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Greek City of Cyme in Asia Minor
Bronze 15mm (3.03 grams) Struck 300-200 B.C.
Reference: Sear 4189 var.; B.M.C. 17.109,56 var.
Head of the Amazon Kyme right.
Forepart of prancing horse right; KY and one handled vase behind; legend below.
By far the most important of the Aiolian coastal cities, Kyme was situated
southwest of Myrina. For much of its history it was dominated by great powers –
Persia, Athens, the Hellenistic Kingdoms and, finally, Rome.
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The Amazons (Greek:
Ἀμαζόνες, Amazónes, singular
Ἀμαζών, Amazōn) are a nation of
all-female warriors in
Greek mythology
and
Classical antiquity
.
Herodotus
placed them in a region bordering
Scythia
in
Sarmatia
(modern territory of
Ukraine
). Other historiographers place them in
Asia Minor
, or
Libya
.
Notable queens of the Amazons are
Penthesilea
, who participated in the
Trojan War
, and her sister
Hippolyta
, whose magical girdle, given to her
by her father Ares
, was the object of one of the
labours of Hercules
. Amazonian raiders were
often depicted in battle with Greek warriors in
amazonomachies
in classical art.
The Amazons have become associated with various historical peoples throughout
the
Roman Empire period
and
Late Antiquity
. In
Roman historiography
, there are various
accounts of Amazon raids in Asia Minor. From the Early Modern period, their name
has become a term for
woman warriors
in general.
Etymology
The origin of the word is uncertain. It may be derived from an
Iranian
ethnonym
*ha-mazan-, “warriors”, a word
attested as a denominal verb (formed with the
Indo-Iranian
root kar- “make” also in
kar-ma
) in
Hesychius of Alexandria
‘s gloss
ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι (“hamazakaran:
‘to make war’ (Persian)”).[3]
Alternatively, a Greek derivation from
*ṇ-mṇ-gw-jon-es “manless, without husbands” (
privativea- and a derivation of
*man-
also found in Slavic muzh) has
been proposed, an explanation deemed “unlikely” by
Hjalmar Frisk
.[4]
19th century scholarship also connected the term to the ethnonym
Amazigh
.[5]
A further explanation proposes Iranian *ama-janah “virility-killing” as
source.[6]
Among Classical Greeks, amazon was given a
popular etymology
as from a-mazos,
“without breast
“, connected with an
etiological
tradition that Amazons had their
right breast cut off
or
burnt out
, so they would be able to use a bow
more freely and throw spears without the physical limitation and obstruction;[7]
there is no indication of such a practice in works of art, in which the Amazons
are always represented with both breasts, although the right is frequently
covered.
Origins
Illustration depicting defeated Greeks being cruelly executed by
Amazons.
Amazon wearing trousers and carrying a shield with an attached
patterned cloth and a quiver.
Ancient Greek
Attic white-ground
alabastron
, ca. 470 BC,
British Museum
, London
Amazons were said to have lived in
Pontus
, which is part of modern day
Turkey
near the shore of the
Euxine Sea
(the
Black Sea
). There they formed an independent
kingdom under the government of a queen named
Hippolyta
or Hippolyte (“loose, unbridled
mare”).[8]
The Amazons were supposed to have founded many towns, amongst them
Smyrna
,
Ephesus
,
Sinope
, and
Paphos
. According to the dramatist
Aeschylus
, in the distant past they had lived
in Scythia
(modern
Crimea
), at the Palus Maeotis (“Lake
Maeotis”, the
Sea of Azov
), but later moved to
Themiscyra
on the River
Thermodon
(the Terme river in northern Turkey).
Herodotus
called them Androktones
(“killers of men”), and he stated that in the Scythian language they were called
Oiorpata, which he asserted had this meaning.
The myth
In some versions of the myth, no men were permitted to have sexual encounters
or reside in Amazon country; but once a year, in order to prevent their race
from dying out, they visited the
Gargareans
, a neighbouring tribe. The male
children who were the result of these visits were either killed, sent back to
their fathers or
exposed in the wilderness
to fend for
themselves; the females were kept and brought up by their mothers, and trained
in agricultural pursuits, hunting, and the art of war. In other versions when
the Amazons went to war they would not kill all the men. Some they would take as
slaves, and once or twice a year they would have sex with their slaves.[9]
The intermarriage of Amazons and men from other tribes was also used to
explain the origin of various peoples. For example, the story of the Amazons
settling with the Scythians (Herodotus Histories 4.110.1-117.1, see
Wikisource
).
In the Iliad
, the Amazons were referred to as
Antianeirai (“those who fight like men”).
