Recent research findings on the legendary women nation

By Gerhard Pöllauer

In SEARCH of the HISTORY of the AMAZONS. This book attempts to look at the phenomenon of Amazons from all sides, in order to shed more light on it and bring us close to its explanation. To fathom this legend, it is necessary first of all to refer to its earliest tradition that forms the foundation, without which the solution itself would be inconceivable. In the following, we look beyond the narrow confines of classic antiquity, to find where else in the world such Amazon-like myths exist. Our next step will be to moot different approaches to the question of Amazons. A central theme is the archeological research and our on-site investigation in those regions which are considered to have been the homelands of the Amazons, namely the land of the river Thermodon and Lemnos Island. According to this latest investigation, the lost history of the Amazons can be reconstructed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Mar 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447577157

Book preview

Bibliography

We are all constrained to put our goals higher than our strength permits to avoid that in the end we reach less than they allow.

(J.J. Bachofen)

Introduction

In mid eighties, as a young student on my own initiative, I set forward alone on foot across the lands of the Thermodon River, following the tracks of the Amazons. My activities raised suspicion of the indigenous people. And finally, one night a group of ten to fifteen Turks appeared in my accommodation to take a look at my papers - sketches and maps. From this moment I was assigned to one local, who escorted me everywhere I went. The reason for their suspicion was that they thought I knew where to look for the hidden treasures. Because of that they wouldn’t let me walk alone anymore. According to the locals, golden treasures were already found in this area, and they hoped I would lead them to one of those places.

However, the opposite happened. It was them, who led me to the places, which alone I would never have found. They showed me the monuments, which only the locals knew about, thus giving me the key to discover the Amazon culture!

If one boldly delves into the subject of Amazons, he easily puts himself in danger of being branded unscientific, reproached for the lack of integrity, and finally dismissed by the conventional academic circles. The subject of these myths is so far away from our today’s (as well as ancient) world of imagination, that the attempt alone to consider this legend to be more than mere fantasy arouses suspicion. In fact, already in ancient times these myths had an aura of mystery. Nevertheless, this legend enjoyed great popularity, and became richer and richer from numerous interpretations and embellishments, although the essential value of it was never lost.

In our highly technological age this myth has hardly more significance than an interesting science fiction material. Despite this, the knowledge of this legend is widespread, and the word Amazon will get almost everyone going, it is part of our everyday language. However, its meaning changed in the course of time. Not only it was linked to the warrior women of Greek legend, but also, according to Duden Dictionary of foreign words, every manlike woman or a sporty girl of boyishly taller physical appearance was referred to as an Amazon. By the way, in German the word Amazonenspringen – side saddle jumping on a horse – is a type of show jumping with only horsewomen participating.

The question is, whether it is possible do define concisely the original value of those myths?

In antiquity the Amazons were regarded as a nation of women, who built their polity either without men or with only subjugated men, and owing to their fighting skills, knew how to assert their independence.

The stories about them have always fascinated people’s minds, spurring their imagination. But the question remained: what exactly lies behind this legend?

Many have tried to unravel this puzzle in a more or less ingenious way. But in the end, all those attempts are based upon one of the three following points or their combinations:

It is merely a thread of imagination, that once initiated will get spun around and around like a web until its pattern is completed.

Yet, there is a grain of truth in all these momentary phenomena, which exaggerated or misconceived, built the kernel of this legend.

There indeed existed such a nation of women, who due to the lack of their own written legacy and because of absence as well as misinterpretation of the archeological findings disappeared from our history books.

So far, there is no universal answer to it. It is always about putting aside the question of origin of these myths and taking interest only in their diverse manifestations.

I wasn’t satisfied with such a status quo, and tried my best to find out as much as possible about this legend and its development in the course of history, without limiting myself to the ancient studies. Out of this there appeared an extremely complex, sometimes rather incomprehensible picture, however, the more I delved into this subject, the more obvious and apprehensible emerged the possible solution to this riddle.

In this book, I attempt to look at the phenomenon of Amazons from all sides, in order to shed more light on it and bring us close to its explanation. To fathom this legend, it is necessary first of all to refer to its earliest tradition that forms the foundation, without which the solution itself would be inconceivable. In the following, we look beyond the narrow confines of classic antiquity, to find where else in the world such Amazon-like myths exist. Our next step would be to moot different approaches to the question of Amazons.

The one which I consider of most importance is to check these various sources for their substantiality, and evaluate their probability as well. For this purpose, the alleged homelands of the Amazons were thoroughly explored. The discovered provided valuable mosaic pieces to reconstruct the Amazon history. And finally, I completed my search with careful preparation of the historical testimony which supports the results of my research.

