Amazons and Anatolia

Speculation about if there were real warrior women in the ancient world who inspired the Amazons of Greek mythology (even if the Greeks massively exaggerated how literally Matriarchal they were) usually focuses on the Scythians and Sarmatians.  But I have some issues with that.

The idea of connecting the Amazons to the Scythians and Sarmatians began in antiquity with Herodotus, but to him it was that the Sarmatians came from Amazons and Scythians mating together, so they were connected but still distinct.  Later classical sources would start swapping the order and having the Amazons begin north of the Black Sea and travel south like the Scythians themselves did.  I similarly think Diodorus Siculus’s Libyan Amazons narrative is based on late speculations, but once his Myrina narrative reaches Anatolia it could reflect actual ancient traditions.

The myths and stories about the Amazons that are definitely older than Herodotus even if they weren’t written down till later geographically associate the Amazons with western Anatolia aka Asia Minor.  

In the Iliad Bellerphon’s encounter with them places them either in or near Lycia, where they are also associated with the Solymi named for Mount Solymus near the border of Lycia and Pamphylia.

Other stories say the Amazons founded the city of Ephesus and other cities of Greek Asia Minor like Myrina, Smyrna, Cyrne, Magnesia, Pygela, as well as on Islands like Lesbos and Lemnos.  Queen Hypsipyle who Jason encountered on Lemnos I think was originally part of the Amazon tradition but was separated from it later.  On Lesbos Mytilene was named after the sister of Myrina.

Gargareans is the name of a Male Tribe the Amazons are said to have gotten their husbands for breeding from.  Strabo based on the post Herodotus Scythian fixation tried to place them near the Caucasus, but there is a mountain called Gargara on the North-Western Aegean Coast of Asia Minor just a little south of the site presumed to be Troy.

Speaking of Troy the Amazons are presented as a Trojan ally.  All of the other Trajan allies like the Mysians and Dardanians came from very near Troy, lake Ascania in western Bithynia seems to have been the eastern extent of Troy’s sphere of influence.  Later traditions do add a Memnon of Ethiopia but there is no hint of him in Homer.

The overlap between locations definitely associated with the Amazons already before Herodotus and places that were associated with the Scythians are just Themyscira on the Thermodon River and Sinope in Pontus, but that’s a region the Scythians held hegemony over only for a brief time in the 7th century BC.  The core of what was meant by Scythia to the ancients was north of the Caucasus. And likewise for the Amazons Themyscira seems to be a place some of them migrated to later.

The evidence that Scythians and more so Sarmatians had occasional female warriors is legit, but it was still uncommon enough that they were never included in actual Scythian artistic depictions of warfare.

The association of the Amazons with Horses is another reason the Scythian connection is attractive to people.  That’s what the Hippo and -ippe in many Amazon names mean.  But there were Domesticated Horses in Asia Minor by 1600 BC and it in fact seems to be from there they came to Greece.

So IF there was a real tribe that inspired the Amazons however loosely it could be one of the Arzawa peoples known from Hittite Inscriptions.  Apasa/Abasa is what the Hitties called Ephesus while Lazba is what they called Lesbos, and there was also near them the Seha River Land and Mira.

Ethno-Linguistically I think the Amazons were in fact Hellenes with different Gender norms, since they are the alleged founders of so many Greek cities, in fact even Themyscira was a Greek City in Antiquity.  

Usually people seek to explain all the notable Amazons having Greek names by the Greek myth tellers translating the meanings of their names.  But when Greek myths depict the Levant or Mesopotamia they are fully willing to transliterate foreign names.  Artistic depictions of the Amazons also show them in Greek style military garb.  And again they founded cities that archaeologically seem to have always been Greek.

As far as the etymology of the word Amazon itself goes, I still don’t believe in the “Breastless” or “One Breast” folk etymology.  A more likely Greek etymology would be *n̥-mn̥gʷ-yō-nós 'manless, without husbands'. 

So this post is a reversal of prior sentiments I’ve expressed on this Blog.  When I’d said one of the things DC Comics Wonder Woman lore gets wrong about Greek Mythology how is presents the Amazons as essentially being Greeks.  But I now think that was correct actually, other things DC still gets wrong (or changes intentionally, however you want to look at it), but on this issue they are more correct then the Xena Warrior Princess Amazons.