practice in which breast growth is deliberately stunted.)
Amazons came to play a role in [[Roman historiography]]. Caesar reminded the Senate of the conquest of large parts of Asia by [[Semiramis]] and the Amazons. Successful Amazon raids against Lycia and Cilicia contrasted with effective resistance by Lydian cavalry against the invaders ([[Strabo]] 5.504; [[Nicholas Damascenus]]). [[Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus]] pays particularly detailed attention to the Amazons. The story of the Amazons as deriving from a Cappadocian colony of two Scythian princes Ylinos and Scolopetos is due to him.
[[Diodorus]] relates the story of Hercules defeating the Amazons at Themiscyre. [[Philostratus]] places the Amazons in the [[Taurus mountains]]. [[Ammianus]] places them east of [[Tanais]], as neighbouring the [[Alans]]. [[Procopius]] places them in the Caucasus.
Although Strabo shows scepticism as to their historicity, the Amazons in general continue to be taken as historical throughout Late Antiquity. Several Church Fathers speak of the Amazons as of a real people. [[Solinus]] embraces the account of [[Plinius]]. Under [[Aurelianus]], captured [[Goths|Gothic]] women were identified as Amazons ([[Claudianus]]). The account of [[Justinus]] was influential, and was used as a source by [[Orosius]] who continued to be read during the European Middle Ages. Medieval authors thus continue the tradition of locating the Amazons in the North, [[Adam of Bremen]] placing them at the [[Baltic Sea]] and [[Paulus Diaconus]] in the heart of Germania.<ref>F. A. Ukert, ''Die Amazonen'', Abhandlungen der philosophisch-philologischen Classe der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1849), 63..</ref>
==Renaissance literature==
Amazons continued to be discussed by authors of the European Renaissance, and with the [[Age of Exploration]], they were located in ever more remote areas. [[Francisco de Orellana]] in 1542 reached the [[Amazonas River]], naming it for the warlike women he encountered there. Amazons also figure in the accounts of both [[Christopher Columbus]] and [[William Raleigh]].<ref>Ukert (1849), p. 35.</ref>
Medieval and Renaissance authors credit the Amazons with the invention of the [[Battle-axe people|battle-axe]]. This is probably related to the [[Sagaris]], an axe-like weapon associated with both Amazons and Scythian tribes by Greek authors (see also [[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]].
[[Ludovico Ariosto|Ariosto]]'s ''[[Orlando 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.
==Historical background==
P. Walcot spoke for most [[mythographers]] when he wrote, "Wherever the Amazons are located by the Greeks, whether it is somewhere along the Black Sea in the distant north-east, or in Libya in the furthest south, it is always beyond the confines of [[Civilization|the civilized world]]. The Amazons exist outside the range of normal human experience."<ref>P. Walcot, "Greek Attitudes towards Women: The Mythological Evidence" ''Greece & Rome''2nd Series '''31'''.1 (April 1984, pp. 37-47) p 42.</ref>
Nevertheless, there are various proposals for a historical nucleus of the Amazons of Greek historiography, the most obvious candidates being historical [[Scythia]] and [[Sarmatia]] in line with the account by [[Herodotus]], but some authors prefer a comparison to cultures of [[Asia Minor]] or even [[Minoan Crete]].
Speculation that the idea of Amazons contains a core of reality is most recently based on archaeological findings from burials, pointing to the possibility that some Sarmatian women may have participated in battle. These findings have led scholars to suggest that the Amazonian legend in [[Greek mythology]] may have been "inspired by real warrior women",<ref name=amaz>[http://www.stoa.org/diotima/essays/wilde.shtml Lyn Webster Wilde, "Did the Amazons really exist?" ''Diotima'']</ref> though this remains a minority opinion among classical historians.
In recent times, readers have understood Amazons as "an emblem of Otherness in its many guises", as Josine Blok begins her Preface to ''The Early Amazons: Modern and Ancient Perspectives on a Persistent Myth'' (1995): "This people of female warriors was generally held to have been rooted in reality, as the (once) living alternative to Western practices and values."
