09/22/2014
The Amazons were fierce women warriors of the ancient world who supposedly maimed their male offspring, sliced off one breast to better shoot arrows, and both battled and romanced the ancient Greeks. But is this just mythology, or were they real? Mayor (The Poison King) looks at ancient writings and archeological evidence to argue that yes, "Amazons" were based on real nomadic women, though much different from the way ancient Greeks or contemporary audiences imagine them. New technology that enables archaeologists to determine the sex of a skeleton has revealed skeletons in what was ancient Scythia (a large area roughly north of the Black Sea) buried with weapons, armor, and battle wounds, to actually be female. Evidence also indicates that these women were maternal, coupled, and did not remove breasts or mutilate their boys. Mayor speculates on the origin of such misconceptions in ancient writings and art, smartly suggesting that, though Amazons are usually depicted heroically in Greek art and mythology, the male-centric Greeks perhaps struggled to understand a society based on equality between the sexes. Mayor also looks at the cultures of other ancient women warriors and while her expertise shines throughout, her dry tone is unlikely to enchant laypeople. (Oct.)
November 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby's return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hareamp;mdash;killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools. Then Kiera's pastamp;mdash;a past she thought she'd finally made peace withamp;mdash;rises up to haunt her.
All of London is horrified by the evidence that "burkers" are, indeed, at work in their city. The terrified populace hovers on a knife's edge, ready to take their enmity out on any likely suspect. And when Kiera receives a letter of blackmail, threatening to divulge details about her late anatomist husband's involvement with the body snatchers and wrongfully implicate her, she begins to apprehend just how precarious her situation is. Not only for herself, but also her new husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, and their unborn child.
Meanwhile, the young scion of a noble family has been found murdered a block from his home, and the man's family wants Kiera and Gage to investigate. Is it a failed attempt by the London burkers, having left the body behind, or the crime of someone much closer to home?
November 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby's return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hareamp;mdash;killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools. Then Kiera's pastamp;mdash;a past she thought she'd finally made peace withamp;mdash;rises up to haunt her.
All of London is horrified by the evidence that "burkers" are, indeed, at work in their city. The terrified populace hovers on a knife's edge, ready to take their enmity out on any likely suspect. And when Kiera receives a letter of blackmail, threatening to divulge details about her late anatomist husband's involvement with the body snatchers and wrongfully implicate her, she begins to apprehend just how precarious her situation is. Not only for herself, but also her new husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, and their unborn child.
Meanwhile, the young scion of a noble family has been found murdered a block from his home, and the man's family wants Kiera and Gage to investigate. Is it a failed attempt by the London burkers, having left the body behind, or the crime of someone much closer to home?
Overview
November 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby's return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hareamp;mdash;killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools. Then Kiera's pastamp;mdash;a past she thought she'd finally made peace withamp;mdash;rises up to haunt her.
All of London is horrified by the evidence that "burkers" are, indeed, at work in their city. The terrified populace hovers on a knife's edge, ready to take their enmity out on any likely suspect. And when Kiera receives a letter of blackmail, threatening to divulge details about her late anatomist husband's involvement with the body snatchers and wrongfully implicate her, she begins to apprehend just how precarious her situation is. Not only for herself, but also her new husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, and their unborn child.
Meanwhile, the young scion of a noble family has been found murdered a block from his home, and the man's family wants Kiera and Gage to investigate. Is it a failed attempt by the London burkers, having left the body behind, or the crime of someone much closer to home?