The Amazons appear in
Greek art
of the
Archaic period
and in connection with several
Greek legends. They invaded
Lycia
, but were defeated by
Bellerophon
, who was sent against them by
Iobates
, the king of that country, in the hope
that he might meet his death at their hands.[10][11]
The tomb of
Myrine
is mentioned in the Iliad; later
interpretation made of her an Amazon: according to
Diodorus
,[12]
Queen Myrine led her Amazons to victory against
Libya
and much of
Gorgon
.
They attacked the
Phrygians
, who were assisted by
Priam
, then a young man.[13]
Although in his later years, towards the end of the
Trojan War
, his old opponents took his side
again against the Greeks under their queen
Penthesilea
“of
Thracian
birth”, who was slain by
Achilles
.[14][15][16][17][18][19]
One of the tasks imposed upon
Heracles
by
Eurystheus
was to obtain possession of the
girdle
of the Amazonian queen
Hippolyta
.[20][21][22][23]
He was accompanied by his friend
Theseus
, who carried off the princess
Antiope
, sister of Hippolyta, an incident which
led to a retaliatory invasion of
Attica
,[24][25]
in which Antiope perished fighting by the side of Theseus. In some versions,
however, Theseus marries Hippolyta and in others, he marries Antiope and she
does not die; by this marriage with the Amazon Theseus had a son
Hippolytus
. The battle between the Athenians
and Amazons is often commemorated in an entire genre of art,
amazonomachy
, in marble
bas-reliefs
such as from the
Parthenon
or the sculptures of the
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus
.
The Amazons are also said to have undertaken an expedition against the
island of Leuke
, at the mouth of the
Danube
, where the ashes of Achilles had been
deposited by Thetis
. The ghost of the dead hero appeared and
so terrified the horses, that they threw and trampled upon the invaders, who
were forced to retire.
Pompey
is said to have found them in the army
of
Mithridates
.
They are heard of in the time of Alexander, when some of the king’s
biographers make mention of Amazon Queen
Thalestris
visiting him and becoming a mother
by him (the story is known from the
Alexander Romance
). However, several other
biographers of Alexander dispute the claim, including the highly regarded
secondary source
,
Plutarch
. In his writing he makes mention of a
moment when Alexander’s secondary naval commander,
Onesicritus
, was reading the Amazon passage of
his Alexander history to King
Lysimachus
of
Thrace
who was on the original expedition: the
king smiled at him and said “And where was I, then?”
The Roman writer Virgil
‘s characterization of the
Volscian
warrior maiden
Camilla
in the
Aeneid
borrows heavily from the myth of the
Amazons.
Jordanes
‘
Getica
(c. 560), purporting to give the
earliest history of the
Goths
, relates that the Goths’ ancestors,
descendants of
Magog
, originally dwelt within Scythia, on the
Sea of Azov
between the
Dnieper
and
Don Rivers
. After a few centuries, following an
incident where the Goths’ women successfully fended off a raid by a neighboring
tribe, while the menfolk were off campaigning against Pharaoh
Vesosis
, the women formed their own army under
Marpesia
and crossed the Don, invading Asia.
Her sister Lampedo
remained in Europe to guard the
homeland. They procreated with men once a year. These Amazons conquered Armenia,
Syria, and all of Asia Minor, even reaching
Ionia
and
Aeolia
, holding this vast territory for 100
years. Jordanes also mentions that they fought with Hercules, and in the Trojan
War, and that a smaller contingent of them endured in the Caucasus Mountains
until the time of Alexander. He mentions by name the Queens Menalippe, Hippolyta,
and Penthesilea.
Lists
There are several (conflicting) lists of names of Amazons.
Quintus Smyrnaeus
[26]
lists the attendant warriors of
Penthesilea: “Clonie was there, Polemusa, Derinoe, Evandre, and
Antandre
, and
Bremusa
,
Hippothoe
, dark-eyed Harmothoe,
Alcibie
, Derimacheia, Antibrote, and Thermodosa
glorying with the spear.”
Diodorus Siculus
[27]
enlists nine Amazons who challenged
Heracles to single combat during his quest for Hippolyta’s girdle and died
against him one by one:
Aella
, Philippis, Prothoe, Eriboea,
Celaeno
, Eurybia,
Phoebe
, Deianeira,
Asteria
, Marpe, Tecmessa, Alcippe. After
Alcippe’s death, a group attack followed.
Another list of Amazons’ names is found in
Hyginus
‘ Fabulae.[28]
Along with Hippolyta
,
Otrera
,
Antiope
and
Penthesilea
, it attests the following names:
Ocyale, Dioxippe, Iphinome, Xanthe,
Hippothoe
, Laomache,
Glauce
,
Agave
, Theseis, Clymene, Polydora.
