Amazons: Women Warriors in Antiquity

23.01.2021

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Amazons are a mythological race of female warriors. This community, which made its own laws and made use of its own knowledge of food and shelter, had a queen who ruled themselves. It is thought to live in the territory of Turkey. It can be said that Amazon women from Homer’s works called The Iliad and Odessa also took part in the Trojan War. It is written that their famous queen Penthesilla was killed by Achilles in this war.

Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea (Ref:British Museum)

According to legends, these women were cutting the ends of their right breasts as a sign of courage because of their religious rituals.The Amazons, whom we see with their two breasts depicted in the photos, mostly have their right breasts covered. It is told that women who are adept at using arrows and spears can shoot arrows faster. Classical writers also associate the word Amazon with the word amazos, which means “without a breast”.

Amazon women did not have men in their environment and they sold men as slaves, and they raised women as warriors. By having intercourse with men from unfamiliar places, they would conceive and expand their lineage. The concept of ‘father’ did not exist in Amazon women, who only used men functionally in their culture. According to some myths, boys born were either brutally murdered or sent to live with their fathers.

Haleplibahce Mosaics

Amazon women considered war sacred. They worshiped Ares, the father of their tribes, and his half sister, the virgin goddess Artemis, who symbolized her female power and stayed away from men. The Amazon warrior possesses the strength of a man and the predation of a wild animal. They are depicted in the pictures as the male warriors of the time.

It is said that the name of the Amazon River, the longest river in the world, comes from these warriors. Spanish sailor Francisco de Orellena was attacked by a group of female warriors while exploring this area. After the attack, it is said that the name of the river, which was previously called Marnaon, was changed to Amazon.

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