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SNAPSHOT May 6, 2015 Gender

Warrior Women
The Myth and Reality o! the
Amazons
By Adrienne Mayor
I
t is said the boundless steppes o! Asia gave
flight to tales o# heroes and heroines because the
conditions there are so harsh. From about 700
BC to AD 500, the vast territory o! Scythia,
stretching from the Black Sea to China, was home to
diverse but culturally related nomads. Known as
Scythians to Greeks, Saka to the Persians, and
Xiongnu to the Chinese, the steppe tribes were
masters o# horses and archery. Scythian boys and girls
learned to ride and shoot so that everyone could hunt
and make war. We have a brand
new look!
The horse and the bow were the equalizers: women
We've made some
could be just as tough, fast, and deadly as men. changes to our website to
Indeed, the remains o! 300 warrior women were give you a better
found in more than 1,000 excavations o! Scythian experience.

kurgans (burial mounds), from Ukraine to Central

Asia—a spectacular archaeological discovery. So far, LEARN MORE

DNA testing o! the skeletons buried with weapons HERE

shows that 25 to 37 percent o! Scythian girls and

women, from 10 to 45 years o! age, were active
warriors.

Ptolemaic map of Scythia by Girolamo Porro, 1598.

As the Greeks began to explore the Black Sea region
in the seventh century BC, reports o# barbarian
archers on horseback filtered back to Greece. The
nomads' egalitarian lifestyle astonished the Greeks,
who kept their own women indoors weaving and
minding children. The exotic Scythian lifestyle fueled
the Greek imagination and led to an outpouring of
myths about fierce Amazons, “the equals o! men.”The
name Amazon was not originally Greek; linguists
believe it derived from the ancient Iranian word for
“warrior.”

Amazons became wildly popular subjects on

thousands o! vase paintings. Every great hero, from
Heracles to Achilles, had to prove his valor by
defeating an Amazon queen. As the Greeks learned
more about Scythians, they added realistic details to
their artistic depictions o! Amazons, who were shown
riding horses, swinging battle-axes, shooting arrows,
and wearing patterned trousers and tunics decorated
with animal designs. One feature remained constant
in all the Greek myths, however. Despite their
courage, beauty, and might, Amazons could never
emerge victorious over Greek men.

Modern scholars had long assumed that Amazons

were just a Greek myth. But the overwhelming
archaeological evidence o! armed female burials across
Scythia proves that Amazons were not merely
imaginary. Today, the Greek stories are the most well-
known, but in fact the Greeks were not the only
people fascinated by the horsewomen o! Scythia.
Accounts o! warlike women arose all across the
ancient world, from Egypt and Persia to the Caucasus
and Central Asia. And those tales have radically
different outcomes.

Instead of
following the
Greek mythic
script dooming
all Amazons to
defeat and death,
the warrior
women in stories
from other
cultures not only
survive but win

MARY HARRSCH / FLICKR

battles. And,
whereas Greek
stories focused
primarily on
fighting, those
from beyond
Mediterranean Wounded Amazon, Roman copy of Greek
were as likely to original by Phidias, 440-430 BC.
be about love as
war.

Several tattered papyruses contain legends about

historical figures o! the seventh century BC, when
Egypt was part o! the Assyrian Empire. One papyrus,
“Egyptians and Amazons,” tells how Prince Pedikhons
invaded a “land o! women” in Syria, where today
10,000 Kurdish women soldiers are fighting the
Islamic State (also known as ISIS). Serpot, the
Amazon “pharaoh,” leads a charge on Pedikhons’
army, inflicting heavy casualties. Pedikhons challenges
Serpot to single combat. At sunrise, they don their
armor and take up swords. The Egyptian and the
Amazon struggle mightily all day, their sword blows
“resounding on their ornate shields.” They “attack like
panthers, as though death was greater than life itself,”
but neither gives way. At twilight, Serpot calls out,
“We can fight again tomorrow. Let's rest.” Pedikhons
agrees, “We cannot fight in the dark.”

