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AMAZONS

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 791 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMAZONS , an See also:

ancient legendary nation of See also:female warriors. They were said to have lived in See also:Pontus near the See also:shore of the AMAZONS Euxine See also:sea, where they formed an See also:independent See also:kingdom under the See also:government of a See also:queen, the See also:capital being Themiscyra on the See also:banks of the See also:river Thermodon (See also:Herodotus iv. 110-117). From this centre they made numerous warlike excursions—to See also:Scythia, See also:Thrace, the coasts of See also:Asia See also:Minor and the islands of the See also:Aegean, even penetrating to See also:Arabia, See also:Syria and See also:Egypt. They were supposed to have founded many towns, amongst them See also:Smyrna, See also:Ephesus, See also:Sinope, See also:Paphos. According to another See also:account, they originally came to the Thermodon from the Palus Maeotis (Sea of See also:Azov). No men were permitted to reside in their See also:country; but once a See also:year, in See also:order to prevent their See also:race from dying out, they visited the Gargareans, a neighbouring tribe. The male See also:children who Were the result of these visits were either put to See also:death or sent back to their fathers; the female were kept and brought up by their mothers, and trained in agricultural pursuits, See also:hunting, and the See also:art of See also:war (See also:Strabo xi. p. 503). It is said that their right See also:breast was cut off or burnt out, in order that they might be able to use the See also:bow more freely; hence the ancient derivation of 'Aµ! oves from a-µa0s, "without breast." But there is no indication of this practice in See also:works of art, in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although the right is frequently covered. Other suggested derivations are: a (intensive) and µa0s, breast, " full-breasted "; it (privative) and µavow, See also:touch, " not touching men "; maza, a Circassian word said to signify " See also:moon, has suggested their connexion with the See also:worship of a 'See also:noon-goddess, perhaps the See also:Asiatic representative of See also:Artemis. The Amazons appear in connexion with several See also:Greek legends.

They invaded See also:

Lycia, but were defeated by See also:Bellerophon, who was sent out against them by Iobates, the See also:king of that country, in the See also:hope that he might meet his death at their hands (Iliad, vi. 186). They attacked the Phrygians, who were assisted by See also:Priam, then a See also:young See also:man (Iliad, iii. 189), although in his later years, towards the end of the Trojan war, his old opponents took his See also:side against the Greeks under their queen Penthesileia, who was slain by See also:Achilles (Quint. Smyr. i.; See also:Justin ii. 4; See also:Virgil, Aen. i. 490). One of the tasks imposed upon Heracles by Eurystheus was to obtain See also:possession of the See also:girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyte (See also:Apollodorus ii. 5). He was accompanied by his friend See also:Theseus, who carried off the princess See also:Antiope, See also:sister of Hippolyte, an incident which led to a retaliatory invasion of See also:Attica, in which Antiope perished fighting by the side of Theseus. The Amazons are also said to have undertaken an expedition against the See also:island of Leuke, at the mouth of the See also:Danube, where the ashes of Achilles had been deposited by See also:Thetis. The See also:ghost of the dead See also:hero appeared and so terrified the horses, that they threw and trampled upon the invaders, who were forced to retire.

They are heard of in the See also:

time'of See also:Alexander the See also:Great, when their queen Thalestris visited him and became a See also:mother by him, and See also:Pompey is said to have found them in the See also:army of See also:Mithradates. The origin of the See also:story of the Amazons has been the subject of much discussion. While some regard them as a purely mythical See also:people, others assume an See also:historical See also:foundation for them. The deities worshipped by them were See also:Ares (who is consistently assigned to them as a See also:god of war, and as a god of, Thracian and generally See also:northern origin) and Artemis, not the usual Greek goddess of that name, but an Asiatic deity in some respects her See also:equivalent. It is conjectured that the Amazons were originally the See also:temple-servants and priestesses (hierodulae) of this goddess; and that the removal of the breast corresponded with the self-See also:mutilation of the galli, or priests, of See also:Rhea See also:Cybele. Another theory is that, as the knowledge of See also:geography extended, travellers brought back reports of tribes ruled entirely by See also:women, who carried out the duties which elsewhere were regarded as See also:peculiar to man, in whom alone the rights of See also:nobility and See also:inheritance were vested, and who had the supreme See also:control of affairs. Hence arose the belief in the Amazons as a nation of female warriors, organized and governed entirely by women. According to J. Viirtheim (De Ajacis origine, 19o7), the Amazons were of Greek origin: " all the Amazons were Dianas, as See also:Diana herself was an See also:Amazon." It has been suggested that the fact of the See also:conquest of the Amazons being assigned to the two famous heroes of Greek See also:mythology, Heracles and Theseus—who in the tasks assigned to them were generally opposed to monsters and beings impossible in themselves, but possible as illustrations of permanent danger and damage,—shows that they were mythical illustrations of the dangers which beset the Greeks on the coasts of Asia Minor; rather perhaps, it may be intended to represent the conflict between the Greek culture of the colonies on the Euxine and the barbarism of the native inhabitants. In works of art, combats between Amazons and Greeks are placed on the same level as and often associated with combats of Greeks and See also:centaurs. The belief in their existence, however, having been once accepted and introduced into the See also:national See also:poetry and art, it became necessary to surround them as far as possible with the See also:appearance of not unnatural beings. Their occupation was hunting and war; their arms the bow, See also:spear, See also:axe, a See also:half See also:shield, nearly in the shape of a See also:crescent, called pelta, and in See also:early art a See also:helmet, the See also:model before the Greek mind having apparently been the goddess See also:Athena.