Yet another different set of names is found in
Valerius Flaccus
‘ Argonautica[29]:
he mentions Euryale, Harpe, Lyce, Menippe and Thoe. Of these Lyce also appears
in a fragment preserved in the
Latin Anthology
where she is said to have
killed the hero Clonus of
Moesia
, son of Doryclus, with her javelin.[30]
John Tzetzes
in Posthomerica[31]
enumerates the Amazons that fell at
Troy: Hippothoe, Antianeira, Toxophone, Toxoanassa, Gortyessa, Iodoce,
Pharetre, Andro, Ioxeia, Oïstrophe, Androdaïxa, Aspidocharme, Enchesimargos,
Cnemis, Thorece, Chalcaor, Eurylophe, Hecate, Anchimache, Andromache the queen.
Concerning Antianeira and Andromache, see below; for almost all the other names
on the list, this is a unique attestation.
Stephanus of Byzantium
provides an alternate
list of the Amazons that fell against Heracles, describing them as “the most
prominent” of their people: Tralla, Isocrateia, Thiba, Palla, Coea (Koia),
Coenia (Koinia).[32]
Eustathius
gives the same list minus the last
two names.[33]
Both Stephanus and Eustathius write of these Amazons in connection with the
placename Thibais, which they report to have been derived from Thiba’s name.
Other names of Amazons from various sources include:
- Aegea
, queen of the Amazons who was thought
by some to have been the
eponym
of the
Aegean Sea
.[34]
- Ainia, enemy of
Achilles
and an Amazon, one of the twelve
who accompanied
Penthesilea
to the
Trojan War
. Her name means “swiftness.”[citation
needed]
- Ainippe, an Amazon who confronted
Telamon
in the battle against Heracles’
troops[35]
- Alce, who was said to have killed the young Oebalus of
Arcadia
, son of Ida (otherwise unknown),
with her spear during the Parthian War.[30]
- Amastris, who was believed to be the
eponym
of the city previously known as
Kromna,[36]
although the city was also thought to have been named after the historical
Amastris
[37]
- Anaea, an Amazon whose tomb was shown at the island of
Samos
[38]
- Andromache, an Amazon who fought Heracles and was defeated; only known
from vase paintings.[35][39]
Not to be confused with
Andromache
, wife of
Hector
.
- Antianeira, succeeded
Penthesilea
as Queen of the Amazons. She
was best known for ordering her male servants to be crippled “as the lame
best perform the acts of love”.[40]
- Areto
and
Iphito
, two little-known Amazons, whose
names are only attested in inscriptions on artefacts.[41]
- Clete, one of the twelve followers of Penthesilea. After Penthesilea’s
death she, in accord with the former’s will, sailed off and eventually
landed in Italy, founding the city of
Clete
.[42]
- Cyme, who gave her name to the city of
Cyme (Aeolis)
[43][44]
- Cynna (?), one of the two possible eponyms (the other one being “Cynnus,
brother of Coeus
“) of Cynna, a small town not far from
Heraclea
.[45]
- Ephesos, a Lydian
Amazon, after whom the city of
Ephesus
was thought to have been named; she
was also said to have been the first to honor
Artemis
and to have surnamed the goddess
Ephesia.[46]
Her daughter Amazo was thought of as the eponym of the Amazons[47].
-
Eurypyle
, queen of the Amazons who was
reported to have led an expedition against
Ninus
and
Babylon
around 1760 BC[48][49][50]
- Gryne, an Amazon who was thought to be the
eponym
of the Gryneian grove in
Asia Minor
. She was loved by
Apollo
and consorted with him in said
grove.[51][52]
- Helene, daughter of Tityrus. She fought
Achilles
and died after he seriously
wounded her.[53]
- Hippo, an Amazon who took part in the introduction of religious rites in
honor of the goddess
Artemis
. She was punished by the goddess
for not having performed a ritual dance.[54]
- Lampedo
, queen of the Amazons, co-ruler
with Marpesia[55][56]
- Latoreia, who had a small village near Ephesus named after her.[57]
- Lysippe
, mother of Tanais by Berossos. Her
son only venerated Ares
and was fully devoted to war,
neglecting love and marriage.
Aphrodite
cursed him with falling in love
with his own mother. Preferring to die rather than give up his chastity, he
threw himself into the river Amazonius, which was subsequently renamed
Tanais
.[58]
- Marpesia
, queen of the Amazons, co-ruler
with Lampedo[55][56]
- Melanippe
, sister of Hippolyta. Heracles
captured her and demanded Hippolyta’s girdle in exchange for her freedom.
Hippolyta complied and Heracles let her go. According to some,[59]
however, she was killed by
Telamon
.
- Molpadia
, an Amazon who killed
Antiope
.[60]
- Myrleia, possible eponym of a city in
Bithynia
, which was later known as
Apamea
.[61]
- Myrto, in one source, mother of
Myrtilus
by
Hermes
[62]
(elsewhere his mother is called
Theobule
).[63]
- Mytilene, Myrina’s sister and one of the possible eponyms for the city
of Mytilene
[44]
-
Orithyia
, daughter and successor of
Marpesia, famous for her conquests[55][56]
- Otrera
, consort of
Ares
and mother of Hippolyta and
Penthesilea.