Scholars can just make out sporadic words on the

ragged papyrus. The two warriors sit down to talk.
“Pedikhons, why have you [come] here to [the land of
women]? . . . fate . . . combat . . . i! you wish . . .
between us . . . she laughed.” Pedikhons removes his
armor, and suddenly “Serpot loses her bearings
[because o#] the great desire that entered [into her].”
She removes her armor, too. Pedikhons also loses all
sense o# his surroundings and says, “My dear Serpot .
. .” Here the text trails off.

In the next fragment, Serpot and

Pedikhons discuss their dilemma of
duty versus love. They return to One papyrus, “Egyptians
their camps to sleep. At dawn they and Amazons,” tells how
resume their duel, but they are so Prince Pedikhons
evenly matched that neither can invaded a "land of
win. Peace is declared. Serpot and
women” in Syria, where
Pedikhons continue their passionate
today 10,000 Kurdish
conversation, and the lovers set up a
tent together. Both armies celebrate
women soldiers are
their alliance. Suddenly, a hostile fighting the Islamic State
army from the Far East appears and (also known as ISIS).
slaughters many o& Pedikhons’ men.
Serpot rushes to take the lead
because she is experienced in combating this enemy.
Together, Serpot and Pedikhons defeat the foe.
Instead o! a typical Greek zero-sum game with only
one victor, the Egyptian tale describes rapprochement
between equals. Similar stories o! combat leading to
companionship from Azerbaijan, Persia, the Caucasus,
Central Asia, and other ancient cultures also envision
gender parity in love and war. In a northern
Caucasian legend, for example, an Amazon and a
Circassian chieftain interrupt their battle on the
steppes for a tête-à-tête in a tent between their
armies. Like Serpot and Pedikhons, they become
lovers and both armies cheer their union. Over and
over in the non-Greek narratives, what begins as a
life-and-death struggle ends in mutual respect, love,
and an alliance. The patriarchal Greeks imagined that
i! women were strong, men must be weak, and vice
versa. For them, the idea o! equal comradeship with
women evoked ambivalence. Other cultures seem
more open to egalitarian relationships between the
sexes.
Saka Tigraxauda Delegation on a frieze in
Persepolis.

This difference is evident in a story about an ancient

Persian romance starring a Saka warrior queen, set in
the Median Empire (625–550 BC). As Greek
historians noted, “Saka women fight alongside the
men on horseback, like Amazons.” Their daring
leader, Zarina, subdued many enemies and was
honored with a colossal gold statue and monumental
tomb. The romance that coalesced around this
historical figure comes from scattered evidence in
many sources.

The action begins as the Parthian nomads revolt from

the Median Empire. They ally with the powerful Saka
and “entrust their army to Zarina.” Bloody wars rage
between the Saka-Parthians and the Medes. In one
battle, Zarina fights the Mede commander
Stryangaeus. He knocks Zarina off her horse. Struck
by her bravery, he allows her to remount and gallop
away. In another battle, Zarina’s soldiers capture
Stryangaeus and are about to kill him. Because the
Mede had once saved her life, Zarina frees
Stryangaeus.

The thread is next taken up in a fragmentary papyrus

by Nicolas o& Damascus. After the Medes and the
Saka declare peace, Stryangaeus visits his old enemy
Zarina in Rhoxanake (“Shining City”). “Greeting him
with great delight, Zarina kisses him and rides in his
chariot, chatting happily.” Stryangaeus retires to his
tent, filled with desire. He confides his feelings to a
eunuch, who urges him to declare his love. But Zarina
gently rejects him. Tormented by love, Stryangaeus
resolves to kill himself. But first he writes an
anguished letter to Zarina.

Many versions o! the lovesick Mede’s letter circulated

in antiquity, preserved on shreds o! papyrus. The gist
is always the same: “I saved you! You saved me! Now
I am devastated, ruined, destroyed, because o! you.”
Even the most complete papyrus scrap torments
readers, leaving them in suspense. The last legible
sentence reads, “After writing this letter, he placed the
parchment on his pillow and asked for his sword. But
the eunuch—”

The narrative suggests that the

eunuch arranged a happy ending.
The ancient Iranian romance of While Greeks were
Zarina and Stryangaeus dates to the spinning tales of
time when Amazons first appeared Amazons, Chinese
in Greek art and literature. Some historians were
compare it with the tragic Greek
marveling at formidable
myth o! Achilles, who kills the
female archers among
Amazon Penthesilea and then falls
in love as she dies. But the Persian the Xiongnu hordes on
story offers a very different the steppes.
scenario. The enemies spared each
other's lives in battle, and thus
friendship and love were possible.