===Scythia===
[[Image:Amazone Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2342.jpg|thumb|Mounted Amazon in Scythian costume, on an [[Attica|Attic]] red-figure vase, ca 420 BCE]]
Archaeological evidence seems to confirm the existence of Women-Warriors, as Sarmatian women's active role in [[military operation]] and social life. Burial of armed Sarmatian women comprise about 25 percent of the military burial in the group, and are usually buried with bows.<ref name=amaz>[http://www.stoa.org/diotima/essays/wilde.shtml Diotima<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Russian archaeologist Vera Kovalevskaya points out that when Scythian men were away fighting or hunting, nomadic women would have to be able to defend themselves, their animals and pasture-grounds competently. During the time that the Scythians advanced into Asia and achieved near-[[hegemony]] in the Near-East, there was a period of twenty-eight years when the men would have been away on campaigns for long periods. During this time the women would not only have had to defend themselves, but to reproduce and this could well be the origin of the idea that Amazons mated once a year with their neighbours, if Herodotus actually intended to base this on a factual base.<ref name=amaz>[http://www.stoa.org/diotima/essays/wilde.shtml Diotima<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>Before modern archaeology uncovered some of the Scythian burials of warrior-maidens entombed under [[kurgan]]s in the region of [[Altay Mountains]] and [[Sarmatia]],
<ref>[http://www.archaeology.org/9701/abstracts/sarmatians.html "Warrior Women of Eurasia"], Archaeology Magazine (Abstract) Volume 50 Number 1, January/February 1997 Retrieved 7/10/08.</ref>
<ref>In a recent excavation of [[Sarmatian]] sites by Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball,{{Fact|date=March 2007}} a tomb was found wherein female warriors were buried.</ref> giving concrete form at last to the Greek tales of mounted Amazons, the origin of the story of the Amazons has been the subject of speculation among classics scholars. In the [[1911 Britannica|1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']] speculation ranged along the following lines:
:"While some regard the Amazons as a purely mythical people, others assume an historical foundation for them. The deities worshipped by them were [[Ares]] (who is consistently assigned to them as a god of war, and as a god of [[Thrace|Thracian]] and generally northern origin) and [[Artemis]], not the usual Greek goddess of that name, but an Asiatic deity in some respects her equivalent. It is conjectured that the Amazons were originally the temple-servants and priestesses (''hierodulae'') of this goddess; and that the removal of the breast corresponded with the self-mutilation of the god [[Attis]] and the [[galli]], Roman priests of [[Cybele|Rhea Cybele]]. Another theory is that, as the knowledge of geography extended, travellers brought back reports of tribes ruled entirely by women, who carried out the duties which elsewhere were regarded as peculiar to man, in whom alone the rights of nobility and inheritance were vested, and who had the supreme control of affairs. Hence arose the belief in the Amazons as a nation of female warriors, organized and governed entirely by women. According to J. Viirtheim (''De Ajacis'' origine, 1907), the Amazons were of Greek origin [...] It has been suggested that the fact of the conquest of the Amazons being assigned to the two famous heroes of Greek mythology, Heracles and Theseus [...] shows that they were mythical illustrations of the dangers which beset the Greeks on the coasts of Asia Minor; rather perhaps, it may be intended to represent the conflict between the Greek culture of the colonies on the [[Black Sea|Euxine]] and the barbarism of the native inhabitants."
[[Image:Deruet-Departure of the Amazons-1620.jpg|thumb|400px|"Departure of the Amazons",by [[Claude Deruet]], 1620.]]
===Minoan Crete===
When Minoan archeology was still in its infancy, nevertheless, a theory raised in an essay regarding the Amazons contributed by L.R. Farnell and J.L. Myres to Marett,'s ''Anthropology and the Classics'', 1908,<ref>L.R. Farnell and J.L. Myres, "Herodotus and anthropology" in [[Robert Ranulph Marett|Robert R. Marett]] ''Anthropology and the Classics'' 1908, pp. 138ff.</ref> placed their possible origins in [[Minoan]] civilization, drawing attention to overlooked similarities between the two cultures. According to Myres, (pp. 153 ff), 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. <!--The following is a "hard sell" for an outdated idea: "The theory that the Amazons originally represented Minoan Crete's females has a strong case based on what [[archeologists]] and historians have been discovering about Minoan culture. Out of all the ancient civilizations which are so far known to archaeologists and historians the Minoans seem to fit most of the aspects that classical Greeks and later scholars have come to associate with the Amazonian culture."-->
== See also ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commonscat|Amazons}}
{{wiktionary|Amazon}}
* [[Woman warriors in mythology]]
* [[Timeline of women in ancient warfare]]
* [[Valkyrie]]
* [[Shieldmaiden]]
* [[Themis]]
* [[Artemis]]
* [[Liburnians]] (according to [[Scylax of Caryanda|Pseudo-Scylax]] ruled by women)
* [[Virago]]
* [[Matriarchy]]
* [[Terra Feminarum]]
* [[Sitones]]
* [[Warrior princess]]
==Sources and notes==
{{reflist|2}}
== Bibliography ==
* Andreas David Mordtmann, ''Die Amazonen'' (Hanover, 1862)
* W. Stricker, ''Die Amazonen in Sage und Geschichte'' (1868)
* A. Klugmann, ''Die Amazonen in der attischen Literatur und Kunst'' (1875)
* H. L. Krause, ''Die Amazonensage'' (1893)
* F. G. Bergmann, ''Les Amazones dans l'histoire et dans la fable'' (1853)
* P. Lacour, ''Les Amazones'' (1901)
* articles in Pauly-Wissowa's ''Realencyclopadie,'' and [[W. H. Roscher]]'s ''Lexikon der Mythologie''
* George Grote, ''History of Greece,'' pt. i. ch. 11.
*''Lexikon Iconographicum Mythologia Classica'', vol. I, ''s.v.'' "Amazones".
* Dietrich von Bothmer, ''Amazons in Greek Art'' (Oxford University Press) 1957.
* Josine H. Blok, (Peter Mason, tr.)''The Early Amazons: Modern and Ancient Perspectives on a Persistent Myth'' (1995)
== External links ==
* [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+4.110.1 Herodotus on the Amazons]
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?pageno=180&fk_files=1131 Herodotus via Gutenberg]
** [http://www.perseus.org/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0004%3Aid%3Damazon Perseus]
* [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mamazon.html Straight Dope: Amazons]
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/rca/index.htm Religious cults associated with the Amazons] (Florence Mary Bennett, 1912)
** [http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/rca/rca02.htm The Amazons in Greek Legend]
* [http://www.silk-road.com/artl/sarmatian.shtml The Women Warriors - the Sarmatians]
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[[Category:Mythological peoples]]
[[Category:Women in war]]
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