John Jenkins Designs: Amazons

The Amazons were a race of female warriors in Greek mythology, who dwelt in the region of modern-day Ukraine. Two of the Amazon queens were Penthesilea, who took part in the Trojan War, and her sister Hippolyta, who was the owner of a magical girdle, given to her by the god of war Ares.

PENTHESILEA was an Amazonian queen in Greek Mythology, who was the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe.

She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, where she was killed by Achilles.

The arrival of Penthesilea to Troy is described in the five book epic Aethiopis which was part of the “Cycle of Troy” on the Trojan War. It was published in the 8^th Century BC and is attributed to Arctinus of Miletus.

Although the Aethiopis has been lost, the epic cycle had been adapted and recycled during different periods of the classical age.

In the Aethiopis, Penthesilea is a Thracian woman warrior. An Amazon and daughter of Ares, who comes to help the Trojans. She arrives with twelve other Amazon warriors. After a day of distinguishing herself on the battlefield, Penthesilea confronts Achilles, who kills her.

HIPPOLYTA was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons and a sister of Antiope , Melanippe, and Penthesilea.

She wore her fathers’ ZOSTER, the Greek word found in the Iliad and elsewhere meaning “war belt”.

This “war belt” or magical girdle was the object that Heracles had to recover to complete the fourth task given to him during the myth of the Labours of Heracles.

Hippolyta figures prominently in the myths of both Heracles and Theseus. The myths about her are varied enough that they may therefore be about several different women.

The name Hippolyta comes from the Greek, meaning “horse” and “let Loose”.

There were no men allowed to live together with the Amazons. However, in order to continue their race, once a year, the Amazons would visit a nearby tribe called Gargareans. After having sexual intercourse with them, the Amazons would return home; they would keep all baby girls that were born, but the male babies were either killed, sent to their fathers, or left in a forest to die of exposure to the elements.

The Amazons appeared in various Greek myths. In one of them, they attacked the region of Lycia, but were fended off by Bellerophon. They later attacked Phrygia, but were also defeated by the defending army, led by a young Priam, who later became the king of Troy.

According to Homer, the Trojan king Priam had fought the Amazons in his youth on the Sangarius river in Phrygia, some 350 miles east of Troy.

Later writers of the antiquity located Amazons geographically in Anatolia and started an epic tradition where Greek heroes, such as Heracles and Theseus, fought an Amazon warrior of distinction.

Courageous and fiercely independent, the Amazons, commanded by their queen, regularly undertook extensive military expeditions into the far corners of the world, from Scythia to Thrace, Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands, reaching as far as Arabia and Egypt.

Besides military raids, the Amazons are also associated with the foundation of temples and the establishment of numerous ancient cities, such as Ephesos, Cyme, Smyrna, Sinope, Myrina, Magnesia , and Pygela.

Archaeological discoveries of burial sites of female warriors, in the Eurasian Steppes suggest that the horse cultures of Scythian, Sarmation, and Hittites likely inspired the Amazon myth.

In 2019, a grave with multiple generations of female Scythian warriors, armed and in golden headdresses, was found near Russia’s Voronezh.

The first of the Amazons will be available in December.