China marks the easternmost extent o! the nomads

whose women were models for mythic and historical
Amazons in Greek, Persian, and Egyptian accounts.
While Greeks were spinning tales o! Amazons,
Chinese historians were marveling at formidable
female archers among the Xiongnu hordes on the
steppes, who threatened to overrun what would
become the Great Wall o! China. By the fourth
century BC, the Xiongnu marshaled cavalries of
300,000 mounted archers, exerting relentless pressure
on China’s frontiers. Wars between the Xiongnu and
the Han dynasty entailed ferocious battles punctuated
by alliances. Chinese rulers sent lavish tributes and
exchanged brides with nomad leaders.

A legend o! the Northern Song dynasty tells o! a

nomad girl called Jinding (“Golden Ingot”) who rode
to war with her brothers. Her clan belonged to the
Golden Horde. Flamboyant, wielding a golden sword,
and riding a red horse, Jinding led war bands from her
stronghold, “Double-Locked Mountain.” At age 16,
she headed a revolt against the Song emperor, who
dispatched the brave young general Junbao to crush
the rebellion. Jinding took him prisoner, but they fell
in love and became partners in war. Now, with Junbao
as her second in command, Jinding led the Song
armies for about 30 years.

The most famous

female warrior of
China is Hua
Mulan, familiar
to Western
audiences from
Disney films
(1998 and 2004).
The beloved
national heroine
Mulan, from the painting series "Gathering
is celebrated in
Gems of Beauty" by He Dazi, Qing dynasty.
countless
Chinese
histories, plays,
poems, works o! art, and operas. Many dynasties—
Northern Wei, Han, Sui, Tang—claimed Mulan as
their own, and various provinces vie for her
birthplace. But extraordinary new linguistic evidence
reveals a secret about this quintessential Chinese
heroine.

Mulan's tale originated in oral folk songs during the

Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). The earliest written
mention o! the “Song o& Mulan” dates to the
Northern Wei dynasty (AD 386–557), when northern
China was beset by constant attacks from nomad
armies. Mulan's story begins with the emperor
conscripting soldiers from each family to fight wars
beyond the Great Wall. Disguised as a young man,
she joins the imperial army. After ten years of
winning great victories for the emperor, Mulan
returns home. Resuming her feminine identity, she
looks up her old comrades. The veterans are amazed
to discover that their battle companion was a woman.

Hua Mulan’s name is commonly translated as

“Magnolia” in Chinese. But a historical-linguistic
study by a Chinese scholar in 2012 uncovered that
Mulan’s name is not Chinese at all. Linguistic analysis
shows that her name means “Deer/Elk” in the ancient
Altaic language o! the Turkic peoples o! Central Asia.
Her non-Chinese name reveals that the warrior girl
glorified as China’s ideal female fighter had roots in
the Xiongnu culture. Mulan was yet another warrior
woman o! nomadic origins who rose to military
prominence fighting nomads for her adopted nation
o! China. While Mulan’s disguise hid her gender, her
ethnic origins were hidden behind a Chinese-
sounding name.
Shield emblem, Scythian, end of the 7th century BC.
State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Mulan’s name, “Deer,” evokes the iconic antlered deer

images so common in ancient Scythian artifacts,
weapons, and armor. The deer moti! o! the nomads
was so well-known to ancient Greek artists that they
placed deer on Amazons' shields and tunics and even
illustrated deer tattoos, much like the tattoos engraved
on the skin o& frozen mummies o! Scythian women
recently recovered from icebound kurgans.

With Mulan, then, the story comes full circle. Hal! a

world away, the ancient Greeks gazed east toward
Scythia just as the Chinese looked toward the western
wilderness o! the Xiongnu. Between Greece and
China stretched the vast homeland o! real-life
horsewomen-archers, the equals o! men, whose heroic
lives and deeds inspired awe and admiration in all
who knew them. The fact that flesh-and-blood women
inspired Amazon legends in so many cultures over
millennia suggests that the natural human desire for
harmony and equality between men and women is not
an impossible dream.