In later art they approach the model of Artemis, wearing a thin See also:

dress, girt high for See also:speed; while on the later painted vases their dress is often peculiarly Persian—that is, See also:close-fitting See also:trousers and a high cap called the kidaris. They were usually on horseback but sometimes on See also:foot. The See also:battle between Theseus and the Amazons is a favourite subject on the friezes of temples (e.g. the reliefs from the See also:frieze of the temple of See also:Apollo at Bassae, now in the See also:British Museum), vases and See also:sarcophagus reliefs; at See also:Athens it was represented on the shield of the statue of Athena Parthenos, on See also:wall-paintings in the Theseum and in the Poikile Stela. Many of the sculptors of antiquity, including See also:Pheidias, See also:Polyclitus, See also:Cresilas and Phradmon, executed statues of Amazons; and there are many existing reproductions of these. - The See also:history of Bohemia affords a parallel to the Greek Amazons. During the 8th See also:century a large See also:band of women, under a certain Vlasta, carried on war against the See also:duke of Bohemia, and enslaved or put to death all men who See also:fell into their hands. In the 16th century the See also:Spanish explorer Orellana asserted that he had come into conflict with fighting women in See also:South See also:America on the river Maranon, which was named after them the Amazon (q.v.) or river of the Amazons, although others derive its name from the See also:Indian amassona (See also:boat-destroyer), applied to the tidal phenomenon known as the " See also:bore. The existence of " Amazons " (in the sense of fighting women) in the army of See also:Dahomey in See also:modern times is an undoubted fact, but they are said to have died out during the See also:French See also:protectorate. For notable cases of women who have become soldiers, reference may be made to See also:Mary See also:Anne See also:Talbot and Hannah See also:Snell. See A. D. Mordtmann, See also:Die Amazonen (1862); W.

Stricker, Die A. in See also:

Sage and Geschichte (1868); A. Klugmann, Die A. in der attischen Literatur and Kunst (1875) ; H. L. See also:Krause, Die Amazonensage (1893); F. G. Bergmann, See also:Les Amazones clans 1'histoire et dans la See also:fable (1853); P. Lacour, Les Amazones (1901); articles in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie and See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie; See also:Grote, Hist. of See also:Greece, pt. i. ch. 11. In See also:article GREEK ART, fig. 4o represents three types of Amazons, and fig. 7o (pl. iv.) a battle between Amazons and Greeks. AMAZON-See also:STONE, or AMAZONITE, a See also:green variety of microclinefelspar.

The name is taken from that of the river Amazon, whence certain green stones were formerly obtained, but it is doubtful whether green See also:

felspar occurs in the Amazon See also:district. The modern amazon-stone is a See also:mineral of restricted occurrence. Formerly it was obtained almost exclusively from the See also:neighbour-See also:hood of Miyask, in the Ilmen mountains, 5o m. S.W. of Cheliabinsk, See also:Russia, where it occurs in granitic rocks. Of See also:late years, magnificent crystals have been obtained from See also:Pike's See also:Peak, See also:Colorado, where it is found associated with smoky See also:quartz, See also:orthoclase and See also:albite in a coarse See also:granite or See also:pegmatite. Some other localities in the See also:United States yield amazon-stone, and it is also found in pegmatite in See also:Madagascar. On account of its lively green See also:colour, it is cut and polished to a limited extent as an ornamental stone. The colour has been attributed to the presence of See also:copper, but as it is discharged by See also:heat it is likelyto be due to some pigment of organic origin, and an organic See also:salt of See also:iron has been suggested.

End of Article: AMAZONS

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