- Pantariste
, who killed Timiades in the
battle between the Amazons and Heracles’ troops.[35]
- Pitane and Priene, two commanders in Myrina’s army, after whom the
cities of
Pitane (Aeolis)
and
Priene
were named.[44]
- Sinope, successor of Lampedo and Marpesia.[56]
- Sisyrbe, after whom a part of Ephesus was called Sisyrba, and its
inhabitants the Sisyrbitae.[64][65]
- Smyrna, who obtained possession of
Ephesus
and gave her name to a quarter in
this city, as well as to the city of
Smyrna
[66][67][68]
Hero cults
According to ancient sources, (Plutarch
Theseus
,[69]
Pausanias
), Amazon tombs could be found
frequently throughout what was once known as the ancient Greek world. Some are
found in Megara
,
Athens
,
Chaeronea
,
Chalcis
,
Thessaly
at
Skotousa
, in
Cynoscephalae
and statues of Amazons are all
over Greece. At both
Chalcis
and
Athens
Plutarch
tells us that there was an Amazoneum
or shrine of Amazons that implied the presence of both tombs and cult. On the
day before the Thesea at Athens there were annual sacrifices to the Amazons. In
historical times Greek maidens of
Ephesus
performed an annual circular dance with
weapons and shields that had been established by
Hippolyta
and her Amazons. They had initially
set up wooden statues of
Artemis
, a bretas, (Pausanias,
(fl.c.160):
Description of Greece, Book I: Attica).[70]
Two
female gladiators
with their names
Amazonia and
Achillea
In art
In works of art, battles between Amazons and Greeks are placed on the same
level as and often associated with battles of Greeks and
centaurs
. The belief in their existence,
however, having been once accepted and introduced into the national poetry and
art, it became necessary to surround them as far as possible with the appearance
of natural beings. Their occupation was hunting and war; their arms the bow,
spear, axe, a half shield, nearly in the shape of a crescent, called pelta,
and in early art a helmet, the model before the Greek mind having apparently
been the goddess Athena. In later art they approach the model of Artemis,
wearing a thin dress, girt high for speed; while on the later painted vases
their dress is often peculiarly
Persian – that is, close-fitting trousers and a high cap called the
kidaris. They were usually on horseback but sometimes on foot. They can also be
identified in vase paintings by the fact that they are wearing one earring. The
battle between Theseus and the Amazons (Amazonomachy)
is a favourite subject on the friezes of temples (e.g. the reliefs from the
frieze of the temple of
Apollo
at
Bassae
, now in the
British Museum
), vases and sarcophagus reliefs;
at Athens
it was represented on the shield of the
statue of
Athena Parthenos
, on wall-paintings in the
Theseum
and in the
Stoa Poikile. There were also three
standard
Amazon statue types
.
In historiography
Herodotus
reported that the Sarmatians were
descendants of Amazons and Scythians, and that their females observed their
ancient maternal customs, “frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands;
in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men”. Moreover,
said Herodotus, “No girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle”. In the
story related by
Herodotus
, a group of Amazons was blown across
the Maeotian Lake
(the
Sea of Azov
) into
Scythia
near the cliff region (today’s
southeastern Crimea
). After learning the Scythian language,
they agreed to marry Scythian men, on the condition that they not be required to
follow the customs of Scythian women. According to Herodotus, this band moved
toward the northeast, settling beyond the
Tanais
(Don)
river, and became the ancestors of the
Sauromatians
. According to
Herodotus
, the
Sarmatians
fought with the Scythians against
Darius the Great
in the 5th century B.C.
Hippocrates describes them as: “They have no right breasts…for while they
are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for
this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its
growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right
shoulder and right arm.”
Amazons came to play a role in
Roman historiography
. Caesar reminded the
Senate of the conquest of large parts of Asia by
Semiramis
and the Amazons. Successful Amazon
raids against Lycia and Cilicia contrasted with effective resistance by Lydian
cavalry against the invaders (Strabo
5.504;
Nicholas Damascenus
).
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus
pays particularly
detailed attention to the Amazons. The story of the Amazons as deriving from a
Cappadocian colony of two Scythian princes Ylinos and Scolopetos is due to him.
Philostratus
places the Amazons in the
Taurus Mountains
.
Ammianus
places them east of
Tanais
, as neighbouring the
Alans
.
Procopius
places them in the Caucasus.
