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Description

Commissioned artwork and armor research-©2015Karakotsoglou publications

Amazon warrior women fueled imagination for centuries as a personification of female masculinity and aggressive pride who echoed past matriarchal societies of Bronze Age or even earlier. As a standard pattern in ancient Greek mythology (or even Byzantine tradition and legend) every great conqueror, heroic warrior or potential king had to encounter a fearsome Amazon woman in a battle or to have a -usually condemned by fate- love affair with her. In the case of Alexander the great the encounter with Amazons “materialized” in the form of Thalestris, an Amazon queen recorded in the Famous “Alexander’s romance”, who visited him in his camp during his Asian campaign escorted by 300 women warriors and according to the legend, she stayed with the Alexander in his tent for 13 days and nights (300 and 13 are typically matriarchal religion sacred numbers ) in the hope that the great warrior would father a daughter by her.

Behind the legend probably lies a true event of a potential marriage of Alexander with a Scythian princess as part of an alliance with a Scythian-Saka king (Saka tribes posed a real threat for any ruler of central Asia and provided serious trouble to the army of Alexander). Besides the diplomatic background with Scythians there is also a possibility that the Amazon queen legend is connected with female bodyguards sent to Alexander by the Persian noble Atropates. In Iranian east it was not unusual to train women as bodyguards and even some Indian rulers followed that practice. Or we may assume that Atropates hired Scythian women warriors as female mercenaries and sent them to Alexander. It is widely believed that the Scythian-Saka Iranian speaking women who fought along men in battle were the “real material” of the Amazons legend.

Whatever the truth about Thalestris, in this commissioned illustration she is depicted as a Saka warrior queen in full regalia and ceremonial horse armor including a Saka “horned” apron and fully decorated saddle. The Scythian-Saka burial sites provided us with impressive material and therefore a legendary character is appropriate to be presented in great splendor and be historical accurate in the same time.

Description

Commissioned artwork and armor research-©2015Karakotsoglou publications

Amazon warrior women fueled imagination for centuries as a personification of female masculinity and aggressive pride who echoed past matriarchal societies of Bronze Age or even earlier. As a standard pattern in ancient Greek mythology (or even Byzantine tradition and legend) every great conqueror, heroic warrior or potential king had to encounter a fearsome Amazon woman in a battle or to have a -usually condemned by fate- love affair with her. In the case of Alexander the great the encounter with Amazons “materialized” in the form of Thalestris, an Amazon queen recorded in the Famous “Alexander’s romance”, who visited him in his camp during his Asian campaign escorted by 300 women warriors and according to the legend, she stayed with the Alexander in his tent for 13 days and nights (300 and 13 are typically matriarchal religion sacred numbers ) in the hope that the great warrior would father a daughter by her.

Behind the legend probably lies a true event of a potential marriage of Alexander with a Scythian princess as part of an alliance with a Scythian-Saka king (Saka tribes posed a real threat for any ruler of central Asia and provided serious trouble to the army of Alexander). Besides the diplomatic background with Scythians there is also a possibility that the Amazon queen legend is connected with female bodyguards sent to Alexander by the Persian noble Atropates. In Iranian east it was not unusual to train women as bodyguards and even some Indian rulers followed that practice. Or we may assume that Atropates hired Scythian women warriors as female mercenaries and sent them to Alexander. It is widely believed that the Scythian-Saka Iranian speaking women who fought along men in battle were the “real material” of the Amazons legend.

Whatever the truth about Thalestris, in this commissioned illustration she is depicted as a Saka warrior queen in full regalia and ceremonial horse armor including a Saka “horned” apron and fully decorated saddle. The Scythian-Saka burial sites provided us with impressive material and therefore a legendary character is appropriate to be presented in great splendor and be historical accurate in the same time.