Editorial Reviews
Winner of the 2016 Sarasvati Award for Best Nonfiction Book in Women and Mythology, Association for the Study of Women & Mythology
2015 Silver Medal Winner in the Independent Publisher Book Awards, World History category
Selected for The New York Times Book Review’s “The Year in Reading” 2016
Shortlisted for the 2014 London Hellenic Prize
One of Foreign Affairs’ Best Military, Scientific, and Technological Books of 2015
Selected for American Scientist’s Science Book Gift Guide 2014
"In her quest to separate reality from mythology, Mayor left few stones unturned, even examining the graves of women with war wounds and mummified tattoos. She skillfully presents her findings with wit and conviction in this superbly illustrated book"—Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affiars
"Fluidly written and exhaustively researched, this fascinating book lit up my mind and my sense of humanity, not just with women in it, but under it, above it, flinging out constellations and atoms; carving out grand canyons hand-in-hand with men and beasts and glaciers, too."—Neko Case, singer-songwriter, New York Times Book Review
"The Amazons is elegantly written, nicely illustrated and will no doubt excite a lot of attention."—Simon Goldhill,Times Literary Supplement
"Mayor specializes in connecting artifacts—paintings, sculptures, coins, bones, weapons, clothing, fossils—with the more diffuse evidence found in literature, lore and legend . . . in order to illuminate the lives of the ancient warrior women. . . . Impressive investigative work . . . fascinating."—James Romm, London Review of Books
"[A] fascinatingly detailed account."—Emily Wilson, Wall Street Journal
"Mayor (The Poison King) looks at ancient writings and archeological evidence to argue that yes, 'Amazons' were based on real nomadic women, though much different from the way ancient Greeks or contemporary audiences imagine them. . . . Mayor speculates on the origin of such misconceptions in ancient writings and art, smartly suggesting that, though Amazons are usually depicted heroically in Greek art and mythology, the male-centric Greeks perhaps struggled to understand a society based on equality between the sexes. . . . Her expertise shines throughout."—Publishers Weekly
"An encyclopedic study of the barbarian warrior women of Western Asia, revealing how new archaeological discoveries uphold the long-held myths and legends. The famed female archers on horseback from the lands the ancient Greeks called Scythia appeared throughout Greek and Roman legend. Mayor tailors her scholarly work to lay readers, providing a fascinating exploration into the factual identity underpinning the fanciful legends surrounding these wondrous Amazons. . . . Mayor clears away much of the man-hating myths around these redoubtable warriors. Thanks to Mayor's scholarship, these fearsome fighters are attaining their historical respectability."—Kirkus Reviews
"A must-read for anyone interested in either Amazonian myth or history."—Fred Poling, Library Journal
"No one before has ever marshalled the full sweep of evidence as Mayor does here. . . . The result is a book as erudite as it riveting, one that is surely destined to serve as the definitive work on the subject."—Tom Holland, Literary Review
"There are myriad myths surrounding the Amazons, but which are based on truth? . . . This is the question which Adrienne Mayor seeks to answer in her hugely informative and entertaining Encyclopaedia Amazonica."—Natalie Haynes, Independent
"[A] lively and engaging exploration . . . vivid, compelling and detailed . . . a rich compendium."—Lloyd Llewellyn Jones, Times Higher Education
"A beautiful book. . . . The Amazons by Adrienne Mayor is required reading."—Anna Meldolesi, Corriere della Sera
"Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic."—Peter Konieczny, History of the Ancient World blog
"Mayor writes elegant, jargon free, frequently witty prose."—Barry Baldwin, Fortean Times
"If Adrienne Mayor had merely applied her rigorous scholarship and poetic charm to documenting the shifting image of Amazons in classical, medieval and post-Renaissance European culture, she would have written an important contribution to ancient history. But she has achieved much more. By painstaking research . . . she has broken down the often impenetrable walls dividing western cultural history from its eastern equivalents. . . . Mayor opens up new horizons in world storytelling and feminist iconography. . . . There may not be Amazon dolls in today's toyshops, but a good substitute would be to read this wonderful book with your children and show them its pictures."—Edith Hall, New Statesman
"For anyone who thinks Amazons were as mythical as centaurs or sphinxes, this pleasurable book proves that misconception is wondrously wrong. . . . Mayor's beautifully illustrated book, truly encyclopedic on all things Amazonian, reclaims the historic image of these dauntless figures in the heroic frame they deserve."—Fran Willing, Bust.com
"Mayor's book is popular history at its best. Much of her archaeological evidence is new — such as her descriptions of 'Scythian' female graves with horses and weapons. She chooses wonderful illustrations which makes the book enjoyable and easy to read."—Zenobia blog
"Clearly, with this clever, systematic and engaging work by Mayor, Amazons got their classic book. And it is a riveting read, too."—Ephraim Nissan, Fabula
"Mayor's fascinatingly readable book convincingly argues that many of their characteristics may have derived from real nomadic womenwarriors of antiquity. . . . It represents a remarkable scholarly breakthrough: no one will ever be able to discuss the Amazon myths again without taking into account the historical evidence she provides."—Tassos A. Kaplanis, Journal of Historical Geography
"Adrienne Mayor has written an ambitious 'Encyclopedia Amazonica' as she calls her book, a kind of compendium of information about the Amazons. . . . Her charming and seamless style can certainly provoke a reader's interest in the still distant and unknown terra incognita of the Black Sea and Caucasus regions and their nomadic life."—Eleni Boliaki, Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews
"I can't . . . begin to say how great it is to have a book like this, because it's exactly the kind of book I like. Not one that just dismisses old stories as being too tall or made up, but really gives them the benefit of the doubt and tries to correlate and reconcile them with hard evidence. This is brilliantly achieved in Amazons. . . . This in many ways is an exhaustive study, every facet that could be thought of has been included, and very little left out."—Adventures in Historyland
"Mayor writes well, and not without dry humour, and although hardly given to the sensational, the sheer depth and breadth of her research and discoveries carry you along. You won't devour this in a sitting, just as you wouldn't eat a whole gooey gateau at once, but each slice of book is appetising enough to keep you coming back for more."—Lynn Picknett, Magonia Review of Books
"Adrienne Mayor’s Amazons . . . remains much the best guide to the Amazonian blend of fact and fable."—David Butterfield, Spectator
"[The Amazons] contains 400+ pages of fascinating evidence pertaining to the Scythian and Thracian women of ancient times, not to mention 100+ pages of source material at the end. There is no shortage of historical imagery depicting Amazons through different artistic medians from paintings to carvings."—GeedMom
"[Mayor’s] skill as a narrator has produced an excellent addition to popular ancient history that ranks highly for its commitment to educating general readers and its interdisciplinary approach."—Ian McElroy and Thomas Figueira, The Historian
2014-07-16
An encyclopedic study of the barbarian warrior women of Western Asia, revealing how new archaeological discoveries uphold the long-held myths and legends. The famed female archers on horseback from the lands the ancient Greeks called Scythia appeared throughout Greek and Roman legend. Mayor (Classics and History of Science/Stanford Univ.; The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy, 2009, etc.) tailors her scholarly work to lay readers, providing a fascinating exploration into the factual identity underpinning the fanciful legends surrounding these wondrous Amazons. Members of nomadic cultures who inhabited the arid steppes in the regions above the Black Sea, Caucasus Mountains and Caspian Sea—extending from Thrace to Mongolia—the Amazons were raised in an egalitarian, horse-centered society in which the girls became "battle-hardened warriors who prized independence and repelled all would-be conquerors." Though they left no written record, the archaeological discoveries in grave sites reveal their violent lifestyles: Clad in trousers and other clothing similar to that worn by men, they were buried with their horses, battle gear and children. Many of them died from combat injuries, and their corpses showed tattoos and bowed legs from horse riding. While there are known "Nart" sagas, such as a recent one translated from the Circassian language about a leader of nomadic women warriors, the best known stories are from the early Greeks—e.g., Homer and Herodotus, who first recorded the deeds of these "equals of men," the allies of the Trojans led by Queen Penthesilea, who eventually battled Achilles and lost. Other famous Amazons included Queen Hippolyta, who was killed by Heracles to attain her Golden Girdle, thus setting off for the Athenians a terrible war with the Amazons. Mayor clears away much of the man-hating myths around these redoubtable warriors. Thanks to Mayor's scholarship, these fearsome fighters are attaining their historical respectability.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170551682 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
| Publication date: | 04/02/2019 |
| Series: | Lady Darby Mystery , #7 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 757,715 |
Read an Excerpt
The Amazons
Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World
By Adrienne Mayor
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 2014 Adrienne MayorAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4008-6513-0
CHAPTER 1
ANCIENT PUZZLES AND MODERN MYTHS
In olden times, the earth thundered with the pounding of horses' hooves. In that long ago age, women would saddle their horses, grab their lances, and ride forth with their men folk to meet the enemy in battle on the steppes. The women of that time could cut out an enemy's heart with their swift, sharp swords. Yet they also comforted their men and harbored great love in their hearts.... After the frenzied battle, Queen Amezan leaned down from her saddle and realized in despair that the warrior she had killed was her beloved. A choking cry filled her throat: My sun has set forever! —Caucasus tradition, Nart Saga 26
Achilles removed the brilliant helmet from the lifeless Amazon queen. Penthesilea had fought like a raging leopard in their duel at Troy. Her valor and beauty were undimmed by dust and blood. Achilles' heart lurched with remorse and desire.... All the Greeks on the battlefield crowded around and marveled, wishing with all their hearts that their wives at home could be just like her. —Quintus of Smyrna, The Fall of Troy
If Queen Amezan and Queen Penthesilea could somehow meet in real life, they would recognize each other as sister Amazons. Two tales, two storytellers, two sites far apart in time and place, and yet one common tradition of women who made love and war. The first tale arose outside the classical Greek world, in the northern Black Sea–Caucasus region among the descendants of the steppe nomads of Scythia. The other tale originated within the ancient Greek world, in epic poems about the legendary Trojan War. In the two traditions the male and female roles are reversed, yet the stories resonate in striking ways—sharing similar characters, dramatic battle situations, emotions, tragic themes—and even the word "Amazon."
