Editing Amazonomachy (section)

== Amazonomachy in Art ==
Warfare was a very [[Warfare in ancient Greek art|popular subject in Ancient Greek art]], represented in grand sculptural scenes on temples but also countless [[Greek vases]]. Along with scenes from [[Homer]] and the [[Giants (Greek mythology)#The Gigantomachy|Gigantomachy]], the Amazonomachy was a [[Amazons#Amazons in art|popular choice]], depicting battles between Greek men and female foreigners. Later, in [[Roman art]], there are many depictions on the sides of later Roman [[sarcophagus|sarcophagi]], when it became the fashion to depict elaborate reliefs of battle scenes. Scenes were also shown on mosaics. A trickle of medieval depictions increased at the Renaissance, and especially in the [[Baroque]] period.

=== Early Greek Shields ===
Early Greek art typically depicted Amazons in battle, frequently shown riding horses or wielding weapons such as bows and arrows, swords, spears, and shields. Based on existing evidence, the first indications of these female warriors entering art was in votary shields and shield decorations, with the earliest example being on a clay shield from [[Tiryns]] from around 700 B.C.<ref name=":2">Blok, Josine (2006). "Amazons". ''Brill's New Pauly Online''.</ref>
[[File:Heracles Amazons Met 61.11.16.jpg|thumb|Herakles fighting the Amazons, side A from an Attic black-figure neck amphora.]]
=== Ancient Greek Pottery ===
Amazons began to be featured prominently on [[Pottery of ancient Greece|Attic vases]] from around 570 BCE onward until the middle of the 5th Century. During the beginning of this time period, Amazons were most popularly depicted on Attic [[black-figure pottery]], depicting Amazon battle scenes during the Trojan War or, more commonly, during Hercules' legendary ninth labor. Some of such vessels were inscribed with names of Amazons, with [[Andromache (disambiguation)|Andromache]] being named the most often, though none of the non-Herculean battles possessed such inscriptions. Hercules was quite often portrayed on such vessels to be in single combat against three Amazons or more.<ref name=":2" />

The motifs gradually shift from a mismatch of gendered clothing to portraying them as one of the eastern neighbors or the 'Other'.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Von Bothmer |first=Dietrich |title=Amazons in Greek art |date=1957 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-813202-8 |series=Oxford monographs on classical archaeology |location=Oxford |page= |pages=}}</ref> The non-Greek values associated with the Amazons are reflected in their attire. Most significantly, the clothing Amazons were depicted wearing, such as Attic tunics, chitons, or Corinthian caps, played a key role in representing their foreign identity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mayor |first=Adrienne |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7zvndm |title=The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-14720-8 |page=34|doi=10.2307/j.ctt7zvndm |jstor=j.ctt7zvndm }}</ref> These elements were drawn from eastern cultures familiar to the Greeks at the time. Thus, the foreign aspects of Amazonian attire were culturally constructed and were limited primarily to the East Greek islands. Portraying the Amazons as parthenoi, the symbol of defying societal norms also reflects the ‘otherness’ as well. This is demonstrated by the depiction of Amazonomachy in Amphora (storage vessel): Herakles in Combat with the Amazon Andromache, White-ground alabastron: Amazon and Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar).

Amazons were eventually seen on [[red-figure pottery]] as black-figure pottery gradually became less popular during the last quarter of the 6th Century. It was also around this time that Theseus also became a common feature in art depicting the Amazonomachy.<ref name=":2" />
[[File:1955 225 side 1.jpg|alt=|thumb|Greek amphora by the Antimenes Painter depicting Herakles battling the Amazon Andromache, originating from Attica, Greece, dated to 525–500 BCE.|223x223px]]
[[File:White-ground alabastron Amazon, ca. 480–470 BCE.jpg|thumb|357x357px|The white-ground alabastron, dated to around 480–470 BCE, is a Greek Attic ceramic attributed to the Syriskos Painter (ca 500–475 BCE)]]

==== '''Amphora (storage vessel): Herakles in Combat with the Amazon Andromache''' ====
The ovoid neck amphora depicts a battle scene between the Amazons and Herakles, a popular Graeco-Roman hero in many myths. The Amazon’s liminal identity of both adhering to Greek and ‘non-Greek’ values is demonstrated through the female body dressed as a Greek Hoplite, an infantry soldier.<ref name=":10" /> This is shown through the armory and the shield they are wearing. It’s interesting to note that the Amazon depiction still follows the conventions of depicting Greek figures in white flesh in black-figure pottery, despite non-conformity.