Diodorus Siculus
(Bibliotheca
historica chapter 49) derived the Amazons from
Atlantis
and located them in western
Libya
. He also relates the story of Hercules
defeating the Amazons at Themiscyre. Although Strabo shows scepticism as to
their historicity, the Amazons in general continue to be taken as historical
throughout Late Antiquity. Several Church Fathers speak of the Amazons as of a
real people.
Solinus
embraces the account of
Plinius
. Under
Aurelianus
, captured
Gothic
women were identified as Amazons (Claudianus).
The account of
Justinus
was influential, and was used as a
source by
Orosius
who continued to be read during the
European Middle Ages. Medieval authors thus continue the tradition of locating
the Amazons in the North,
Adam of Bremen
placing them at the
Baltic Sea
and
Paulus Diaconus
in the heart of Germania.[71]
Renaissance literature
Amazons continued to be discussed by authors of the European Renaissance, and
with the
Age of Exploration
, they were located in ever
more remote areas. In 1542,
Francisco de Orellana
reached the
Amazon River
(Amazonas in Spanish),
naming it after a tribe of warlike women he claimed having encountered and
fought there.[72]
Afterwards the whole basin and region of the Amazon (Amazonía in Spanish)
were named after the river. Amazons also figure in the accounts of both
Christopher Columbus
and
Walter Raleigh
.[73]
Famous medieval traveller
John Mandeville
mentions them in his book:
- “Beside the land of Chaldea is the land of Amazonia, that is the land of
Feminye. And in that real is all woman and no man; not as some may say, that
men may not live there, but for because that the women will not suffer no
men amongst them to be their sovereigns.”
[74]
Medieval and Renaissance authors credit the Amazons with the invention of the
battle-axe
. This is probably related to the
Sagaris
, an axe-like weapon associated with
both Amazons and Scythian tribes by Greek authors (see also
Thracian tomb of Aleksandrovo kurgan
).
Paulus Hector Mair
expresses astonishment that
such a “manly weapon” should have been invented by a “tribe of women”, but he
accepts the attribution out of respect for his authority,
Johannes Aventinus
.
Ariosto
‘s
Orlando Furioso
contains a country of
warrior women, ruled by Queen Orontea; the epic describes an origin much like
that in Greek myth, in that the women, abandoned by a band of warriors and
unfaithful lovers, rallied together to form a nation from which men were
severely reduced, to prevent them from regaining power.They and Queen Hippolyta
were also referenced in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in The Knight’s
Tale.
Historical background
Classicist
Peter Walcot wrote, “Wherever the
Amazons are located by the Greeks, whether it is somewhere along the Black Sea
in the distant north-east, or in Libya in the furthest south, it is always
beyond the confines of
the civilized world
. The Amazons exist outside
the range of normal human experience.”[75]
Nevertheless, there are various proposals for a historical nucleus of the
Amazons of Greek historiography, the most obvious candidates being historical
Scythia
and
Sarmatia
in line with the account by
Herodotus
, but some authors prefer a comparison
to cultures of Asia Minor or even
Minoan Crete
.
Archaeology
Scythians and
Sarmatians
Speculation that the idea of Amazons contains a core of reality is based on
archaeological findings from burials, pointing to the possibility that some
Sarmatian women may have participated in battle. These findings have led
scholars to suggest that the Amazonian legend in
Greek mythology
may have been “inspired by real
warrior women”,[76]
though this remains a minority opinion among classical historians
Evidence of high-ranking warrior women comes from
kurgans
in southern Ukraine and Russia. David
Anthony notes, “About 20% of
Scythian
–Sarmatian
“warrior graves” on the lower
Don
and lower
Volga
contained females dressed for battle as
if they were men, a phenomenon that probably inspired the Greek tales about the
Amazons.”[77]
Mounted Amazon in
Scythian
costume, on an
Attic
red-figure vase, ca 420 BCE
Up to 25% of military burials were of armed Sarmatian women usually including
bows.[78]
Russian archaeologist
Vera Kovalevskaya
points out that when Scythian
men were away fighting or hunting, nomadic women would have to be able to defend
themselves, their animals and pasture-grounds competently. During the time that
the Scythians advanced into Asia and achieved near-hegemony
in the Near-East, there was a period of twenty-eight years when the men would
have been away on campaigns for long periods. During this time the women would
not only have had to defend themselves, but to reproduce and this could well be
the origin of the idea that Amazons mated once a year with their neighbours, if
Herodotus actually intended to base this on a factual base.[78]
Before modern archaeology uncovered some of the Scythian burials of
warrior-maidens entombed under
kurgans
in the region of
Altai Mountains
and Sarmatia,[79]
[80]
giving concrete form at last to the
Greek tales of mounted Amazons, the origin of the story of the Amazons has been
the subject of speculation among classics scholars. In the
Encyclopædia
Britannica1911
speculation ranged along the following lines:
- “While some regard the Amazons as a purely mythical people, others
assume an historical foundation for them. The deities worshipped by them
were Ares
(who is consistently assigned to them
as a god of war, and as a god of
Thracian
and generally northern origin) and
Artemis
, not the usual Greek goddess of
that name, but an Asiatic deity in some respects her equivalent. It is
conjectured that the Amazons were originally the temple-servants and
priestesses (hierodulae) of this goddess; and that the removal of the
breast corresponded with the self-mutilation of the god
Attis
and the
galli
, Roman priests of
Rhea Cybele
. Another theory is that, as the
knowledge of geography extended, travellers brought back reports of tribes
ruled entirely by women, who carried out the duties which elsewhere were
regarded as peculiar to man, in whom alone the rights of nobility and
inheritance were vested, and who had the supreme control of affairs. Hence
arose the belief in the Amazons as a nation of female warriors, organized
and governed entirely by women. According to J. Viirtheim (De Ajacis
origine, 1907), the Amazons were of Greek origin […] It has been suggested
that the fact of the conquest of the Amazons being assigned to the two
famous heroes of Greek mythology, Heracles and Theseus […] shows that they
were mythical illustrations of the dangers which beset the Greeks on the
coasts of Asia Minor; rather perhaps, it may be intended to represent the
conflict between the Greek culture of the colonies on the
Euxine
and the barbarism of the native
inhabitants.”
