Written by Christina Margeti
Let’s look at some basic things briefly, about the heroines and muses of my book “STIS POLITEIES TIS GYNAIKAS- IN THE WOMANS’ REALMS” , the amazons, as they were called. By the way, the word Amazons also refers to the American Amazon, on top of everything else. But what did they call themselves? We don’t know. Just as we still don’t know many things about them that are proven absolute, with irrefutable scientific evidence.
But what we do know for sure is that women-warriors are mentioned in legends and traditions of many different peoples, such as the Chinese, the Caucasus peoples, Africa and others, not only the Greeks. The fact that in ancient times there were reports of women-warriors in almost, every continent of the then known ancient world, leads to the conclusion that either these women lived nomadically and were constantly moving, or that perhaps they were different groups of women, some of whom lived in mixed societies as equals with men or in matriarchal societies and other groups of women (such as the mentioned women of Themyskira, an ancient city in present-day Turkey) lived organized in exclusively female societies by conscious choice. In my poetry collection, however, as it is, I have chosen, guided by my heart and my interiority, to bring them to you, even symbolically, as a global, united community of free and independent women, who wanted to live and lived autonomously and freely in their communities, in the way of life that expressed them, emphasizing precisely this timeless unity in such important commonalities, our common destiny, their spiritual and great legacy to us and those who follow, without racial or other kinds of separation. And that is the essence of this myth, or “legend” as you want to call it, in my view. For many, many years now, some vases and various other finds have come to light in Greece that depict battles between Greeks and Amazons, and there are reports that several times they came into conflict and war. Herodotus, Diodorus Sicilianus and some other historians, ancient writers, mention some evidence about them, either real or imaginary, of course always in the light of the patriarchal concept, the one that has always “demonized” women and idealized at the same time, phallocratic attitudes, characters, attitudes and systems. A fact which prevents me personally, from considering all the information we are given about them as objective or even factual (critical thinking and discernment is always needed).
But I have already touched on this, quite extensively I think, in my text “About our Amazons”, so I won’t go into more detail here. Some vases have also been found that have some Amazonian names on them, which are descriptive, i.e. they are reminiscent of native American names. Some people claim that these names are mentioned as nicknames…Personally, however, I think that these are probably normal names, considering that these are ancient, prehistoric worlds and civilizations, so the most likely and the most logical would be in my opinion, their names were descriptive.
Also excavations that have been done in Azerbaijan, Russia and near the border of Kazakhstan, in the past few years, have brought to light some graves with the bones of buried women with bows and arrows, which indicates that they were warriors. At this point, however, I will refer you for more details of these excavations to the historian Mrs Bettany Hughes, who you can search and read interviews with her about relevant research on the internet. Generally with a careful search and study of relevant books if you are interested, you will find more details and relevant sources. However, you need a basic caution, the sources and literature to be as reliable as possible. Personally, I believe that within every myth, there are hidden truths, which we may be able to discover, by sorting them out, through propaganda and inaccuracies, always using our critical thinking and ability in everything we hear or read. Let us never forget this. If you were to ask me if I believe that these women were only a myth or if they really existed once, I would answer you clearly, always guided by my heart and soul, that yes, I personally feel, believe that these women really did exist once, in fact. I believed in their existence from the very first moment, when I first read about them, in my childhood. But myth or “myth”, either way, these dear, distant ancestresses of our hearts, these unknown, but so familiar to our souls and so much our own women, are surely alive in us, in our whole being and in our everlasting part. The mother’s age-old call to every femininity and to all of humanity in essence, is eternal, timeless. It only remains for us to feel it, to listen to it, by simply closing our eyes and remaining in absolute silence. Looking first within ourselves and then outside of us. Searching. Symbolically and literally. So I invite you on a soul journey through my book, a journey with me. Beyond time and place. Beyond borders, dimensions, worlds.
Let’s go back to the memories… To our own paradise. To mother’s land… Listening to the sacred, Her eternal call, through all the centuries: “Blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh, take my memories and search…! Blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh, come to my soil, come to my soil and dig…!”
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