The Amazons as Barbarians

Question 1

Main reason they are viewed as barbaric

Answer 1

They are women - v strange to Greek audience at a time where women stayed at home and definitely did not fight

“fighting women”

“with or without husbands” - v unusual to Greeks (women should marry)

“no maiden may marry until she has killed one of the enemy” (v unwomanly) otherwise “they grow old, unmarried and die”

“we have never learnt the tasks of women”

Question 2

Fighting method

Answer 2

“they go hunting on horseback, with or without husbands, they go to war and they wear the same clothing as men”

“we fire arrows, throw spears and ride horses” - Greeks used spears and hand-to-hand combat (not bow and arrow which they saw as cowardly)

Question 3

Lifestyle

Answer 3

“surviving by hunting and raiding”

they don’t have a set home - v strange to the Greeks whose lives centre around their home and city

“she gave hand signal”
- entire new language that isn’t Greek