26 Facts About Amazons

1.

In Greek mythology, the Amazons are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, the Argonautica and the Iliad.

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2.

Courageous and fiercely independent, the Amazons, commanded by their queen, regularly undertook extensive military expeditions into the far corners of the world, from Scythia to Thrace, Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands, reaching as far as Arabia and Egypt.

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3.

Besides military raids, the Amazons are associated with the foundation of temples and the establishment of numerous ancient cities like Ephesos, Cyme, Smyrna, Sinope, Myrina, Magnesia, Pygela, etc.

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4.

Amazons suspected that the Amazons were probably men who were mistaken for women by their enemies because they wore clothing that reached their feet, tied up their hair in headbands, and shaved their beards.

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5.

Amazons are called Antianeirai 'equivalent to men' and Aeschylus used Styganor 'those who loathe all men'.

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6.

Amazons was convinced, that the Amazons lived not at its fringes, but somewhere in or around Lycia in Asia Minor - a place well within the Greek world.

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7.

Strabo added that other authors, among them Metrodorus of Scepsis and Hypsicrates claim that after abandoning Themiscyra, the Amazons had chosen to resettle beyond the borders of the Gargareans, an all-male tribe native to the northern foothills of the Caucasian Mountains.

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8.

In revenge, the Amazons invaded Greece, plundered some cities along the coast of Attica, and besieged and occupied Athens.

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9.

Hippolyte, who fought on the side of Athens and according to another account with the Amazons was killed during the final battle along with all of the Amazons.

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10.

The Amazons fled to Samos and Dionysus pursued them and killed a great number of them at a site since called Panaema .

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11.

Polyaenus writes that after Dionysus has subdued the Indians, he allies with them and the Amazons and takes them into his service, who serve him in his campaign against the Bactrians.

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12.

Amazons are mentioned by biographers of Alexander the Great, who report of Queen Thalestris bearing him a child .

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13.

Amazons noted a moment when Alexander's naval commander Onesicritus read an Amazon myth passage of his Alexander History to King Lysimachus of Thrace who had taken part in the original expedition.

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14.

The Amazons are said to have undertaken an expedition against the Island of Leuke, at the mouth of the Danube, where the ashes of Achilles were deposited by Thetis.

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15.

Sources provide names of individual Amazons, that are referred to as queens of their people, even as the head of a dynasty.

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16.

Diodorus Siculus lists twelve Amazons who challenged and died fighting Heracles during his quest for Hippolyta's girdle: Aella, Philippis, Prothoe, Eriboea, Celaeno, Eurybia, Phoebe, Deianeira, Asteria, Marpe, Tecmessa, Alcippe.

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17.

Myrina named three more cities after the Amazons who held the most important commands under her, Cyme, Pitane, and Priene.

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18.

Amazons's shared power with her sister Antiope, but she was engaged in war abroad when Heracles attacked.

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19.

Amazons's's known for building a temple to Artemis at Ephesus.

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20.

Stephanus of Byzantium provides numerous alternative lists of the Amazons, including for those who died in combat against Hercules, describing them as the most prominent of their people.

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21.

Several of Stephanus' Amazons served as eponyms for cities in Asia Minor, like Cyme and Smyrna or Amastris, who was believed to lend her name to the city previously known as Kromna, although in fact it was named after the historical Amastris.

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22.

Amazons continued to be subject of scholarly debate during the European Renaissance, and with the onset of the Age of Exploration, encounters were reported from ever more distant lands.

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23.

The metaphysical characteristics of Amazons were seen as personifications of both nature and religion.

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24.

Speculation that the idea of Amazons contains a core of reality is based on archaeological discoveries at kurgan burial sites in the steppes of southern Ukraine and Russia.

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25.

From 1936 to 1939, annual propaganda events, called Night of the Amazons were performed in Nazi Germany at the Nymphenburg Palace Park in Munich.

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26.

Amazons are featured in the following roleplay - and video games: Diablo, Heroes Unlimited, Aliens Unlimited, Amazon: Guardians of Eden, Flight of the Amazon Queen, A Total War Saga: Troy, Rome: Total War, Final Fantasy IV, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Legend of Zelda series and Yu-Gi-Oh games.

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