Amazon Warriors Did Indeed Fight and Die Like 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 takes us inside the truly wild and wonderful world of these ancient warrior women.
Talking from her home in Palo Alto, California, she explains what Johnny Depp has in common with Amazons, why the Amazon spirit is breaking out all over pop culture, and who invented trousers.
We associate the word Amazon with digital book sales these days. Tell us about the real Amazons.
The real Amazons were long believed to be purely imaginary. They were the mythical warrior women who were the archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Every Greek hero or champion, from Hercules to Theseus and Achilles, had to prove his mettle by fighting a powerful warrior queen.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141029-amazons-scythians-hunger-games-herodotus-ice-princess-tattoo-cannabis/
Behind the Aegis
(54,880 posts)I have been fascinated by Amazons since I was little. I was pleased when they were shown not to be "just myths" as many believed. Personally, I feel some believed it because how could women really be warriors. What was really neat about "Xena" was the show portrayed Amazons as coming from all over the ancient world, not just Greece, which, as I recall, maybe poorly, an article years ago about that portrayal being one of the first to show Amazons as something other than Hellenistic.
Tyrs WolfDaemon
(2,289 posts)I always wanted to find me a shield-maiden of my own.
Ah, the 'perfect' woman for me (all women are perfect but not all women are perfect in a way so as to put up with me)
A fiery red-head
Beautiful Green eyes (Alright, green contacts will work)
On the large side of being petite
Smarter than me (on many days of late, this would include 98% of all women...alright, 99.999%)
A sense of humor as debauched as mine
Able to swing a blade such that we can go a Viking together! (This one is important)
Loves the cold
Finally, it would be totally awesome if she also had wolf/fox ears and a tail. (Sorry, I couldn't help adding this one )
(Ok, so she's blonde, that's fine.)
Note: Things like cooking and cleaning etc are not included in the list. That is a mutual thing. I never believed in that 'Women belong in the kitchen' crap.
Besides, I like cooking. I make a coquille st. Jacques to die for.