==== '''White-ground alabastron: Amazon''' ====
The vase depicts an Amazon warrior, its depiction inspired by elements of Eastern culture, particularly the Scythians. The Amazon is wearing the ependytes, an Eastern-style garment consisting of long-sleeved pants under a sleeveless tunic. This attire was a common indicator of Amazons in Greek art, as artists frequently used it to convey the Amazons’ Eastern origins.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stellings-Hertzberg |first=Niki |date=2011 |title=An Atypical Pairing of an Amazon and a White Lekythos |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41421514 |journal=Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin |page=75 |jstor=41421514 |issn=0084-3539}}</ref> She also wears a Scythian cap with two points. These garments are unfamiliar to Athenian tradition but instead reference Scythian attire, which would have been recognizable to Athenians at the time. However, she is still identified as an Amazon warrior due to the lack of a pointed beard.<ref name=":9" />

The reference to Eastern culture and the Amazons’ nonconformity to Greek values associates them with the concept of the ‘barbarian Other’—a term referring to anyone who was not Greek, including civilians from Asia Minor, Assyria, and Persia.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |title=Not the classical ideal: Athens and the construction of the other in Greek art |date=2000 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-11618-4 |editor-last=Cohen |editor-first=Beth |location=Leiden ; Boston |page=228}}</ref> As Athenians began to familiarize themselves with Eastern-style attire and customs by 550 BCE due to increasing contact, artists often employed Eastern characteristics to represent the ‘Other’ in art.<ref name=":10" /> By depicting the Amazons with attributes associated with the Scythians, a group from the Eurasian steppes, they are categorized as the "Other" as well by being categorized as foreign both geographically and physically. 

==== '''Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar)''' ====
[[File:Terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (jar) MET DP115268.jpg|left|thumb|218x218px|Classical Greek Attic terracotta Nolan neck-amphora (ca. 440–430 BCE), attributed to the Dwarf Painter.]]
The vase depicts a combat between a Greek (left) and an Amazon warrior (right). Amazons, unlike male heroes or female prostitutes, were never portrayed nude; however, like most depictions of women, they were usually clothed.<ref name=":10" /> She wears a chiton with a pattern, an attire that is worn by athletic girls.<ref name=":9" /> This connects with Stewart’s analysis mentioned above, where Amazons were depicted as wild and unrestrained prepubescent girls—parthenoi. However, the Amazon representation here falls vaguely into the third gender, not truly feminine despite the chiton attire nor masculine, though engaging in warfare like Greek heroes.<ref name=":9" /> This reinforces their status as ‘other’ by not conforming to the traditional gender norms of Ancient Greece.

=== Greek Architecture ===
Depictions of Amazon battles in Greek architecture generally fell into the category of late antique to post-classical architectural sculpture. Examples of this can be found on the west gable of the [[Eretria#Temple of Apollo Daphnephoros|temple of Apollo at Eretria]] (from around the end of the 6th century BC), and on the metopes or friezes at places such as the [[Athenian Treasury|Athenian treasury at Delphi]] (490 BC), the [[Temple of Hephaestus|Hephaestium at Athens]] (450 BC), the [[Temple of Zeus, Olympia|temple of Zeus at Olympia]] (460 BC), the [[Bassae#History of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius|temple of Apollo at Bassae]] (410 BC), the [[Selinunte#The East Hill|east hill at Selinunte]] (470 BC), the [[mausoleum at Halicarnassus]] (350 BC), and the [[Magnesia on the Maeander#:~:text=The city was named Magnesia,mentioned by several ancient writers.|Artemis temple in Magnesia]] (2nd century BC).<ref name=":2" />

After the [[Greco-Persian Wars|Persian Wars]], the Greeks attached greater significance to such battle scenes, referencing the Attic War as a mythological example of Athens’ successful defense against foreign invaders. In particular, this Attic amazonomachy was depicted on places such as the west metope on the [[Parthenon]] (around 440 BC), shield of [[Athena Parthenos]] (around 440 BC), and in the [[Stoa Poikile]] in Athens (460 BC).<ref name=":2" />