My interpretation assumes that during pre- and early history of human development matriarchal way of life was very common – an approach which is mostly rejected by the traditional research to this day. However, I was not trying to get closer to the solution to the Amazon legend based on some matriarchal conception from history. On the contrary, my goal was to study the Amazon phenomenon as profoundly as possible with the conventional research. But the more I delved into this subject, the clearer was to me that in the past there were the women, who held the important positions in the society, partially superior to the men. The legend of the Amazons is only one aspect of this social event, but due to their fame they are of utmost importance for the necessary reinterpretation of the ancient history.

Nevertheless, the basis of my work was to present this phenomenon as neutrally as possible. The starting point of my research was not another trite historical conception, but solely the desire to shed more light on the mysterious legend of the Amazons. After all, I hold on to the hope, that my book will provide stimuli for the traditional doctrine to reconsider the conventional historical conception.

Chapter 1

Amazons in the ancient literature

Ancient literature provides us with a lot of knowledge about the Amazons. Homer – the Father of the European literature already mentions them twice. In both instances, it appears in the epic Iliad which treats events during the Trojan War. This work is assumed to be written around 700 BC.

In one of the passages of the Iliad the ruler of Troy Priam remembers that in his youth he fought against them together with Phrygians:

In translation the passage reads as follows (III, 184-190):

I went to Phrygia once, the land of vines and galloping horses,

and learnt how numerous the Phrygians are

when I saw the armies of Otreus and King Mygdon

encamped by the River Sangarios.

I was their ally and I bivouacked with them

that time the Amazons, who fought like men, came up to attack.

But even they were not as many as these Achaeans with their flashing eyes.¹

In another passage of the Iliad we hear how Bellerophon, the Greek hero, defeated them in Lycia.

It is translated as follows (VI, 186):

And by way of a third task, he killed the Amazons who go to war like men.

What can those two earliest citations uncover for us?

First of all we learn that already in the Iliad the Amazons have been set into the past – the old Priam is remembering an encounter with the Amazons when he was young. (…once…), and also the story of Bellerophon is told in retrospect. It is also interesting, that the Iliad characterizes them as «antianeirai». In the translation offered here, the same word would one time be translated as go to war like man, the other time as fight like men. The rendering of this word was not uncontroversial during antiquity, some translated it meaning equivalent of men (or manlike), others, however, as anti-male. The interpretation of this word as manlike seems more probable, considering that the Amazons equal men in fight. This confirms the characteristic of King Mygdon of Phrygia, who was described as godlike (see above, Ilias III 186), where the Greek word antitheo corresponds to the same structure as «antianeirai».

Further the Iliad unfolds that the Amazons were in both cases located in Asia Minor, first time by the river Sangarios, now Sakarya Nehri, in north-western Asia Minor, the second time in southwestern Asia Minor in the Lycia region.

There is another passage linked to the Amazons, although not directly. The tomb of Myrine is mentioned in the second book.

It reads as follows (II, 811-814):

Outside the town and some way off the plain, there is a high mound,

with open ground on every side,

which men call Thorn Hill,

but the immortals know as the tomb of dancing Myrine.

The name Myrine is a typical Amazon name. Considered as authoritative, the Greek historian and geographer Strabo (around 64 BC - 19 AD) addresses this passage of the Iliad and confirms that an Amazon named Myrine indeed existed. He concludes that her characteristic as dancing is an epithet emphasizing her speed as a charioteer! Thus this passage seems to describe the tomb of one Amazon, who was buried on a hill at the gates of Troy!

Being the earliest poet, Homer was studied extensively. If we are going to discuss all the Amazon references from antiquity in so much detail that would fill a whole book alone. Therefore, from the plethora of references I call from now on only those, which I consider essential to the picture of the Amazons in antiquity.

Pindar, a Greek poet, who lived from the end of 6th c. to the 1st half of the 5th c. BC speaks of the Amazones euippoi, meaning they were good horseback riders. Furthermore, we hear from him that they were armed with an iron bow. Most sources refer to the Amazons as excellent riders and good archers. They should have been so saddle fast that while riding, they would never fall from a horse. Lysias, an Athenian orator of 5th - 4thc BC, based the superiority of the Amazons on the fact that they were first to own iron arms and rode horseback. Frequently mentioned is also their antagonism towards men, as, for example, Aeschylus, the famous Greek playwright (6th-5thc. BC), calls them «styganores» (=manhating).

From the highly valued Greek historian Herodotus, whose works date