Recently translated from the Circassian language, the first story tells of the mythic leader of a band of women warriors, Amezan. It is one of many "Nart" sagas, oral traditions about heroes and heroines of the heart of ancient Scythian—and Amazon—territory (now southern Russia). The Caucasus tales preserve ancient Indo-European myths combined with the folk legends of Eurasian nomads, first encountered by Greeks who sailed the Black Sea in the seventh century BC. The sagas not only describe strong horsewomen who match the descriptions of Amazons in Greek myth, but they also suggest a possible Caucasian etymology for the ancient Greek loanword "amazon."
The second vignette, about Achilles and Penthesilea, is an episode from the archaic Trojan War epic cycles, one of which was the Iliad. Many oral traditions about Amazons were already circulating before Homer's day, the eighth/seventh century BC, around the time when the first recognizable images of Amazons appeared in Greek art. The Iliad covered only two months of the great ten-year war with Troy. At least six other epic poems preceded or continued the events in the Iliad, but they survive only as fragments. Many other lost oral traditions about the Trojan War are alluded to the Iliad and other works, and they are illustrated in ancient art depicting Greeks fighting Amazons. The lost poem Arimaspea by the Greek traveler Aristeas (ca. 670 BC) contained Amazon stories. Another wandering poet, Magnes from Smyrna (said to be Homer's birthplace), recited tales in Lydian about an Amazon invasion of Lydia in western Anatolia in the early seventh century BC. Some scholars suggest that there was once a freestanding epic poem about Amazons, along the lines of the Iliad, a tantalizing possibility.
One of the lost Trojan War epics, the Aethiopis (attributed to Arctinos of Miletos, eighth/seventh century BC), was a sequel to the Iliad, taking up the action where Homer left off. The Aethiopis described the arrival of Queen Penthesilea and her band of Amazon mercenaries who came to help the Trojans fight the Greeks. Scenes from this poem were very popular in Greek vase paintings. In the third century AD, the Greek poet Quintus of Smyrna drew on the Aethiopis to retell the story of Penthesilea's duel with the Greek champion Achilles, in his Fall of Troy, quoted in this chapter's second epigraph.
Both of the tales quoted above—one from Scythia and the other from the Greek homeland—feature women whose fighting skills matched those of men. Their heroic exploits were imaginary, but their characters and actions arose from a common historical source: warrior cultures of the steppes where nomad horsemen and -women could experience parity at a level almost unimaginable for ancient Hellenes.
Myth and reality commingled in the Greek imagination, and as more and more details came to light about Scythian culture, the women of Scythia were explicitly identified as "Amazons." Today's archaeological and linguistic discoveries point to the core of reality that lay behind Greek Amazon myths. But in fact, the newfound archaeological evidence allows us to finally catch up with the ancient Greeks themselves. The Amazons of myth and the independent women of Scythia were already deeply intertwined in Greek thinking more than twenty-five hundred years before modern archaeologists and classicists began to realize that women warriors really did exist and influenced Greek traditions.
Amazons of classical literature and art arose from hazy facts elaborated by Greek mythographers and then came into sharper focus as knowledge increased. Rumors of warlike nomad societies—where a woman might win fame and glory through "manly" prowess with weapons—fascinated the Greeks. The idea of bold, resourceful women warriors, the equals of men, dwelling at the edges of the known world, inspired an outpouring of mythic stories, pitting the greatest Greek heroes against Amazon heroines from the East. Every Greek man, woman, boy, and girl knew these adventure stories by heart, stories illustrated in public and private artworks. The details of the "Amazon" lifestyle aroused speculation and debate. Many classical Greco-Roman historians, philosophers, geographers, and other writers described Amazonian-Scythian history and customs.
