T H E A M A Z O N S T H E A M A Z O N S LIVES AND LEGENDS OF WARRIOR WOMEN ACROSS THE ANCIENT WORLD A D R I E N N E M A Y O R PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON & OXFORD Copyright © 2014 by Adrienne Mayor Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW press.princeton.edu Jacket image: Saikal, the Kalmyk warrior-h eroine of the Central Asian Manas epic, illustration by Teodor Gercen featured on postage stamp, Kyrgyz Republic, 1995. All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mayor, Adrienne, 1946– The Amazons : lives and legends of warrior women across the ancient world / Adrienne Mayor. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-691-14720-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Amazons. 2. Amazons in literature. 3. Mythology, Greek. 4. Women soldiers—History. 5. Women, Prehistoric. 6. Women, Prehistoric—Social conditions. I. Title. BL820.A6M39 2014 398'.352—dc23 2014004926 British Library Cataloging-i n- Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Sabon Next LT Pro Printed on acid- free paper. ∞ Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For Sage adrienne and in memory oF Sunny Lynn Bo ck 1952–1 995 amazon Spirit CONTENTS Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii Prologue: Atalanta, the Greek Amazon 1 Part 1 Who Were the Amazons? 1 Ancient Puzzles and Modern Myths 17 2 Scythia, Amazon Homeland 34 3 Sarmatians, a Love Story 52 Part 2 Historical Women Warriors and Classical Traditions 4 Bones: Archaeology of Amazons 63 5 Breasts: One or Two? 84 6 Skin: Tattooed Amazons 95 7 Naked Amazons 117 8 Sex and Love 129 9 Drugs, Dance, and Music 142 10 The Amazon Way 155 11 Horses, Dogs, and Eagles 170 12 Who Invented Trousers? 191 13 Armed and Dangerous: Weapons and Warfare 209 14 Amazon Languages and Names 234 Part 3 Amazons in Greek and Roman Myth, Legend, and History 15 Hippolyte and Heracles 249 16 Antiope and Theseus 259 viii Contents 17 Battle for Athens 271 18 Penthesilea and Achilles at Troy 287 19 Amazons at Sea 305 20 Thalestris and Alexander the Great 319 21 Hypsicratea, King Mithradates, and Pompey’s Amazons 339 Part 4 Beyond the Greek World 22 Caucasia, Crossroads of Eurasia 357 23 Persia, Egypt, North Africa, Arabia 377 24 Amazonistan: Central Asia 395 25 China 411 Appendix: Names of Amazons and Warrior Women in Ancient Literature and Art from the Mediterranean to China 431 Notes 439 Bibliography 485 Index 503 ILLUSTRATIONS COLOR PLATES (following p. 128) 1. Amazon queen Melanippe 2. Amazon rider 3. Warrior woman’s skeleton with iron dagger 4. Modern mounted female archer 5. Modern Parthian shot on horseback 6. Amazon on white horse, Etruscan tomb painting 7. Hippolyte offers her belt to Heracles 8. Amazon hunting deer with horse, dog, and eagle 9. Modern female eagle hunter on horseback 10. Amazon slinger 11. Amazonomachy 12. Amazon wielding a battle- axe 13. A pair of Amazons 14. Treasure from Teuta’s pirate empire FIGURES P.1. Atalanta in athletic outfit 5 P.2. Atalanta wrestling Peleus 6 1.1. Two Amazon dolls 32 4.1. Earliest known “Amazon” grave 72 4.2. Young warrior woman and male warrior buried with weapons 78 4.3. Battle injuries of women warriors 81