Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

, Amazonomachy ( English translation: "Amazon battle"; plural, Amazonomachiai ( grc, Ἀμαζονομαχίαι) or Amazonomachies) was one of various mythical battles between the ancient

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

and the Amazons, a nation of all-female warriors. Many of the myths portrayed were that of

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

' ninth labor, which was the retrieval of the girdle of

Hippolyta In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; grc-gre, Ἱππολύτη ''Hippolytē'') was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' ''zoster'', the Gr ...

, Queen of the Amazons; and of

Theseus Theseus (, ; grc-gre, Θησεύς ) was the mythical king and founder-hero of Athens. The myths surrounding Theseus his journeys, exploits, and friends have provided material for fiction throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes describ ...

' abduction of Hippolyta (or Antiope), whom he claimed as his wife, sparking the Attic War. Another famous scene portrayed is that of

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...

' victorious battle against

Penthesilea Penthesilea ( el, Πενθεσίλεια, Penthesíleia) was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe. She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, during which she w ...

during the

Trojan war In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

. The subject was popular in ancient Greek art and

Roman art The art of Ancient Rome, and the territories of its Republic and later Empire, includes architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Luxury objects in metal-work, gem engraving, ivory carvings, and glass are sometimes considered to be min ...

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:

For the Greeks, the
Titanomachy In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy (; grc, , , Titan battle) was a ten-year series of battles fought in Ancient Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (the older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Olympians (t ...
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 Centaurs they continue to signalize the Greek conquest of everything barbarous, of all monstrosity and grossness.

Amazonomachy is also seen as the rise of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

in Greek culture. In Quintus Smyrnaeus's ''The Fall of Troy'', Penthesilea, an Amazonian queen, who joined on the side of the

Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...

s during the Trojan war, was quoted at

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

, saying:

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?

According to

Josine Blok Josine Henriëtte Blok (born 9 June 1953) is a Dutch classical scholar. She has been a professor of Ancient History and Classical Civilisation at Utrecht University since 2001 up until 2019. Blok was born in Oegstgeest. She attended the gymnasiu ...

, Amazonomachy provides two different contexts in 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 Attis (; grc-gre, Ἄττις, also , , ) was the consort of Cybele, in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, the ''Galli'', as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis castrating himself. Attis was also a Phrygian v ...

motif, in which the hero shuns human sexuality in marriage and procreation. In the 5th century, the Achaemenid Empire of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

began a series of invasions against Ancient Greece. Because of this, some scholars believe that on most 5th-century Greek art, the Persians were shown allegorically, through the figure of centaurs and Amazons.

In art

Warfare was a very popular subject in Ancient Greek art, represented in grand sculptural scenes on temples but also countless Greek vases. On the whole fictional and mythical battles were preferred as subjects to the many historical ones available. Along with scenes from

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

and the

Gigantomachy In Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes (Greek: Γίγαντες, ''Gígantes'', Γίγας, ''Gígas''), were a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Giganto ...

, a battle between the race of Giants and the Olympian gods, the Amazonomachy was a popular choice. Later, in

, there are many depictions on the sides of later Roman

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

, 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.

West metopes of Parthenon

Kalamis, a Greek sculptor, is attributed to designing the west

metope In classical architecture, a metope (μετόπη) is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a bu ...

s of the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...

, a temple on the

Athenian Acropolis The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

dedicated to the Greek goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

. 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 Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean S ...

Shield of Athena Parthenos

The shield of

Athena Parthenos The statue of Athena Parthenos ( grc, Παρθένος Ἀθηνᾶ, lit=Athena the Virgin) was a monumental chryselephantine sculpture of the goddess Athena. Attributed to Phidias and dated to the mid-fifth century BCE, it was an offering fr ...

, sculpted by

Phidias Phidias or Pheidias (; grc, Φειδίας, ''Pheidias''; 480 – 430 BC) was a Greek sculptor, painter, and architect. His Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Phidias also designed the stat ...

, depicts a fallen Amazon. Athena Parthenos was a massive

chryselephantine Chryselephantine sculpture (from Greek grc, χρυσός, chrysós, gold, label=none, and grc, ελεφάντινος, elephántinos, ivory, label=none) is sculpture made with gold and ivory. Chryselephantine cult statues enjoyed high status ...

sculpture of Athena, the main cult image inside the

at Athens, which is now lost, though known from descriptions and small ancient copies.

