Book
Amazons
First published 2017
Amazons examines the relationship between the warrior women of Greek myth and the mounted societies of the ancient Eurasian steppe. John Man follows the stories preserved by Herodotus and later writers while drawing on archaeology from Scythian and Sarmatian burial sites, where some women were interred with weapons, armour and riding equipment. The evidence suggests that Greek ideas about Amazons were not simple inventions, even though myth transformed complex societies into a powerful cultural symbol.
Travelling from the Black Sea region across Central Asia towards China, Man considers how horse culture, mobility and warfare created opportunities for women that differed from those in many settled states. He also traces the survival and reinvention of the Amazon image in art, literature and modern culture, separating what can be established historically from what later generations wanted warrior women to represent.
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