(Group ), a warlike race of females, who act a
prominent part in several of the adventures of Greek mythology. All accounts of them agree in
the statement, that they came from the country about the Caucasus, and that their principal
seats were on the river Thermodon, in the neighbourhood of the modern Trebizond. From thence
they are said to have at different times invaded Thrace, Asia Minor, the islands of the
Aegean, e. g. of Ephesus, Smyrna, Cyme, Myrina, and
Paphos. Strabo doubts the existence of such a race of females, while Diodorus attempts to give
an account of them, which assumes all the appearance of history. That the Amazons were
regarded as a real historical race down to a late period, is evident from the tradition, that,
when Alexander the Great approached the country of the Amazons, their queen Thalestris
hastened to him, in order to become mother by the conqueror of Asia. (
But we confine ourselves here to noticing some of the mythical adventures with which the
Amazons are connected. They are said to have invaded Lycia in the reign of Iobates, but were
destroyed by Bellerophontes, who happened to be staying at the king's court. (ad Lycoph.
17.) [BELLEROPHON, LAOMEDON.] At
the time when Priam was yet a young man, they invaded Phrygia, and fought with the Phrygians
and Trojans. (Her. 19.19.) [PENTHESILEIA.]
The question as to what the Amazons really were, or rather, what gave rise to the belief
that there was such a race of women, has been much discussed by ancient as well as modern
writers. Herodotus (l.c.;
maza, said to signify the moon, or from Emmetch, which, according to a Caucasian tradition, is said to have been their original
name. (Sprengel, Apologie des Hippocrates, ii. p. 597; Klaproth, Reise nach dem Caucasus, i. p. 655.) Among the various ways in which it has
been attempted to account for the origin of the story about the Amazons, two deserve to be
mentioned. One opinion is, that the peculiar way in which the women of some of the Caucasian
districts lived, and performed the duties which in other countries devolve upon men, together
with the many instances of female bravery and courage which are noticed as remarkable even by
modern travellers, were conveyed to the inhabitants of western Asia and the Greeks in vague
and obscure reports, and thus gave rise to the belief in the existence of such a warlike race
of women, and that these rumours and reports were subsequently worked out and embellished by
popular tradition and poetry. Others think that the Amazons were originally priestesses of
Artemis (the moon), whose worship was widely spread in Asia, and which they are said to have
established in various parts. It is further inferred, from the name Amazones, that these
priestesses mutilated their bodies by cutting off their breasts in a manner similar to that in
which the Galli and other priests mutilated their bodies, and that thus the Amazons
represented the male ideal in the female sex, just as the Galli represented the female ideal
in the male sex. But it would be difficult, in the first place, to prove the existence of such
priestesses, and in the second, to show how they could have occasioned the belief in a whole
female race of this kind. Neither the poetical nor historical traditions about the Amazons
contain anything to render this opinion very plausible ; and, in the absence of all positive
evidence, the first opinion has much more to recommend it. (Comp. Müller, Orchom. p. 356, &c.)
The representation of these warlike women occupied the Greek artists very extensively, and
we still possess a large series of the most beautiful works of art, such as paintings on vases
and walls, bronzes, reliefs, and gems, in which the Amazons and their battles with men are
represented. The most celebrated works of this kind in antiquity were the battle of the
Amazons with the Athenians in the Poecile at Athens, by Nicon (Handb. d. Archäol. §§ 365, 417.