Bassae Frieze in Temple of Apollo

The

Bassae Frieze The Bassae Frieze is the high relief marble sculpture in 23 panels, 31 m long by 0.63 m high, made to decorate the interior of the cella of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae. It was discovered in 1811 by Carl Haller and Charle ...

in the Temple of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

Bassae Bassae ( la, Bassae, grc, Βάσσαι - ''Bassai'', meaning "little vale in the rocks") is an archaeological site in Oichalia, a municipality in the northeastern part of Messenia, Greece. In classical antiquity, it was part of Arcadia. 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.

Amazonomachy frieze from Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

Several sections of an Amazonomachy

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

from the

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( grc, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ; tr, Halikarnas Mozolesi) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, an ...

are now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. One part depicts

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

. 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

, who joined Heracles during his labours.

Other

Micon Micon the Younger of Athens, simply Micon or Mikon ( el, Μίκων) was an ancient Greek painter and sculptor from the middle of the 5th century BC. He was closely associated with Polygnotus of Thasos, in conjunction with whom he adorned the Stoa ...

painted the Amazonomachy on the

Stoa Poikile The Stoa Poikile (, ) or Painted Porch, originally called the Porch of Peisianax (, ), was a stoa (a covered walkway or portico) erected during the 5th century BC and was located on the north side of the Ancient Agora of Athens. The Stoa Poikile ...

of the

Ancient Agora of Athens The ancient Agora of Athens (also called the Classical Agora) is the best-known example of an ancient Greek agora, located to the northwest of the Acropolis and bounded on the south by the hill of the Areopagus and on the west by the hill ...

, which is now lost.

depicted Amazonomachy on the footstool of the chryselephantine statue of Zeus at Olympia. In 2018, archaeologists discovered relief-decorated shoulder boards made from bronze that were part of a

breastplate A breastplate or chestplate is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. A breastplate is sometimes worn by mythological beings as a distinctive item of clothing. It is ...

of a Greek warrior at a Celtic sacrificial place near the village of

Slatina nad Bebravou Slatina nad Bebravou ( hu, Felsőszalatna) is a village and municipality in the Bánovce nad Bebravou District of the Trenčín Region of Slovakia. In 2018, archaeologists discovered relief-decorated shoulder boards made from bronze that were pa ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. 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.Archaeologists find oldest Greek relic in Slovak area
/ref>

Gallery

File:Daphné, amazonomachia, IV sec. 02.JPG, Close up of Amazon warrior in combat with a

hippeus ''Hippeis'' ( grc, ἱππεῖς, singular ἱππεύς, ''hippeus'') is a Greek term for cavalry. In ancient Athenian society, after the political reforms of Solon, the ''hippeus'' was the second highest of the four social classes. It was c ...

; 4th century AD

Roman mosaic A Roman mosaic is a mosaic made during the Roman period, throughout the Roman Republic and later Empire. Mosaics were used in a variety of private and public buildings, on both floors and walls, though they competed with cheaper frescos for the ...

from Daphne in Antioch on the Orontes 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 Vulci or Volci ( Etruscan: ''Velch'' or ''Velx'', depending on the romanization used) was a rich Etruscan city in what is now northern Lazio, central Italy. As George Dennis wrote, "Vulci is a city whose very name... was scarcely remembered, b ...

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.

Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme The National Roman Museum (Italian: ''Museo Nazionale Romano'') is a museum, with several branches in separate buildings throughout the city of Rome, Italy. It shows exhibits from the pre- and early history of Rome, with a focus on archaeological ...

. File:Amazonomachy Halicarnassus BM n3.jpg, Relief from the ruins of the

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( grc, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ; tr, Halikarnas Mozolesi) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, an ...

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 Panorama File:Sousse mosaic Amazons (cropped).JPG, Detail of an early 3rd-century mosaic from modern

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

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 The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki ( el, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης ) is a museum in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. It holds and interprets artifacts from the Prehistoric, Archaic, Classical ...

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 Anselm Feuerbach (12 September 1829 – 4 January 1880) was a German painter. He was the leading classicist painter of the German 19th-century school. Biography Early life Feuerbach was born at Speyer, the son of the archaeologist Joseph ...

, 1873 File:Wounded Amazon Sosikles type Louvre Ma552 n1.jpg, Wounded Amazon, Sosikles type. Roman copy of 5th Century BC. Greek original.

References

External links

Fragment of a marble shield

Slabs from the Amazonomachy frieze from the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos

Amazonmachy: The Art of Progress
{{Greek religion Hellenistic art War in mythology Ancient Greek military art * War art Iconography Women in war in Greece