Did the Amazons really exist? - Adrienne Mayor

2,979,257 views ・ 2018-06-18

TED-Ed


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Since the time of Homer,
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ancient stories told of fierce warriors dwelling beyond the Mediterranean world,
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striking fear into the mightiest empires of antiquity.
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Their exploits were recounted by many epic poets.
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They fought in the legendary Trojan War and their grand army invaded Athens.
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Jason and the Argonauts passed by their shores,
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barely avoiding their deadly arrows.
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These formidable fighters faced off against the greatest champions of myth:
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Heracles,
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Theseus,
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and Achilles.
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And every single one of these warriors was a woman.
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The war-loving Amazons, "the equals of men" in courage and skill,
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were familiar to everyone in ancient Greece.
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Amazon battle scenes decorated the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis;
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paintings and statues of Amazons adorned temples and public spaces.
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Little girls played with Amazon dolls,
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and Amazons were a favorite subject on Greek vase paintings.
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In Greek art and literature,
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they were depicted as daring and desirable,
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but also terrifying and deadly,
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and doomed to die at the hands of Greek heroes.
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Were Amazons merely figures of myth, or something more?
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It was long assumed that they were imaginary,
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like the cyclops and centaurs.
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But curiously enough, stories from ancient Egypt,
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Persia,
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the Middle East,
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Central Asia,
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India,
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and China
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also featured Amazon-like warrior women.
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And Amazons were described in ancient historical accounts, not just myths.
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Writers like Herodotus, Plato, and Strabo never doubted their existence.
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So who were the real women warriors known as Amazons?
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Ancient historians located the Amazon homeland in Scythia,
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the vast territory stretching from
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the Black Sea across the steppes of Central Asia.
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This immense region was populated by nomadic tribes
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whose lives centered on horses,
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archery,
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and warfare.
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Their culture flourished for about 1,000 years beginning around 800 BC.
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Feared by Greeks, Persians, and the Chinese, the Scythians left
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no written records. But we can find clues in how
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their neighbors described them, as well as in archaeology.
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Scythians' ancestors were the first to ride horses
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and they invented the recurve bow.
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And, because a female mounted archer could be as fast and as deadly as a male,
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all children were trained to ride and shoot.
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Women hunted and fought alongside men, using the same weapons.
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The harsh landscape and their nomadic lifestyle
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created its own form of equality.
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This amazed the ancient Greeks, whose women led restricted indoor lives.
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The earliest stories of the Scythians, and Amazons,
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may have been exaggerated rumors.
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But as the Greeks began to trade around the Black Sea and further east,
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their portrayals became more realistic.
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Early depictions of Amazons showed them with Greek weapons and armor.
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But in later representations,
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they wielded bows and battle-axes,
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rode horses,
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and wore pointed caps and patterned trousers
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characteristic of steppe nomads.
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Until recently, no one was sure how strong the links were
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between Scythians and the Amazons of Greek myth.
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But recent archaeological discoveries have provided ample evidence.
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More than 1,000 ancient Scythian kurgans, or burial mounds, have been excavated,
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containing skeletons and weapons.
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Archaeologists had previously assumed
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that weapons could only belong to male warriors.
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But modern DNA analysis so far
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has revealed that about 300 skeletons buried with weapons
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belong to females ranging in age from 10 to 45,
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and more are being found every year.
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The women's skeletons show battle injuries:
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ribs slashed by swords,
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skulls bashed by battle-axes,
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and arrows embedded in bones.
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In classical art and writings,
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the fearsome Amazons were always portrayed as brave and heroic.
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In male-dominated classical Greece, however,
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the very idea of strong women who gloried in freedom and war aroused mixed feelings.
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And yet, the Greeks were also drawn to egalitarian ideals.
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Is it possible that the mythic realm of thrilling Amazon tales
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was a way to imagine women and men as equal companions?
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