The fierce Amazons were more than just a myth--they were real

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The Amazons of Greek mythology, were fierce warrior women dwelling in the lands around and beyond the Black Sea. The greatest Greek heroes proved their valor by overcoming formidable Amazon queens in several famous myths. In one, Theseus, mythic founder of Athens, fought and defeated the Amazon Antiope. Heracles set out on his ninth labor with orders to obtain the war belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyte. In the legendary Trojan War, the champion Greek warrior Achilles and the bold Amazon Penthesilea were locked in hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield. (The ancient city of Troy was thought to be lost or legendary, but archaeologists found it.)

Known to the Greeks as the “equals of men,” the Amazons were said to be as courageous and skilled in war as men. In Greek art and literature, Amazons were invariably depicted as brave and beautiful, but always armed and dangerous. By the time Homer wrote The Iliad (around 700 B.C.), every Greek man, woman, boy, and girl knew exciting Amazon tales.

Greek artists created myriad images of Amazons wearing pants, riding horses, shooting bows, swinging battle-axes, hurling spears, and fighting and dying heroically. Amazons were popular subjects on privately commissioned pottery as well as on public sculptures. Vivid scenes of women warriors in battle decorated buildings and temples. To the lover of Greek myths, the Amazons might seem as imaginary as the hydra or Pegasus, but archaeologists are finding compelling evidence for the existence of ancient warrior women.

Eastern origins

Recent archaeological discoveries of graves from the fifth century B.C. suggest that the Greeks’ tales of Amazons were influenced by the lives of real equestrian nomads of Eurasia. In the Greek myths, Amazons enjoyed a vigorous outdoor life, sexual freedom, hunting, and warfare. Notably, these same characteristics could be observed among the peoples that roamed Scythia, the ancient Greek name for the vast territory stretching from the Black Sea east to Mongolia.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2020/05-06/fierce-amazons-more-than-myth-real/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=SpecialEdition_Escape_20200805&rid=FB26C926963C5C9490D08EC70E179424

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Thanks for posting

interesting read.

[Demonaut]

2. and they are Portland Moms today

[niyad]

4. YES!!!!

[kurtcagle]

3. The Sarmatians

The Scythians were a broad branch of early Indo-Iranian peoples that stretched from the Northern Black Sea all the way to Poland on the West, and the Ural mountains. The Sarmatians were a sub-branch found mostly along the Black Sea itself, and Sarmatian women were often as skilled as warriors as their men, likely serving as the origin of the Amazons. This is not to say that the Sarmatians were just female warriors, but women did exercise a degree of authority that was very much at odds with the Mycenaean cultures of early Greece. Additionally, Sarmatians likely tended to have lighter (in many cases blonde or red-headed) hair. Over time, they were absorbed by the Mongols, but every so often, a blue-eyed blonde haired child will be born among the northwest Mongolian people as Sarmatian recessive traits come to the fore.

[niyad]

5. Thank you!

[niyad]

6. Thank you for sharing this.