Rethinking the amazon image. Modern paradigms vs. inherited tradition

Abstract

Amazon mythology, as an indispensable part of Hellenic tradition, was highly complex and of paramount importance to the collective imaginary of the ancients. Its influence crossed borders, even though we are still far from knowing the real significance that it might have achieved in different cultures that, already at that time, showed a special interest in the subject. This mythology, whose origins are lost in the mists of time, dating back to even before the Archaic period, had a fixed purpose relating to the ideal social model, based on the man/woman dichotomy and the fear of the alterity that the latter represented, which was supposed to be upheld. As part of its mythopoiesis, other elements could vary or be added depending on the ever-changing needs pertaining to the mythical tradition’s capacity to develop and to the cultural milieu to which myths adapted, thus allowing their essence to survive the passing of time. They were thus devised as a social construct deriving from specific needs of the culture engendering them, until acquiring a multifaceted nature. The complexity and wealth of the Greek mythical imaginary shows the importance that their culture achieved not only in antiquity but also in the Western world up to the present day. The organisation of social relations according to a patriarchal system required the creation of behavioural models based on the belief that the female gender was inferior by nature. Amazon myths were created for this reason, not to show the suitability of the empowered woman, but to demonstrate that any deviation from the norm would inevitably end in disaster, as the Amazons were always defeated in their confrontations against the greeks. However, this paradigm that has survived to this day in the collective imaginary has suffered a radical shift, and what was created as an anti-model of behaviour today emerges as a model of empowerment. The women's rights movements that began their struggle in the 20th century took the Amazon image as a paradigm of the empowered woman, capable of competing with the male in all aspects, including such a traditionally exclusive aspect as the military context.