Warrior Women (Greece) Flashcards
1
Q
What does “matriarchal” mean?
A
- governed exclusively by women
- women governed, farmed and fought
- all female society
2
Q
Who were the Amazons?
A
- tribe of entirely female warriors who lived on the eastern borders of the Greek world
3
Q
Why was the “foreigness” of the Amazons important to the Greeks?
A
- so that no Greek woman would aspire to be like them
- paints them as barbaric and uncivilised
4
Q
What did the name Amazons represent?
A
Without breast
5
Q
What did Herodotus call the amazons?
A
“Androktones”- killers of men
6
Q
Describe the appearance of an Amazon
A
- weilded bow and arrow
- a librys (double edged axe)
- a shield in the shpae of a crescent
- as a girl right breast would be cauterized by hot bronze tool
- wore short tunics and some armour in battle
7
Q
How did the Amazons continue their race without men?
A
- went to neighboring tribe to get pregnant once a year
- hatred towards men
- did not allow any men to live alongside them
- kept any girls and raise them as Amazons
8
Q
What happened to any sons born to Amazon women?
A
- sent to live with fathers
- made into slaves
- abandoned and left to die
9
Q
What were the Amazons famous for?
A
- being horse tamers and riders
10
Q
Source for showing that the Amazons were fierce warriors
A
- Sepphoris, house of the Nile mosaic
- depicted weilding spears, bows and arrows and defending themselves
- never shying away from battle, riding into battle
- left hand holds reign over horse
- right hand holds spear (skilled)
- dynamic poses
11
Q
Source that shows that the amazons had masculine characteristics
A
- parthenon frieze
- riding horses, in dynamic poses- masculine activities
- still die in the end (Hippolyta, killed for the girdle for Hercules)
- nationalism for Greeks, will always triumph over foreigners
- men will always dominate over women
12
Q
Source that showed amazons were the antithesis of the Athenian Kyria
A
- Homer, Iliad
- “amazon women came, men’s equals”
- kyria were not seen as men’s equals
- Amazons were often in dynamic poses (compare to garve stele of Ampharete)
- different expectations for men and women
