There may be some truth to the existence of Amazons like Wonder Woman after all
Fierce female warriors of the steppe were thought to be myths, or a figment of ancient imaginations. New discoveries might show they were all too real
For a long time, modern scholars believed that the Amazons were little more than a figment of ancient imaginations.
These were the fierce warrior women of Ancient Greek lore who supposedly sparred with Hercules, lived in lesbian matriarchies, and hacked off their breasts so they could fire their arrows better. Homer immortalised them in The Iliad. Eons later, they played a central role in the Wonder Woman comics.
Some historians argued they were probably a propaganda tool created to keep Athenian women in line. Another theory suggested that they may have been beardless men mistaken for women by the Greeks.
But a growing body of archaeological evidence shows that legends about the horseback-riding, bow-wielding female fighters were almost certainly rooted in reality. Myths about the Amazons’ homosexuality and self-mutilation are still dubious at best, but new research appears to confirm that there really were groups of nomadic women who trained, hunted and battled alongside their male counterparts in the Eurasian steppe.
In a landmark discovery revealed last month, archaeologists unearthed the remains of four female warriors buried with a cache of arrowheads, spears and horse riding equipment in a tomb in Western Russia – right where Ancient Greek stories placed the Amazons.
The discovery represents some of the most detailed evidence to date that female warriors weren’t just the stuff of ancient fiction, according to Adrienne Mayor, author of The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World.
