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Did the Amazons really exist? - Adrienne Mayor

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    Since the time of Homer,
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    ancient stories told of fierce warriors
    dwelling beyond the Mediterranean world,
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    striking fear into the mightiest
    empires of antiquity.
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    Their exploits were
    recounted by many epic poets.
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    They fought in the legendary Trojan War
    and their grand army invaded Athens.
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    Jason and the Argonauts
    passed by their shores,
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    barely avoiding their deadly arrows.
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    These formidable fighters faced off
    against the greatest champions of myth:
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    Heracles,
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    Theseus,
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    and Achilles.
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    And every single one
    of these warriors was a woman.
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    The war-loving Amazons,
    "the equals of men" in courage and skill,
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    were familiar to everyone in
    Ancient Greece.
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    Amazon battle scenes decorated
    the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis;
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    paintings and statues of Amazons
    adorned temples and public spaces.
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    Little girls played with Amazon dolls,
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    and Amazons were a favorite subject
    on Greek vase paintings.
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    In Greek art and literature,
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    they were depicted as daring
    and desirable
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    but also terrifying and deadly,
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    and doomed to die
    at the hands of Greek heroes.
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    Were Amazons merely figures of myth,
    or something more?
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    It was long assumed
    that they were imaginary,
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    like the Cyclops and centaurs.
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    But curiously enough,
    stories from Ancient Egypt,
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    Persia,
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    the Middle East,
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    Central Asia,
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    India,
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    and China
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    also featured Amazon-like warrior women.
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    And Amazons were described in ancient
    historical accounts, not just myths.
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    Writers like Herodotus, Plato,
    and Strabo never doubted their existence.
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    So who were the real women
    warriors known as Amazons?
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    Ancient historians located
    the Amazon homeland in Scythia,
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    the vast territory stretching from
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    the Black Sea across
    the steppes of Central Asia.
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    This immense region was populated
    by nomadic tribes
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    whose lives centered on horses,
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    archery,
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    and warfare.
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    Their culture flourished for about
    1,000 years beginning around 800 BC.
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    Feared by Greeks, Persians, and
    the Chinese, the Scythians left
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    no written records.
    But we can find clues in how
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    their neighbors described them,
    as well as in archaeology.
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    Scythians' ancestors were
    the first to ride horses
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    and they invented the recurve bow.
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    And, because a female mounted archer
    could be as fast and as deadly as a male,
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    all children were trained
    to ride and shoot.
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    Women hunted and fought alongside men,
    using the same weapons.
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    The harsh landscape
    and their nomadic lifestyle
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    created its own form of equality.
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    This amazed the ancient Greeks,
    whose women led restricted indoor lives.
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    The earliest stories of the Scythians,
    and Amazons,
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    may have been exaggerated rumors.
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    But as the Greeks began to trade around
    the Black Sea and further east,
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    their portrayals became more realistic.
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    Early depictions of Amazons showed them
    with Greek weapons and armor.
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    But in later representations,
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    they wielded bows and battle-axes,
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    rode horses,
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    and wore pointed caps
    and patterned trousers
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    characteristic of steppe nomads.
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    Until recently, no one was sure
    how strong the links were
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    between Scythians
    and the Amazons of Greek myth.
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    But recent archaeological discoveries
    have provided ample evidence.
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    More than 1,000 ancient Scythian kurgans,
    or burial mounds, have been excavated,
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    containing skeletons and weapons.
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    Archaeologists had previously assumed
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    that weapons could only
    belong to male warriors.
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    But modern DNA analysis so far
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    has revealed that about 300 skeletons
    buried with weapons
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    belong to females ranging
    in age from 10 to 45,
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    and more are being found every year.
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    The women's skeletons
    show battle injuries:
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    ribs slashed by swords,
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    skulls bashed by battle-axes,
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    and arrows embedded in bones.
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    In classical art and writings,
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    the fearsome Amazons were always portrayed
    as brave and heroic.
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    In male-dominated classical Greece,
    however,
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    the very idea of strong women who gloried
    in freedom and war aroused mixed feelings.
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    And yet, the Greeks were also drawn
    to egalitarian ideals.
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    Is it possible that the mythic realm
    of thrilling Amazon tales
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    was a way to imagine women
    and men as equal companions?
Title:
Did the Amazons really exist? - Adrienne Mayor
Speaker:
Adrienne Mayor
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TED-Ed
Duration:
05:02
Michelle Mehrtens edited English subtitles for Did the Amazons really exist?
Michelle Mehrtens edited English subtitles for Did the Amazons really exist?
Michelle Mehrtens edited English subtitles for Did the Amazons really exist?
Bethany Cutmore-Scott approved English subtitles for Did the Amazons really exist?
Bethany Cutmore-Scott accepted English subtitles for Did the Amazons really exist?
Michelle Mehrtens edited English subtitles for Did the Amazons really exist?

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