Call me Batieia. The meaning of nicknames in Amazon myths

Abstract

The Amazon stories in written sources have provided us with most of the names of their protagonists. Antiope, Hippolyta and Penthesilea are the best known, but there were many others. Sometimes they corresponded to secondary characters in works by lesser-known authors, which prevented them from achieving the same renown. The iconographic sources not only reveal the scope of these myths in certain social spheres, but also provide new variants, to the point of creating a panorama that is necessary for the analysis of the Amazon universe. Despite this, and the large volume of information available in art, only a small part of it includes written references to its protagonists. The present work offers a broad and complete record of Amazon onomastics present in art and literature throughout antiquity. Its study provides a basis for unravelling not only the Amazon image in the Hellenistic collective imaginary, but also its political organisation and the transfer of power associated with its mythical culture.