Scan barcode
A review by shanaqui
The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor
informative
slow-paced
3.0
There are a lot of fascinating things in Adrienne Mayor's The Amazons, particularly when she discusses the archaeological sources, and even when she looks at things like the seemingly nonsense words associated with depictions of Amazons on Greek vases (which seem to actually be phonetic renditions of actual "Amazon" words, names and phrases).
That said, the book is really sprawling, and she conflates a large number of different races into one in her insistence on referring to them as "Amazons". Mostly she seems to mean "Scythians", but particularly in the later chapters, the term "Amazon" is used to refer to any women from that enormous geographical region, including legendary Chinese women (Mulan).
She is not wrong at all that women warriors existed, and I agree with her thesis that women of the steppes heavily influenced the Greek idea of Amazons, particularly Scythian women. I also agree that other women of the steppes influenced later versions of the myth. But I do feel like Mayor's a little careless about her conclusions here, and gets a bit carried away in examining myths and legends for "authentic" details about Amazons. She doesn't seem to believe that there really were significant numbers of female-only tribes, Amazons in the strict sense; instead she wants to discuss all types of women warriors over a large stretch of history and geography -- even mentioning modern customs. Those people aren't Amazons, I'm afraid, and she dilutes her own point by failing to distinguish.
That said, the book is really sprawling, and she conflates a large number of different races into one in her insistence on referring to them as "Amazons". Mostly she seems to mean "Scythians", but particularly in the later chapters, the term "Amazon" is used to refer to any women from that enormous geographical region, including legendary Chinese women (Mulan).
She is not wrong at all that women warriors existed, and I agree with her thesis that women of the steppes heavily influenced the Greek idea of Amazons, particularly Scythian women. I also agree that other women of the steppes influenced later versions of the myth. But I do feel like Mayor's a little careless about her conclusions here, and gets a bit carried away in examining myths and legends for "authentic" details about Amazons. She doesn't seem to believe that there really were significant numbers of female-only tribes, Amazons in the strict sense; instead she wants to discuss all types of women warriors over a large stretch of history and geography -- even mentioning modern customs. Those people aren't Amazons, I'm afraid, and she dilutes her own point by failing to distinguish.