The early Greeks received their information about northeastern peoples from many different sources, including travelers, traders, and explorers, and from the indigenous, migrating tribes around the Black Sea, Caucasus Mountains, Caspian Sea, and Central Asia. The tribes' accounts of themselves and culturally similar groups were transmitted (and garbled) by layers of translations over thousands of miles. Another probable source was the high population of household slaves in Greece who hailed from Thrace and the Black Sea region. Selection bias was a factor. Accounts of "barbarian" customs that piqued Greek curiosity or matched Greek expectations might have been chosen over others. Yet a surprising number of accurate details, confirmed by archaeology, managed to sneak through all these obstacles.
The Scythians themselves left no written records. Much of our knowledge about them comes from the art and literature of Greece and Rome. But the Scythians did leave spectacular physical evidence of their way of life for archaeologists to uncover. Dramatic excavations of tombs, bodies, and artifacts illuminate the links between the women called Amazons and the warlike horsewomen archers of the Scythian steppes. According to one leading archaeologist, "All of the legends about Amazons find their visible archaeological reflection within the grave goods" of the ancient Scythians. That is an overstatement, yet recent and ongoing discoveries do offer astonishing evidence of the existence of authentic women warriors whose lives matched the descriptions of Amazons in Greek myths, art, and classical histories, geographies, ethnographies, and other writings. Scythian graves do contain battle-scarred skeletons of women buried with their weapons, horses, and other possessions. Scientific bone analysis proves that women rode, hunted, and engaged in combat in the very regions where Greco-Roman mythographers and historians once located "Amazons."
Archaeology shows that Amazons were not simply symbolic figments of the Greek imagination, as many scholars claim. Nor are Amazons unique to Greek culture, another common claim. In fact, Greeks were not the only people to spin tales about Amazon-like figures and warrior women ranging over the vast regions east of the Mediterranean. Other literate cultures, such as Persia, Egypt, India, and China, encountered warlike nomads in antiquity, and their narratives drew on their own knowledge of steppe nomads through alliances, exploration, trade, and warfare. Their heroes also fought and fell in love with Amazon-like heroines. Moreover, vestiges of the tales told in antiquity by Scythian peoples about themselves are preserved in traditional oral legends, epic poems, and stories of Central Asia, some only recently committed to writing.
Who were the Amazons? Their complex identity is enmeshed in history and imagination. To see them clearly, we first need to cast away murky symbolic interpretations and spurious popular beliefs.
POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS
The single most notorious "fact" often used to describe Amazons is wrong. The idea that each Amazon removed one breast so that she could shoot arrows with ease is based on zero evidence. It was refuted in antiquity. Yet this bizarre belief, unique to the ancient Greeks, has persisted for more than twenty-five hundred years since it was first proposed in the fifth century BC by a Greek historian dabbling in etymology. The origins of the "single-breasted" Amazon and the controversies that still surround this false notion are so complex and fascinating that Amazon bosoms have their own chapter.
Some fallacies about Amazons can be traced to inconsistencies, gaps—and wild speculations—in the ancient Greek and Latin sources. Other modern misconceptions originate in attempts to explain Amazons solely in terms of their symbolic meaning for the Greeks, especially male Athenians. Conflicting claims in antiquity are still debated today, like the single-breast story. Were the Amazons a true gynocracy, a society of self-governing women living apart from men? Some pictured a tribe of man-hating virgins or domineering women who enslaved weak men and mutilated baby boys, a vision that led to speculations on how Amazon society reproduced.
AMAZONS, A TRIBE KNOWN FOR STRONG WOMEN
The notion that Amazons were hostile toward men was controversial even in antiquity. The confusion begins with their name. Linguistic evidence suggests that the earliest Greek form of the non-Greek name Amazon designated an ethnic group distinguished by a high level of equality between men and women. Rumors of such parity would have startled the Greeks, who lived according to strictly divided male and female roles. Long before the word "Scythian" or specific tribal names appeared in Greek literature, "Amazons" may have been a name for a people notorious for strong, free women.
The earliest reference to the Amazons in Greek literature appears in Homer's Iliad in the formulaic phrase Amazones antianeirai. Modern scholars are unanimous that the plural noun Amazones was not originally a Greek word. But it is unclear which language it was borrowed from and what its original meaning was. What is known for certain is that Amazon does not have anything to do with breasts (chapter 5 for probable origins of the name).
