Free Republic

Archaeology shows that these fierce women also smoked pot, got tattoos, killed—and loved—men. The Amazons got a bum rap in antiquity. They wore trousers. They smoked pot, covered their skin with tattoos, rode horses, and fought as hard as the guys. Legends sprang up like weeds. They cut off their breasts to fire their bows better! They mutilated or killed their boy children! Modern (mostly male) scholars continued the confabulations. The Amazons were hard-core feminists. Man haters. Delinquent mothers. Lesbians. Drawing on a wealth of textual, artistic, and archaeological evidence, Adrienne Mayor, author of The Amazons, dispels these myths and...

Ancient treasure trove uncovered Archaeologists have found a 2,700-year-old temple which contains objects from across the ancient world. Gold and silver figures, jewellery and shells from throughout the Mediterranean were gathered in one place on the small Greek island of Kithnos in the Aegean Sea. The finds suggest the temple was for a female god. Many of the objects were originally from Egypt, Italy and Phoenicia which is now Lebanon and Israel. The ancient city was founded during the 10th century BC and abandoned four centuries later, said Alexander Mazarakis-Ainian, over seeing the dig. He is an associate professor at...