Minoan Crete
When Minoan archeology was still in its infancy, nevertheless, a theory
raised in an essay regarding the Amazons contributed by
Lewis Richard Farnell
and
John Myres
to
Robert Ranulph Marett
‘s Anthropology and the
Classics (1908),[81]
placed their possible origins in
Minoan civilization
, drawing attention to
overlooked similarities between the two cultures. According to Myres, (pp. 153
ff), the tradition interpreted in the light of evidence furnished by supposed
Amazon cults seems to have been very similar and may have even originated in
Minoan
culture.
Cyme (or Kymi, also: Phriconis, modern
Namurt) was an
ancient Greek
city in
Aeolis
(Asia
Minor) close to the kingdom of
Lydia
. The
Aeolians
regarded Cyme as the largest and most important of their twelve cities, which
were located on the coastline of
Asia Minor
(modern day
Turkey
). As a
result of their direct access to the sea, unlike most non-landlocked settlements
of the ancient world, trade is believed to have prospered. In his Histories,
Herodotus
makes reference to Cyme (or Phriconis) as being one of the cities in which the
rebel Lydian governor Pactyes sought refuge, following his attempted rebellion
against the Persian King
Cyrus the Great
:
Pactyes, when he learnt that an army was already on his tracks and near,
took fright and fled to Cyme, and
Mazares
the Mede marched to
Sardis
with
a detachment of Cyrus’ troops. Finding Pactyes and his supporters and his
supporters gone, the first thing he did was to compel the Lydians to carry
out Cyrus’ orders — as a result of which they altered from that moment their
whole way of life; he then sent a demand to Cyme that Pactyes should be
surrendered, and the men of the town decided to consult the oracle at
Branchidae
as to whether they should obey…The messengers returned home
to report, and the citizens of Cyme were prepared in consequence to give up
the wanted man.
//
Location
Both the author of the ‘life of
Homer
‘ and
Strabo
the
ancient geographer, locate Cyme north of the Hermus river on the Asia Minor
coastline, modern day Namurt Limani
Map of Aegean c.200 BC showing the location of Kyme.
After crossing the
Hyllus
, the
distance from Larissa to Cyme was 70 stadia, and from Cyme to Myrina was 40
stadia. (Strabo: 622)
Archaeological finds such as coins give reference also to a river, believed
to be that of the Hyllus
.
Early
history
Little is known about the foundation of the city to supplement the
traditional founding legend. Settlers from mainland Greece (most likely
Euboea
)
migrated across the
Aegean Sea
during the Late Bronze Age as waves of Dorian-speaking invaders brought an end
to the once mighty
Mycenaean
civilisation some time around 1050 BC. During the Late Bronze Age
and early Greek Dark Ages the dialect of Cyme and the surrounding region of
Aeolis, like that of neighboring island Lesbos closely resembled the local
dialect of Thessalia and Boetia.
Culturally however the citizens of Cyme considered themselves of Ionian
descent. An
Ionic dialect
is believed to have been the local language and would have
given rise to the famous
Cumae alphabet
that is believed to have originated in or near Cyme.
Archaeologists believe Kyme was already inhabited by
Pelasgians
prior to the Euboean arrival:
Around 950 every tribe had settled down in its own territory. They
co-existed beside each other, but never formed a nation… they even almost
never felt as one nation. There would always be a strong contrast between
the different groups, especially between the
Ionians
and the Dorians. The
Ionians
arrived in Hellas around 1600 and mixed with the original inhabitants while
the Dorians
arrived 500 years later and enslaved them, without learning anything from
their culture. The
Dorians
valued their system of tribes and remained isolated as Sparta would show
later on, while the
Ionians
valued art, science and individualism which were the cornerstones of
Athens
.
