Editing Amazonomachy

{{Short description|Mythological battles between the ancient Greeks and the Amazons}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
[[File:Amazon with barbarian and Greek, Roman, detail, c. 160 AD, marble - Galleria Borghese - Rome, Italy - DSC04659.jpg|thumb|Amazon with barbarian and Greek, Roman copy of Greek original, detail, c. 160 AD, marble; [[Galleria Borghese]]]]
[[File:Orient méditerranéen de l'Empire romain - Mosaïque byzantine -5.JPG|thumb|4th century AD Amazonomachy mosaic from Daphne, a suburb of [[Antioch on the Orontes]] (modern [[Antakya]], Turkey); [[Louvre]], Denon Wing]]
[[File:KunsthistorischesMuseumAmazonen.jpg|thumb|Relief now in [[Vienna]]]]

In [[Greek mythology]], an '''Amazonomachy''' ([[English language|English translation]]: "Amazon battle"; plural, '''Amazonomachiai''' ({{langx|grc|Ἀμαζονομαχίαι}}) or '''Amazonomachies''') is a mythological battle between the [[ancient Greeks]] and the [[Amazons]], a nation of all-female warriors. The subject of Amazonomachies was popular in [[ancient Greek art]] and [[Roman art]].

== Amazonomachy in Myth ==
Throughout all of antiquity, the Amazons were regarded as a race of female warriors descended from [[Ares]], fiercely independent and skilled in hunting, riding, archery, and warfare. They worshiped Ares and [[Artemis]], respectively the god of war and the goddess of the hunt, and their geographic locations were notably associated with [[Scythia]] and the [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |title=Amazon Women |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/amazon/ |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Amazon {{!}} Greek Mythology & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amazon-Greek-mythology |access-date=2024-05-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

In Greek epic narratives, the Amazons were perceived to be non-Greek heroic figures who challenged the strength and masculinity of Greek heroes on the battlefield, such as [[Achilles]], [[Bellerophon]], [[Heracles]] (Hercules), [[Theseus]], and the [[Athens|Athenians]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Trojan War, Achilles ===
In the lost Greek epic ''[[Aethiopis]]'', which was published in the 8th century BCE and is widely attributed to [[Arctinus of Miletus]], Achilles fights and kills [[Penthesilea]], the queen of the Amazons who came to aid Troy after the death of Hector. The oral myths and retellings of this epic fall of Troy referencing the Amazons contributed to Homer's ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Dowden |first=Ken |date=1997 |title=The Amazons: Development and Functions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41234269 |journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie |volume=140 |issue=2 |pages=97–128 |jstor=41234269 |issn=0035-449X}}</ref>

=== Ninth Labor, Hercules ===
During [[Labours of Hercules#Ninth: Belt of Hippolyta|Hercules’ ninth labor]], Hercules was given the task by [[Eurystheus]] to retrieve the royal girdle of the Amazon queen [[Hippolyta]] for his daughter.<ref name=":5" /> Though Hercules and the Amazons were originally open for peaceful negotiation, the malicious machinations of [[Hera]] incited a misunderstanding between the Amazons and Hercules, leading to a bloody battle in which the Amazons were ultimately defeated.<ref name=":0" />

=== Attic War, Theseus ===
In some versions of the myth, Theseus had accompanied Hercules on his ninth labor and either eloped with or abducted Antiope, Hippolyta's sister (or Hippolyta herself). Antiope was then taken to Athens by Theseus, whom she married and bore a son, [[Hippolytus of Athens|Hippolytus]]. As a result of the kidnapping, the Amazons invaded Greece, inciting the legendary [[Attic War]] between the Amazons and Athenians, which ended in the Amazons’ defeat.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Harrison W. |title=Hippolyta |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Hippolyta/ |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref>

== Symbolism of Amazonomachy ==
Amazonomachy represents the Greek ideal of civilization. The Amazons were portrayed as a savage and barbaric race, while the Greeks were portrayed as a civilized race of human progress.
According to [[Bruno Snell]]'s view of Amazonomachy:

<blockquote>For the Greeks, the [[Titanomachy]] and the battle against the giants remained symbols of the victory which their own world had won over a strange universe; along with the battles against the Amazons and [[Centaur]]s they continue to signalize the Greek conquest of everything barbarous, of all monstrosity and grossness.<ref name="auto1">DuBois, Page (1982). ''Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the Pre-History of the Great Chain of Being''</ref></blockquote>In [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]]'s ''The Fall of Troy'', Penthesilea, an Amazonian queen, who joined on the side of the [[Troy|Trojans]] during the Trojan war, was quoted at [[Troy]], saying:

<blockquote>Not in strength are we inferior to men; the same our eyes, our limbs the same; one common light we see, one air we breathe; nor different is the food we eat. What then denied to us hath heaven on man bestowed?<ref>Quintus Smyrnaeus. "The Fall of Troy." Translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913.</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Josine Blok]], Amazonomachy provides two different contexts for defining a Greek hero. Either the Amazons are one of the disasters from which the hero rids the country after his victory over a monster, or they are an expression of the underlying [[Attis]] motif in which the hero shuns human sexuality in marriage and procreation.<ref>[[Josine Blok|Blok, Josine]] (1994). ''The Early Amazons: Modern and Ancient Perspectives on a Persistent Myth''</ref>[[File:Oinochoe MET sf06102161l.jpg|thumb|217x217px|Heracles in the battle against an Amazon, 6th century BC]]

[[Johann Jakob Bachofen|J.J. Bachofen]] understood Amazonian myths as remnants of a prehistoric matriarchy. In other words, as popularized in the 21st century, matriarchy was conceptualized by him through the phrase "Mother Right".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bachofen |first1=Johann Jakob |title=Myth, Religion, and Mother Right |last2=Manheim |first2=Ralph |last3=Bachofen |first3=Johann Jakob |date=1992 |publisher=Princeton Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-691-01797-6 |series=Bollingen Series |location=Princeton, NJ}}</ref> He theorized that the Amazons were not merely mythical creatures but were derived from the historical manifestation of a time when women held immense power in society. In his view, society initially revolved around female dominance, which was reflected in the Greeks' engagement with Amazonian motifs in art. However, he believed society transitioned to patriarchy at the dawn of civilization, seeing male domination as necessary for progress.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bachofen |first1=Johann Jakob |title=Myth, Religion, and Mother Right |last2=Manheim |first2=Ralph |last3=Bachofen |first3=Johann Jakob |date=1992 |publisher=Princeton Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-691-01797-6 |series=Bollingen Series |location=Princeton, NJ |page=109}}</ref>

Bachofen’s thesis was highly influential, and it was incorporated into several schools of thought, including Freudians, Structuralists, and Feminists. At the end of the 19th century, American psychologists interested in Amazonomachy integrated Bachofen’s matriarchy ideals with [[Sigmund Freud]]’s psychoanalytic framework. Schultz Engle argues that Amazon warriors were often depicted riding horses as a response to the incompetence of Scythian males.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Engle |first=Bernice Schultz |date=1942-10-01 |title=The Amazons in Ancient Greece |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21674086.1942.11925513 |journal=The Psychoanalytic Quarterly |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=512–554 |doi=10.1080/21674086.1942.11925513 |issn=0033-2828}}</ref> She theorized that Scythian men were weakened due to [[orchitis]], a condition causing inflammation of the testicles, which she attributed to spending long hours on horseback. Using Amazonomachy as a sexual and psychological allegory, she then posits that the Amazons, in contrast, derived masturbatory pleasure from riding horses.<ref name=":7" />

Feminists like Page DuBois understood Amazonomachy and its myths as symbols of the feminist struggle against patriarchy. He posits that Amazonian matriarchy was conceptualized as a tool to counter masculine tyranny.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DuBois |first=Page |title=Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the Pre-History of the Great Chain of Being |date=2010 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-02154-3 |series=Women and Culture Ser |location=Ann Arbor}}</ref> 

Structuralists also expanded on Bachofen’s argument about matriarchy, asserting that the Amazons represented the opposite of the Greek polis, in which male domination shaped society into a "men’s club".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Vernant |first1=Jean Pierre |title=Myth and tragedy in ancient Greece |last2=Vidal-Naquet |first2=Pierre |date=1990 |publisher=Zone Books |isbn=978-0-942299-19-9 |edition=1st paperback ed., rev |location=New York}}</ref> This binary approach argued that marriage was for women, while war was for men. Later, scholars would apply a binary framework to analyze Amazonomachy and its myths, conceptualizing oppositions such as "barbarians" vs. "civilization" and "masculinity" vs. "femininity".