==== West Metopes of Parthenon ====
Kalamis, a Greek sculptor, is attributed to designing the west [[metope (architecture)|metopes]] of the [[Parthenon]], a temple on the [[Acropolis of Athens|Athenian Acropolis]] dedicated to the Greek goddess [[Athena]].<ref name="Neils2005">{{cite book|author=Jenifer Neils|title=The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gA81kINAI9cC&pg=PA67|date=5 September 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-82093-6|page=67|quote=The Parthenon (Plate 1, Fig. 17) is probably the most celebrated of all Greek temples. }}</ref><ref name="HambidgeFund1924">{{cite book|author1=Jay Hambidge|author2=Yale University. Rutherford Trowbridge Memorial Publication Fund|title=The Parthenon and other Greek temples: their dynamic symmetry|url=https://archive.org/details/parthenonothergr0000hamb|year=1924|publisher=Yale university press}}</ref> The west metopes of the Parthenon depict a battle between Greeks and Amazons. Despite its mutilated state, scholars generally concur that the scene represents the Amazon invasion of [[Attica]].<ref name="auto">Castriota, David (1992). ''Myth, Ethos, and Actuality: Official Art in Fifth Century B.C. Athens''</ref>

==== Shield of Athena Parthenos ====
The shield of [[Athena Parthenos]], sculpted by [[Phidias]], depicts a fallen Amazon. Athena Parthenos was a massive [[chryselephantine]] sculpture of Athena, the main [[cult image]] inside the [[Parthenon]] at Athens, which is now lost, though known from descriptions and small ancient copies.<ref name="auto" />

==== Frieze in Temple of Apollo at Bassae ====
[[File:The Bassai sculptures, marble block from the frieze of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae (Greece), Greeks fight Amazons, about 420-400 BC, British Museum (14073518379).jpg|thumb|left|Block from the [[Bassae Frieze]], c. 420-400 BC]]
The [[Bassae Frieze]], from the Temple of [[Apollo]] at [[Bassae]], contains a number of slabs portraying Trojan Amazonomachy and Heraclean Amazonomachy. The Trojan Amazonomachy spans three blocks, displaying the eventual death of Penthesilea at the hands of Achilles. The Heraclean Amazonomachy spans eight blocks and represents the struggle of Heracles to seize the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta.<ref>Cooper, Frederick (1992). ''The Temple of Apollo Bassitas: The Sculpture, Volume 2''</ref>

==== Frieze from Mausoleum at Halicarnassus ====
[[File:Amazon Frieze BM GR 1865.7-23.1 n01.jpg|thumb|[[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]]]]
Several sections of an Amazonomachy [[frieze]] from the [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]] are now in the [[British Museum]]. One part depicts [[Heracles]] grasping an Amazon by the hair, while holding a club behind his head in a striking manner. This Amazon is believed to be the Amazon queen [[Hippolyta]]. Behind Heracles is a scene of a Greek warrior clashing shields with an Amazon warrior. Another slab displays a mounted Amazon charging at a Greek, who is defending himself with a raised shield. This Greek is believed to be [[Theseus]], who joined Heracles during his labors.

==== Other ====
[[Micon]] painted the Amazonomachy on the [[Stoa Poikile]] of the [[Ancient Agora of Athens]], which is now lost.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Micon|title=Micon &#124; Greek artist &#124; Britannica|website=www.britannica.com|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref>
[[Phidias]] depicted Amazonomachy on the footstool of the [[chryselephantine statue of Zeus]] at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Woodard| first = Roger D.| title = The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TQyRX6WmMUMC| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]|date=January 2008| page = 298| isbn = 978-0-521-60726-1}}</ref>

In 2018, archaeologists discovered relief-decorated shoulder boards made from bronze that were part of a [[breastplate]] of a Greek warrior at a Celtic sacrificial place near the village of [[Slatina nad Bebravou]] in [[Slovakia]]. Deputy of director of Slovak Archaeological Institute said that it is the oldest original Greek art relic in the area of Slovakia. Researchers analyzed the pieces and determined they were once part of a relief that depicted the Amazonomachy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20822300/archaeologists-find-oldest-greek-relic-in-slovak-area.html|title=Archaeologists find oldest Greek relic in Slovak area|first=Petit Press|last=a.s|date=13 May 2018|website=spectator.sme.sk|accessdate=3 March 2023}}</ref>
[[File:Amazonomachy sarcophagus (Louvre, Ma 2119) side.jpg|thumb|Sarcophagus depicting the battle between Greeks and Amazons.]]

=== Roman Sarcophagi ===
Many representations of Amazons from the Roman times have also been found, with images of the amazonomachy included on mosaics, coins, friezes, votive reliefs, and so on. Notably, more than 60 [[Ancient Roman sarcophagi#Attic|sarcophagus]] reliefs have been found to depict scenes of conflict between the Amazons and Greeks.<ref name=":2" />