The Amazons of Greek Mythology

Description

They swept forth when most of the earth was virgin, and their war cry sounded terror in a world not yet tuned to the clap of megatons. The ancient Greeks portrayed them as young and beautiful maidens, vehemently unfeminine but rarely unwomanly. All the generations born since they vanished have been touched by the wonder of them. Some sources have provided tiny bits of information, others great chunks, but none has put forward the thing most devoutly wished: incontrovertible proof that the Amazons existed. The Amazons of Greek Mythology is intended neither to expose the warrior-women as imagination nor to proclaim their reality. It is an unbiased handbook in which the curious my find collected all the essential data currently known on the subject. This present work is divided into two parts. In the first, "The Chronicles," the author has gathered all the bits and pieces--from tremendous war campaigns to funeral mounds--and fitted them together to form a narrative history that has dramatic, rational, and valid sequence. It is here he discusses the Amazons of Libya (who took husbands and lived in heterosexual communities) and the Amazons of Asia Miner (who denied men outside the spring mating period). The influences of Bellerophon (on of the greatest monster slayers), Heracles the warrior, Queen Penthesilea, King Theseus, and the Scythians are brought to light. In the second part of this volume, "The Commentary," Mr. Sobol introduces generalizations and opinion that are held by historians and scholars about the warrior-maids. In the chapter on the Amazons and Greek historians, he examines the widely different conclusions on the Amazonian phenomenon. A section on Literature and Art tells how the Amazons have greatly inspired writers, painters, sculptors, and architects through the centuries. Finally, Mr. Sobol poses the question, "Did the Amazons ever exist?" and analyzes modern theories propounded to explain the Amazons' entrance into the timeless world of Greek mythology. An immensely engaging, meticulously researched study, The Amazons of Greek Mythology will appeal to scholars, mythologists, Feminists, and anyone facinated by one of mankind's most tantalizing puzzles.