Critics have challenged the interpretation of Amazonomachy as a symbolic critique of Athenian patriarchy and male anxieties. Mary Lefkowitz pointed out the existence of Amazonomachy in myths predating the strict sex segregation of Athens, so she rejects the notion that the Amazons should be interpreted as a response to gender norms.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Lefkowitz |first=Mary R. |date=1985 |title=Women in Greek Myth |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41211188 |journal=The American Scholar |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=26–27 |jstor=41211188 |issn=0003-0937}}</ref> In addition, in any battles the Greeks may have had against the Amazons, both men and women would suffer during the conflicts, which contradicts the idea that Amazonomachy functioned solely as a tool against Athenian patriarchy. She also compared the Greeks' battle against the Amazons to their battle against the Centaurs to further highlight the logical flaws in feminist arguments. If, as feminists argue, Amazonomachy symbolizes the suppression of women, then by the same line of logic, Centauromachy should also symbolize the suppression of horses.<ref name=":8" /> However, horses were highly valued and respected in ancient Greece. She highlights that the feminist framework in understanding Amazonomachy interprets it outside its historical and cultural meaning, instead reframing it to suit their own agenda .

Historiography in response to such criticism has shifted the focus towards understanding Amazonomachy as a symbol of ‘otherness'. Andrew Stewart understood it as a complex notion of the other symbolically that the Persians held in reality.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=Andrew |date=1995 |title=Imag(in)ing the Other: Amazons and Ethnicity in Fifth-Century Athens |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1773366 |journal=Poetics Today |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=571–597 |doi=10.2307/1773366 |jstor=1773366 |issn=0333-5372}}</ref> As evident, in the [[5th century BC]], the [[Achaemenid Empire]] began a series of [[Greco-Persian Wars|invasions against Greece]]. Because of this, some scholars believe that in most Greek art of that time, Persians were shown allegorically through the figure of centaurs and Amazons.<ref name="auto1" />

Literature such as [[Lysias]]' ''Epitaphios'' and [[Isocrates]]' ''Panegyrikos'' further strengthen this parallel to the defeat of the Persians, as their versions of the [[Attic War]] similarly climax with the total annihilation of the invading forces.<ref name=":6" />

Stewart asserts that the Amazons served as a metaphor for the Persians, allowing the Greeks to present themselves as superior to the "barbarians". His argument draws from the characteristics of the Amazons as ''parthenoi,'' who were unwed females with no sexual experience.<ref name=":9" /> Unlike the contemporary concept of virginity, the social construct in Ancient Greece referred to their state of femininity as unripe and unfinished. The body of a parthenoi was also more athletic, resembling that of a boy rather than a woman. They could not fully embody the feminine ideals of softness and permeability, yet they were not entirely masculine, lacking sharply defined features associated with hardness and muscles. Hence, the characteristics of parthenoi, wild, untamed, undomesticated, and unrestrained, challenged the norms of the Athenian confined society and traditional expectations of women.<ref name=":9" /> He posits that daughters like parthenoi threatened family stability and the authority of the father, which served as an extended metaphor for society as a whole. He rejects Bachofen’s thesis of matriarchy and instead proposes that Amazonomachy represents a broader threat to Athenian societal order, symbolizing "otherness" in the context of the Persian invasions.

After the [[Greco-Persian Wars|Graeco-Persian War]], there was a rise in Amazonomachies in Athenian art, including a doubling of Amazon scenes on vases around 450 BCE.<ref name=":9" /> The [[Parthenon]] (447–432 BCE), a monument celebrating Athens’ victory over Persia, also featured two depictions of Amazonomachy—one on the west metopes and the other on the shield of Pheidias’ statue of Athena within the temple. Stewart also argues that the rise in Amazonomachy in art was connected to [[Pericles|Perikles]], the leading Athenian statesman, and his Citizenship Law of 451 BCE.<ref name=":9" /> This law defined Athenian identity by restricting citizenship to individuals with two Athenian parents. It was likely a response to the influx of immigrants who settled in Athens after the Graeco-Persian War, making up as much as one-fifth of the population.<ref name=":9" /> Amazons were non-Greek women associated with Asia Minor, who fought like men, and were also enemies of the Greeks.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mayor |first=Adrienne |title=The Amazons: lives and legends of warrior women across the ancient world |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17027-5 |edition=second printing, and first paperback printing |location=Princeton Oxford}}</ref> Thus, the increase in Amazonomachy to further reinforce the concept of the "other" against the Greeks could reflect Perikles' and the broader Greek society's anxiety over citizenship.