The colony was founded during the Greek Dark Ages by settlers from Locris in
central Greece who began by reducing the Pelasgian citadel of Larisa near the
river Hermus
Cyme developed into a regional metropolis to some thirty other towns and
settlements in Aeolis. The Cymeans were later ridiculed as a people who had for
three hundred years lived on the coast and not once exacted harbor taxes on
ships making port. Hesiod’s father is said to have started his journey across
the Aegean from Cyme. The cities of southern Aeolis in the region surrounding
Cyme occupied a good belt of land with rough mountains in the background yet
Cyme like other colonies along the coast did not trade with the native
Anatolians further inland who had occupied Asia Minor for thousands of years.
Cyme consequently played no significant role in the history of western Asia
Minor prompting the historian Ephorus, himself a native of the city, to comment
repeatedly in his narrative of Greek history that while the events he wrote
about were taking place his fellow Cymeans had for centuries sat idly by and
kept the peace.
Politically, Cyme is assumed to have started as a settler democracy following
in the tradition of other established colonies in the region although Aristotle
concluded that by the 7th and 6th centuries BC the once great democracies in the
Greek world (including Cyme) evolved not from democracies to oligarchies as was
the natural custom but from democracies to tyrannies.
Cyme was an important settlement long before the prominent events of the
Greco-Persian wars. Evidence has pointed to Cyme establishing itself not as a
democracy but rather a monarchy under King Agamemnon of Cyme who supposedly
married his daughter to King Midas of Lydia
5th
Century BC
By the 5th century BC, Cyme was one of the 12 established Ionian colonies in
Aeolis.
Herodotus (4.138) mentions that one of the esteemed voters deciding whether or
not to support Militiades the Athenian in his plan to liberate the Ionian Coast
from Persian rule in (year BC) was Aristagoras of Cyme. Aristagorus campaigned
on the side of Histiaeus the Milesian with the tyrants Strattis of Chios, Aeaces
of Samos and Laodamas of Phocaea in opposing such an initiative arguing instead
that each tyrant along the Ionian Coast owed their position to Darius King of
Persia and that liberating their own cities would encourage democracy over
tyranny. Cyme eventually came under the control of the
Persian Empire
following the collapse of the
Lydian Kingdom
at the hands of Cyrus the Great.
Herodotus
is the principal source for this period in Greek history and has paid a great
deal of attention to events taking place in Ionia and Aeolis.
When Pactyes, the Lydian general sought refuge in Cyme from the
Persians
the citizens were between a rock and a hard place. As
Herodotus
records, they consulted the Greek god
Apollo
(supporting the claim that they were of Ionic not eastern culture), who said
after much confusion through an oracle that he should be handed over. However a
native of Cyme questioned Apollo’s word and went back to the oracle himself to
confirm if indeed Apollo
wanted the Cymians to surrender Pactyes. Not wanting to come to grief
over the surrender of Pactyes, nor wanting the ill-effects of a Persian siege
(confirms Cyme was a fortified city capable of self defence) they avoided
dealing with the Persians by simply sending him off to
Mytilene
on
the island of Lesbos
, not far from their city.
After the Persian naval defeat at Salamis, Xerxes moored the surviving ships
at Cyme. Before 480 BC, Cyme had been the principle naval base for the Royal
Fleet.
Later accounts of Cyme’s involvement in the
Ionian Revolt
which triggered the Persian Wars confirm their allegiance to
the Ionian Greek cause. During this time, Herodotus states that due to the size
of the Persian army,
Darius the Great
was able to launch a devastating three-pronged attack on
the Ionian cities. The third army which he sent north to take
Sardis
was
under the command of his son-in-law
Otanes
who
promptly captured Cyme and
Clazomenae
in the process. However later accounts reveal how Sandoces, the
supposed Ionian governor of Cyme helped draft a fleet of fifteen ships for
Xerxes I
great expedition against mainland Greece c. 480 BC. Cyme is also
believed to have been the port in which the Persian survivors of the
Battle of Salamis
wintered and lends considerable weight to the argument
that Cyme was not only well served by defensive walls, but enjoyed the benefits
of a large port capable of wintering and supplying a large wartime fleet. As a
result, Cyme, like most Ionian cities at the time was a maritime power and a
valuable asset to the Persian Empire.
Once Aristagoras
of
Miletus
roused the Ionians to rebel against
Darius
, Cyme
joined the insurrection. However, the revolts at Cyme were quelled once the city
was recovered by the
Persians
.