There is something remarkable about Homer's earliest use of Amazones in the Iliad. The form of the name falls into the linguistic category of ethnic designations in epic poetry (another Homeric example is Myrmidones, the warriors led by Achilles at Troy). This important clue tells us that Amazones was originally a Hellenized name for "a plurality, a people," as in Hellenes for Greeks and Trooes for the Trojans. The Greeks used distinctive feminine endings (typically -ai) for associations made up exclusively of women, such as Nymphai (Nymphs) or Trooiai for Trojan women. But Amazones does not have the feminine ending that one would expect if the group consisted only of women. Therefore, the name Amazones would originally have been "understood as ... a people consisting of men and women." As classicist Josine Blok points out in her discussion of this puzzle, without the addition of the feminine epithet antianeirai "there is no way of telling that this was a people of female warriors." The inescapable conclusion is that Amazones was not a name for a women-only entity, as many have assumed. Instead Amazones once indicated an entire ethnic group.
So the earliest literary references to Amazons identified them as a nation or people, followed by antianeirai, a descriptive tag along the lines of "the Saka, Pointed Hat Wearers," or "the Budini, Eaters of Lice." Indeed, many ancient Greek writers do treat Amazons as a tribe of men and women. They credit the tribe with innovations such as ironworking and domestication of horses. Some early vase paintings show men fighting alongside Amazons.
But what about the meaning of the epithet attached to Amazones? That word is slippery and complex. Antianeirai is often translated in modern times as "opposites of men," "against men," "opposing men," "antagonistic to men," or "man-hating." In fact, however, in ancient Greek epic diction the prefix anti- did not ordinarily suggest opposition or antagonism as the English prefix "anti-" does today. Instead anti- meant "equivalent" or "matching." Accordingly, antianeirai is best translated as "equals of men."
Such ethnonyms, names of tribes, are typically masculine, with the understanding that the female members are included in the collective name (as in "man" for all humans or "les Indiens d'Amérique" for an entire ethnic group). But the curious formation aneirai is a unique feminine plural compound that included the Greek masculine noun "man," aner. A parallel formation occurs in the Amazon name Deianeira, "Man-Destroyer," in which aner is the object of the verb stem dei (destroy) with the suffix -ia. If there had been a group of women named thus, the plural would be the Deianeirai.
Amazones antianeirai is "unmistakably an ethnic designation," yet the epithet is feminine, a reversal of expectations that puzzles scholars. The odd semantic effect of "men," in the sense of a whole people or nation, combined with a feminine description brings to mind the popular tendency among English speakers to refer to cats as "she" and dogs as "he," even though it is understood that tomcats and bitches are also members of the respective species.
The adaptation of the original, unknown barbarian name to the Greek epic formula for a whole people produced "a proper noun riddled with ambiguity." Some scholars interpret this peculiarity as evidence that Homer's Amazones antianeirai must have been a purely mythic construction created by the Greeks for a fictional "race" of women warriors. The assumption is that the idea of women behaving like men was so difficult to grasp, so "confusing and menacing" and disruptive for Greeks, that the name was "only conceivable in the imaginary world of myth." But should we underestimate the ancient Greeks' ability to conceive of and name a real people whose gender relations were different from their own? In fact, it was common for the Greeks to describe and name foreigners by reference to their exotic, disturbing customs, such as lice eating, head-hunting, polyandry (multiple husbands), and cannibalism.
The linguistic evidence points to a reasonable explanation for the unusual semantics of the name "Amazons, equals of men." The fact that the earliest nomenclature for Amazons took the form of a name for an ethnic group is highly significant. Real ethnic groups, of course, are made up of men, women, and children, and in early antiquity the word Amazones would have been "understood as a group of people consisting of men and women," as Blok points out. Homer and other archaic writers could have used the phrase Amazones andres, "the Amazon people," but their choice of Amazones antianeirai clearly highlighted this group's most outstanding quality. Because aner/andres could also mean "man/ men" in the sense of a whole people, a tribe, or a nation, the phrase also carries the connotation of "equal humans." The Greeks first identified the Amazons ethnographically, as a nation of men and women distinguished by something outstanding in their gender relations. Later, any ambivalence or anxiety that knowledge of this alternative gender-neutral culture evoked among Greeks was played out in their mythic narratives about martial women.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Amazons by Adrienne Mayor. Copyright © 2014 Adrienne Mayor. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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