According to Jeremy McInerney, Kleidemos' account of the Attic War was politically connoted in such a way that Theseus' defeat of the Persians not only represented the victory of Athens as a whole, but also reaffirmed certain values of Athenian democracy, likely during a period of political and historical tension in the 4th century BC.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=McInerney |first=Jeremy |date=1994 |title=Politicizing the Past: The "Atthis" of Kleidemos |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25011003 |journal=Classical Antiquity |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=17–37 |doi=10.2307/25011003 |jstor=25011003 |issn=0278-6656}}</ref>

Modern interpretations also view the amazonomachy as largely symbolic of the conflict between the ancient Greek patriarchal model of civilization against (the influence of) the foreign, gender-transgressive female. The various amazonomachiai in Greek myths were typically concluded with the triumph of some Athenian male hero (such as Hercules or Theseus) over famous Amazons, who were killed in combat or sexually subjugated by Greek men. According to these modern scholars, the male hero's quintessential defeat of the Amazons in mythology (as well as Amazon grave markers) reinforced and reminded the Greek populace of the supremacy of Athens' patriarchal model of civilization and society.<ref name=":1" />
== 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" />


== Historical Existence of Amazonomachy ==

=== Accounts of Amazon Graves ===
In Athens, there were tombs of Amazons, possibly located in the Amazoneion, northwest of the Areópagos. This area was close to the ancient agora of Theseus, and the Theseion may have been nearby.<ref name=":1" />

Writers such as [[Plutarch]], [[Cleidemus|Kleidemos]], and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] cited the existence of Amazon graves throughout Athens to be historical evidence and landmarks of the Amazons’ campaign against the city. As stated in Plutarch’s ''Life of Theseus'': “... the fact that [the Amazons] encamped virtually within the city is supported both by place names and by the graves of the fallen.”<ref name=":3">Rotroff Susan & Lamberton Robert. “The Tombs of Amazons,” ''Approaching the Ancient Artifact : Representation, Narrative, and Function'', by Avramidou, Amalia & Demetriou, Denise, 2014, Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 127-138.</ref>

Many of these writers' renditions of the battles between the Amazons and Greeks were based on the distribution and of graves attributed to the Amazons throughout Athens. Plutarch's account later goes on to cite Kleidemos in his description of how the Attic amazonomachy corresponded with the placement of some of the Athenian Amazon graves: <blockquote>The left wing of the Amazons extended to what is now called the Amazoneion … and the Athenians fought against this, attacking the Amazons from the Mouseion hill, and the graves of the fallen are along the wide street that goes to the gate at the Heroon of Chalcodon, which they now call the Peiraic Gate.<ref name=":3" /> </blockquote>The grave of Theseus’ wife (either Antiope or Hippolyta) was identified by Pausanias (1.2.1) and Plutarch (Theseus 27.5) to be located near the Sanctuary of [[Gaia#Temples|Gaia]] in Athens. Another Amazon [[Molpadia]] was said to have died and been buried there as well during the Amazons' campaign.<ref name=":3" />

According to (the Boeotian) Plutarch, Amazons were not only buried in Athens but were also known to have fled and possibly engaged in further battles elsewhere, being buried in places such as [[Megara]], [[Boeotia|Boiotia]], [[Chalcis|Chalkis]], and in Thessaly at [[Scotussa|Skotoussa]] and Kynoskephalai.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" />

=== Possible Historical Counterparts   ===
[[File:Amazonomachy Met 31.11.13.jpg|thumb|Detail of vase, c. 420 BC]]
As Greek civilization began to extend to areas around the Black Sea, the Greeks began to identify and associate these mythical wild and warlike foreign females with the [[Scythians]] in their artwork and literature. In particular, the Amazons were often portrayed similarly to steppe nomad horsewomen.<ref name=":3" /> As the Greeks became more aware of steppe nomad cultures, their depictions of the Amazons in art and literature began to integrate more realistic details corresponding to the artifacts (weaponry, attire, & equipment) found in kurgans (grave mounds) of Scythians.<ref name=":4">Mayor, Adrienne. “Warrior Women: The Archaeology of Amazons.” ''Women in Antiquity'', 2016, pp. 1–17.</ref>

