11-10-2006, 05:50 PM
But even the Greeks, our primary source for Amazon reports, understood the Amazons were not Greek.
Littleton and Malcor in From Scythis to Camelot (pp. 161-162) claim:
Fighting women were also found in Sythia and Alan-Sarmatian material. The legends of the Amazons were developed from observations by Greeks of the female Scythian warriors. Sarmatian women were said to be descended from the Amazons and the Scythians, and they fought in armor on horseback, as did the men. Archaeological evidence is surprisingly abundant for the presence of women warriors among the "Sauromatians."
Fighting women are also noted among the Alans who invaded Gaul in the fifth century. Paulinus Pellaeus indicates that Alan women fought alongside their men at Bazas.
Brzezinski and Mielczarek in The Sarmatians: 600 BC - AD 450 (pp. 3-4) state:
The early Sarmatians are now generally recognized as the reality behind the myth of the Amazons. According to Herodotus, women of Sauromatae hunted, shot bows and threw javelins from horseback, and went to war dressed in the same clothing as men. This is confirmed by archaeology: early Sarmatian female graves often contain bronze arrowheads, and occasionally swords, daggers and spearheads; while skeletons of girls aged 12 and 14 have bowed legs--evidence that, like boys, they were often in the saddle before they could walk.
They further state (p. 43):
During the 4th century BC the Sarmatians began to inflitrate across the [Don] river, and it is from this period that Greek historians began spinning tales of Amazons, based on the fact that Sarmatian women apparently took part in warfare. Sarmatian girls were supposedly forbidden to marry until they had killed an enemy (Hippocrates, Peri Aeron 17) -- or, perhaps more realistically, 'encountered an enemy in combat' (Pomponius Mela, 3.4).
Littleton and Malcor in From Scythis to Camelot (pp. 161-162) claim:
Fighting women were also found in Sythia and Alan-Sarmatian material. The legends of the Amazons were developed from observations by Greeks of the female Scythian warriors. Sarmatian women were said to be descended from the Amazons and the Scythians, and they fought in armor on horseback, as did the men. Archaeological evidence is surprisingly abundant for the presence of women warriors among the "Sauromatians."
Fighting women are also noted among the Alans who invaded Gaul in the fifth century. Paulinus Pellaeus indicates that Alan women fought alongside their men at Bazas.
Brzezinski and Mielczarek in The Sarmatians: 600 BC - AD 450 (pp. 3-4) state:
The early Sarmatians are now generally recognized as the reality behind the myth of the Amazons. According to Herodotus, women of Sauromatae hunted, shot bows and threw javelins from horseback, and went to war dressed in the same clothing as men. This is confirmed by archaeology: early Sarmatian female graves often contain bronze arrowheads, and occasionally swords, daggers and spearheads; while skeletons of girls aged 12 and 14 have bowed legs--evidence that, like boys, they were often in the saddle before they could walk.
They further state (p. 43):
During the 4th century BC the Sarmatians began to inflitrate across the [Don] river, and it is from this period that Greek historians began spinning tales of Amazons, based on the fact that Sarmatian women apparently took part in warfare. Sarmatian girls were supposedly forbidden to marry until they had killed an enemy (Hippocrates, Peri Aeron 17) -- or, perhaps more realistically, 'encountered an enemy in combat' (Pomponius Mela, 3.4).
"Fugit irreparabile tempus" (Irrecoverable time glides away) Virgil
Ron Andrea
Ron Andrea
