Archeologists have proven that Amazons did indeed exist, and where they went. According to legend, the Greeks rounded them up after the queen was killed and put them all on a prison ship - the ship vanished along with the Amazons.
Recently, archeologists managed to piece together what happened from folk tales. The Greeks had the weakness of being rather gentlemanly so they underestimated the women and didn’t search them before putting them on a ship as prisoners to be taken back and put on display. The Amazons broke out of the ship prison cells, killed the crew, and pitched all the bodies overboard. The Amazons were no sailors so they ended up adrift in the Mediterranian, a storm blew in and wrecked their ship on the shore of what is now Turkey. When a local tribe sent a group of men to search the vessel, the Amazons killed them (of course).
After fighting back and forth with the mysterious warriors on the ship, the tribe managed to kill one and drag the body back - surprise, surprise, the warrior was a beautiful woman! The tribesmen knew a good genetic opportunity when they saw one, so instead of continuing to fight, they sent a group of their most eligible batchelors with gifts. The Amazons married into the tribe.
After a while, though, the Amazons decided they did not like the women native to that tribe, they thought the other women were too weak. So they insisted on moving. They turned nomadic and wound up in Mongolia. There are even artifacts from Mongolia showing Mongolian warriors in battle and many of the warriors are women.
An archeologist decided to follow the stories and see if there was any truth to them. She found a grave site in Turkey where the naturally-mummified bodies were of women, most of them were buried in armor and holding sheilds and weapons, all had been killed in battle. They had healed battle-related injuries and their bones showed they had developed heavy muscles. The archeologist took DNA samples from the bodies, then went to Mongolia. The archeologist went to the remotest parts of the steppes and finally found a family with a blond daughter. They took DNA samples from all the women in the family. The DNA from the Mongolians was a close enough match to the bodies of the warrior-women in Turkey that they could assume the Mongolian women were descendants of the warriors!
Whew! Sorry about any errors.
Anyway, that’s what a History Channel documentary was about 2 years ago.
The history channel is not always a reliable source. They have to produce shows that will attract viewers, and sometimes pseudo-history is more entertaining than real history. What you report is mostly a mish-mash of a few ancient sources which are not considered reliable – such as Herodotus, who delights in reporting unsubstantiated stories. (Though he can be reliable for some events.), I am not saying that there were no female warriors in ancient times, but I am saying that there is no reliable evidence for stories about exclusively female warrior societies. (I haven’t read the archeological reports you mention, so I won’t comment on them, but I do know about some graves found of females buried with weapons – these probably show that women fought, but they don’t show that there were exclusively female warrior societies. If you have a reference, I will look it up.) Ancient Greek writers often used Amazons as the image of an impossible upside down society, everything that good Greeks were not. You might want to read “Centaurs and Amazons” by Page Dubois or “Amazons, A Study in Athenian Myth-making”, by William Blake Tyrell.
What do you mean? The island of Lesbos, if that’s what you mean, is located off the coast of Turkey. The ancient poet Sappho lived there. Our word lesbian derives from the name of the island, because Sappho probably had sexual relations with women (though she was probably married and had a child). But all this is completely unconnected to the question of Amazons.
By the way, I really like Berke’s crazy sense of humor. He’s right at the top of the list of great cartoonist of recent times, and I miss Opus terribly.
mroberts88 almost 15 years ago
You dont see that everyday at a college. Warzones yes, colleges no.
ejcapulet almost 15 years ago
From yesterday, lonecat:
Archeologists have proven that Amazons did indeed exist, and where they went. According to legend, the Greeks rounded them up after the queen was killed and put them all on a prison ship - the ship vanished along with the Amazons.
Recently, archeologists managed to piece together what happened from folk tales. The Greeks had the weakness of being rather gentlemanly so they underestimated the women and didn’t search them before putting them on a ship as prisoners to be taken back and put on display. The Amazons broke out of the ship prison cells, killed the crew, and pitched all the bodies overboard. The Amazons were no sailors so they ended up adrift in the Mediterranian, a storm blew in and wrecked their ship on the shore of what is now Turkey. When a local tribe sent a group of men to search the vessel, the Amazons killed them (of course).
After fighting back and forth with the mysterious warriors on the ship, the tribe managed to kill one and drag the body back - surprise, surprise, the warrior was a beautiful woman! The tribesmen knew a good genetic opportunity when they saw one, so instead of continuing to fight, they sent a group of their most eligible batchelors with gifts. The Amazons married into the tribe.
After a while, though, the Amazons decided they did not like the women native to that tribe, they thought the other women were too weak. So they insisted on moving. They turned nomadic and wound up in Mongolia. There are even artifacts from Mongolia showing Mongolian warriors in battle and many of the warriors are women.
An archeologist decided to follow the stories and see if there was any truth to them. She found a grave site in Turkey where the naturally-mummified bodies were of women, most of them were buried in armor and holding sheilds and weapons, all had been killed in battle. They had healed battle-related injuries and their bones showed they had developed heavy muscles. The archeologist took DNA samples from the bodies, then went to Mongolia. The archeologist went to the remotest parts of the steppes and finally found a family with a blond daughter. They took DNA samples from all the women in the family. The DNA from the Mongolians was a close enough match to the bodies of the warrior-women in Turkey that they could assume the Mongolian women were descendants of the warriors!
Whew! Sorry about any errors.
Anyway, that’s what a History Channel documentary was about 2 years ago.
lonecat almost 15 years ago
Dear ejcapulet,
The history channel is not always a reliable source. They have to produce shows that will attract viewers, and sometimes pseudo-history is more entertaining than real history. What you report is mostly a mish-mash of a few ancient sources which are not considered reliable – such as Herodotus, who delights in reporting unsubstantiated stories. (Though he can be reliable for some events.), I am not saying that there were no female warriors in ancient times, but I am saying that there is no reliable evidence for stories about exclusively female warrior societies. (I haven’t read the archeological reports you mention, so I won’t comment on them, but I do know about some graves found of females buried with weapons – these probably show that women fought, but they don’t show that there were exclusively female warrior societies. If you have a reference, I will look it up.) Ancient Greek writers often used Amazons as the image of an impossible upside down society, everything that good Greeks were not. You might want to read “Centaurs and Amazons” by Page Dubois or “Amazons, A Study in Athenian Myth-making”, by William Blake Tyrell.
davesmithsit almost 15 years ago
Look up the Isle of lesbo.
lonecat almost 15 years ago
Dear davesmithsit,
What do you mean? The island of Lesbos, if that’s what you mean, is located off the coast of Turkey. The ancient poet Sappho lived there. Our word lesbian derives from the name of the island, because Sappho probably had sexual relations with women (though she was probably married and had a child). But all this is completely unconnected to the question of Amazons.
lonecat almost 15 years ago
By the way, I really like Berke’s crazy sense of humor. He’s right at the top of the list of great cartoonist of recent times, and I miss Opus terribly.