Despite the lack of conclusive evidence pointing to the existence of the Amazons, some modern scholars and archaeologists have claimed that such steppe nomad horsewomen could have potentially existed as the Amazons’ historical counterparts. Though their actual connection to the mythical Amazons is controversial, there is evidence which supports the historical existence of such steppe warrior women, as modern excavations in the 20th century have discovered more than 1,000 tombs of tribes such as the Saka-Scythians across the Eurasian steppes, of which about 300 of these burials have been identified to be those of armed warrior women (as of 2016).<ref name=":4" />

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Oinochoe MET sf06102161l.jpg|Heracles in the battle, 6th century BC
File:Akhilleus Penthesileia Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2688 n2.jpg|Achilles killing Penthesilea. Tondo of an Attic red-figure kylix, 470–460 BC. From [[Vulci]]
File:Amazonomachia Pio-Clementino Inv896.jpg|Amazonomachy, marble sarcophagus, c. 160–170 AD, [[Vatican Museum]]
File:Amazona y bárbaro.JPG|Amazon attacking a Barbarian, sculptural group found in the Anzio Villa, Antonian era – c. 138-192 AD, Roman copy of Greek original. [[Museo Nazionale Romano|Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme]].
File:Amazonomachy Halicarnassus BM n3.jpg|Relief from the ruins of the [[Mausoleum at Halicarnassus|Mausoleum of Halicarnassus]]
File:NAMA 136&151 158 Amazonomachy.JPG|Fragments of the Amazonomachy on the west pediment of the temple of Asklepios. About 380 BC
File:Kutahya archaeological museum Amazonomachy sarcophagus 8837 Panorama.jpg|Kutahya archaeological museum Amazonomachy sarcophagus 8837
File:Sousse mosaic Amazons (cropped).JPG|Detail of an early 3rd-century mosaic from modern [[Tunisia]]
File:Arpi (daunia meridionale), figurine di amazzonomachia, 300 ac. ca. 04.JPG|Amazon from a group of terracottas making up an Amazonomachy, c. 300 BC
File:Sarcophagus-from-Salonica.jpg|Amazonomachy marble [[sarcophagus]], [[Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki]]
File:Histoires de Troyes - Combat de Thesee, Hercule et des Amazones.jpg|15th century miniature from a ''Histoires de Troyes''; Theseus is shown as a contemporary knight.
File:Peter Paul Rubens - Battle of the Amazons - WGA20302.jpg|Interpretation by [[Rubens]], 1617–18
File:1873 Feuerbach Amazonenschlacht anagoria.JPG|one of two versions by the German [[Anselm Feuerbach]], 1873
File:Wounded Amazon Sosikles type Louvre Ma552 n1.jpg|Wounded Amazon, [[Amazon statue types|Sosikles type]]. Roman copy of 5th century BC Greek original.
</gallery>

== See also ==
* For discussion of such battles, see [[Amazons#Historiography|Amazons in historiography]]
* For the most famous Amazonomachy, see [[Attic War]]
* For representation of Amazonomachies as depicted in ancient visual art, see [[Amazons#Amazons in art|Amazons in art]] and [[Warfare in Ancient Greek Art]]
* [[Amazon statue types]]
* [[Centauromachy]]
* [[Gigantomachy]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*[[Kurt Weitzmann|Weitzmann, Kurt]], ed., ''[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/156533 Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century]'', no. 200, 1979, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York, {{ISBN|9780870991790}}; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries

== External links ==
{{Commonscatinline}}
* [https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/f/fragment_of_a_marble_shield.aspx Fragment of a marble shield]
* [https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/s/slabs_from_amazonomachy_frieze.aspx Slabs from the Amazonomachy frieze from the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140131071207/http://www.the-spearhead.com/2010/01/04/amazonomachy-the-art-of-progress/ Amazonmachy: The Art of Progress]

{{Greek religion}}

[[Category:Hellenistic art]]
[[Category:War in mythology]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek military art]]
[[Category:Amazons (Greek mythology)|*]]
[[Category:War art]]
[[Category:Iconography]]
[[Category:Women in war in Greece]]
[[Category:Mausoleum at Halicarnassus]]