Posted on 08/04/2004 8:51:53 PM PDT by blam
Amazon Warrior Women
This painting on a Greek vase depicts an Amazon woman warrior on horseback engaged in battle.
Amazons in myth:
History's first mention of a race of warrior women comes in Homer's ILIAD, an account of the Trojan War, probably written in the 8th to the 7th century B.C. Homer's Amazons, a race of fierce women who mated with vanquished male foes and kept only the female children they bore, were believed to occupy the area around the Black Sea. Amazon women also crop up in other Greek myths. One of the labors of Hercules, for example, required him to acquire the girdle of the Amazon queen, Hippolyte. The Amazons of Greek mythology most likely had no connection to the women of the steppes, says archaeologist Jeannine Davis-Kimball. "I think the idea of the 'Amazon' was created by the Greeks for their own purposes," she says.
A history of sorts:
The histories of the Greek Herodotus, written around the 5th century B.C., describe a group of female warriors who lost to the Greeks at the battle of Thermodon. Herodotus's Amazons were taken prisoner and put on ships, but overwhelmed and killed the Greek crew. Unable to sail themselves, the women drifted to the shores of the Black Sea, to the territory of the Scythians, a nomadic culture of Iranian descent. The women, Herodotus says, intermarried with the Scythian men, and convinced their new husbands to move northeast across the flat grassy plains, high mountains, and searing deserts of the Russian steppes, where the group eventually evolved into the Sauromatian culture.
Golden ornaments such as this bead were found in abundance at a recent excavation of an Amazon warrior woman's grave.
Amazons in Eurasia:
The first direct evidence for warrior women of high status on the steppes of southern Russia comes from excavations of burials from the Sauromatian culture dating from the 6th to the 4th century B.C. Judging from their grave goods, Sauromatians were nomadic, experts in animal husbandry, and skilled in warfare.
Starting around the 4th century B.C., Sauromatian culture evolves into the Sarmatian culture, also a nomadic people that make their livelihood raising animals and versed in the art of war. The culture, which had been expanding its territory, soon shifts its focus. "They become raiders and traders, with forays to the west to interface with the Romans, and they relocate to cities and to areas along large trade routes," Davis-Kimball says. "Their wealth increases. We see that in their burial items. We see strong, powerful women, but their role changes. We find burials of women that still retain cultic artifacts, indicating that they were a priestess of some sort, but there is much more gold and more secular ornamentation -- more golden cups, more golden jewelry, elaborate things -- and less weaponry. This type of evolution is a normal manifestation of culture."
From the 2nd century B.C. to the 2nd to 3rd century A.D., the Sarmatians migrate to the west and north of the Black Sea, and eventually invade Dacia (now Romania). In the 3rd century A.D. the Sarmatians are invaded by the Goths, and in 370 A.D. they are overtaken by Huns and either killed or assimilated. Jeannine Davis-Kimball believes that remnants of the integrated Sarmatian population can still be found in the descendants of that conquering horde of Mongols. The Mongols relocated from southern Russia to western China and western Mongolia 150 to 200 years ago, where they reside today.
It would disappoint . . . I'm mostly Irish, with bits of Scottish and Welsh, or so I'm led to understand. No Sarmatian in me that I'm aware of. :)
Yeah, but maybe the Sarmatians are just a wee bit Irish. :0)
Yes, I was almost screaming at my TV when they described some of the things about the Samartians because I was so moved that this might have a connection to the red-haired mummies and many of the other things that draw a much larger picture.
Another of the intense moments was when they were discussing the Illiad. In the Illiad, the Amazons are mentioned as being at Troy. Achilles fought the head Amazon and killed her, but as she lay dying and he removed her helmet, he fell madly and tragically in love with her. But after relating this story, they pretty much dismissed that the Illiad had any historical value and moved on.
However, we know that the Illiad was not all fiction! The Illiad was based on a very old tale, and the Amazons were part of the story. Throughout many of the ancient accounts, this race of nomadic people is mentioned in different contexts. It is possible that the same people who went to the Steppes went to the British Isles and, who knows, maybe America. There certainly seems to be alot to tie these groups together culturally and genetically and throughout an impressive span of thousands of years of practicing their primeval religion and lifestyle.
"Gozer the traveller. He will come in one of the prechosen forms. During the rectification of the Voldrani, the traveller came as a large and moving Torg! Then during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick (sp?) supplicants, they chose a new form for him; that of a giant Slor! Many shubs and shules knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of a Slor that day, I can tell you!"I about pee my pants at that point in the script, despite the age of the movie and the number of times I've seen it. :')
my favorite Amazon...
I wish the bunch of us had been together and watched that documentary together. Now THAT would have been even more fun!
I still haven't "recovered" from it.
As you said, burrian, the implications for a much wider picture is sure there! One that Blam introduced many of us to.
bttt with a few related GGG / FR topics:
The Argonaut Epos and Bronze Age Economic History
Economics Department, City College of New York
Revised May 14, 1999 | Morris Silver
Posted on 08/25/2004 10:30:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1199756/posts
Arzawa
The House of David (not the vanished religious sect by that name)
circa 2002 by David R Ross
Posted on 11/26/2004 7:32:25 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1289143/posts
Inscription in Carian and Greek
Anistoriton ^ | 27 Dec. 1997 | (editors)
Posted on 07/17/2004 6:20:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1173453/posts?page=10#10
Non-Attic Characters
University of California, Irvine, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae
September 7 2003 (rev 9-28-2003) | Nick Nicholas
Posted on 07/18/2004 6:43:19 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1173901/posts
Quarry, Setting and Team Marks: The Carian Connection
University of Leiden (Netherlands) ^ | 1998 | (about) Sheldon Lee Gosline
Posted on 10/08/2004 3:20:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1239452/posts
So Who Is Buried in Midas's Tomb?
NYT ^ | 12/25/2001 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Posted on 12/24/2001 10:12:01 PM PST by a_Turk
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/596541/posts
The Truth About An Epic Tale Of Love, War And Greed (Troy)
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 3-24-2004
Posted on 03/25/2004 12:03:11 PM PST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1105131/posts
Was There a Trojan War?
Archaeology ^ | May/June 2004 | Manfred Korfmann
Posted on 07/29/2004 11:43:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1181498/posts?page=3#3
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