Sandoces, the governor of Cyme at the time of
Xerxes
, commanded fifteen ships in the Persian military expedition against
Greece (480 BC). Herodotus believes that Sandoces may have been a Greek.
After the
Battle of Salamis
, the remnants of Xerxes’s fleet wintered at Cyme.
Thucydides does not provide any significant mention of place is hardly more than
mentioned in the history of
Thucydides
.
Roman
and Byzantine eras
Polybius
records that Cyme obtained freedom from taxation following the defeat of
Antiochus III
, later being incorporated into
Roman
Asia province.
During the reign of
Tiberius
,
the city is believed to have suffered from a great earthquake, common in the
Aegean.
Other Roman sources such as
Pliny the Elder
mention Cyme as one of the cities of
Aeolia
which supports
Herodotus
‘
similar claim:
The above-mentioned, then, are the twelve towns of the Ionians. The
Aeolic cities are the following:- Cyme, called also Phriconis,
Larissa
,
Neonteichus,
Temnus
, Cilla
,
Notium
, Aegiroessa,
Pitane
,
Aegaeae,
Myrina
, and Gryneia. These are the eleven ancient cities of the
Aeolians
.
Originally, indeed, they had twelve cities upon the mainland, like the
Ionians
,
but the Ionians
deprived them of
Smyrna
, one
of the number. The soil of
Aeolis
is
better than that of
Ionia
, but
the climate is less agreeable.
Archaeological coinage exists from the Roman Imperial era from
Nero to
Gallienus
.
The river god Hermos, horse with their forefoot raised and victorious athletes
are typical symbols commonly found on period coinage minted at Cyme.
Later under the leadership of the
Eastern Roman Empire
, Cyme became a
bishop
‘s see.
Archaeology
Archaeologists first started taking an interest in the site in the middle of
the 19th century as the wealthy landowner D. Baltazzi and later S. Reinach began
excavation on the southern necropolis. In 1925, A. Salaç, working out of the
Bohemian Mission, uncovered many interesting finds, including a small temple to
Isis, a Roman
porticus and what is believed to be a ‘potter’s house’. Encouraged by their
successes, Turkish archaeologist E. Akurgal
began his own project in 1955 which uncovered an Orientalising ceramic on the
southern hill. Between 1979-1984, the Izmir Museum carried out similar
excavations at various locations around the site, uncovering further
inscriptions and structures on the southern hill.
Geophysical studies at Cyme in more recent years, have given archaeologists a
much greater knowledge of the site without being as intrusive. Geomagnetic
surveys of the terrain reveal additional structures beneath the soil, as yet
untouched by excavations.
Statue of a young woman; late Hellenistic, 1st century BC, Cyme (Namurt).
The northwest side of the southern hill was utilized as a residential
neighborhood during the entire existence of the city. Only a limited area of
the hill has been investigated. It has been verified that there were at
least five successive phases of building. 1. A long and straight wall going
from north to southeast represented the most ancient building phase. In the
wall there are visible traces of a threshold linking two rooms. There is
uncertainty as to the chronology of the wall, but what is sure is that is
was built before the end of the 5th century BC. 2. Two rooms (A and B), that
were part of a building dating back to the end of the 5th century BC, belong
to the second phase. The building appears to be complete on the northern
side, but could have also had other rooms on the southern side, where the
entrance to room A opened up. The western wall of room A, was constructed
with squared limestone blocks, and also acted as a terracing wall connecting
the strong natural difference on the side of the hill. At the foot of this
wall there was a cistern excavated in the rock that gathered water coming
from the roof of the house. The cistern was filled with debris and great
amounts of black and plain pottery dating back to the late Hellenistic Age.
3. Some walls that belonged to the Imperial Roman Period were constructed by
means of white mortar and bricks. During this phase a service room east of
room A, with a floor that was made of leveled rock, was built. In the area
of the cistern, by now filled, a new room decorated by wall paintings was
also built. 4. A large house occupied the area during the Late Roman Period.
The rooms were constructed using reused materials, but without the use of
mortar, and often enriched by polychrome mosaics. Access was gained by a
ramp placed at the edge of the southwestern part of the excavation. Still,
what needs to be clarified is the extent of the building, whose destruction
is placed between the end of the 6th century to the beginning of the 7th
century AD. 5. The final phase is represented by some superficial structures
found at the northern part of the excavation. There is a long wall going
from the northwest to the southeast and a ramp built with reused blocks,
with the same orientation as the wall. The wall and the ramp could be proof
that this area was utilized during the Byzantine Age.
Trivia
Cyme was the birthplace of the historian
Ephorus
; and
Hesiod
‘s
father, according to the poet (Op. et D. 636), sailed from Cyme to settle at
Ascra in Boeotia
;
which does not prove, as such compilers as
Stephanus
and
Suidas
suppose, that
Hesiod
was a
native of Cyme.
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