Female Warriors

Tomyris/Tomiris-Томирис

Born at an unknown date between the late 7- early 6th cen BC, in what is know Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan. She is said to have ruled initially alongside her husband, the Massagetae, an Iranian-Saka people from Central Asia. The only reason we still know her to this day is because of the writings of the Greek historian, Herodotus. She took on the leadership of the Massagetae, after her husband was killed in battle, fighting the Persians. The founder of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Cyrus II (commonly known as Cyrus the Great), proposed marriage to Tomyris, intending to bring her kingdom into the Persian fold via marriage. But Tomyris saw through his guise & turned down his proposal.

Upon the advice of the Lydian king, Croesus, Cyrus decided to launch an invasion of Massagetae territory. Cyrus began by attempting to build a bridge across the Araxes River, in order to launch his attack but Tomyris, either personally or through a messenger, advised him he should be satisfied with his existing territory & leave her to rule her own. The initial Persian assault was dispelled by the Massagetae; but just before the withdrew, Cyrus laid a trap for the tribesman, laying out a lavish feast with lots of wine. The Massagetae, led by Tomyris' son, Spargapises, like most people of the Central Asian steppes, typically consumed fermented mare's milk & cannabis for their inebriating properties. Therefore they were unused to drinking wine & got very intoxicated, in such a vulnerable state they were easily defeated & killed by Cyrus' force that ambushed them; a 3rd of the Massagetaen forces was thus destroyed. Spargapises was held captive by Cyrus; after he sobered up & realized what had happened, he plead with Cyrus to free him. After he'd been released he committed suicide.

Upon learning of the fate of her son & his army, Tomyris sent Cyrus a furious letter, which decried the lowbrow use of wine, which had contributed to the destruction of her army. She insisted he take his forces & depart or she vowed to "...give him more blood than he could drink". Cyrus of course refused & Tomyris herself led the remainder of her forces into battle, the Persians were soundly defeated & Cyrus himself was also killed in the battle. Tomyris found his body & beheaded it & placed it in a sack full of blood saying, "Drink your fill of blood!"

There is an alternative version of Cyrus' death according to Ctesias, the Greek-Persian historian; in this version Cyrus was wounded in a battle against the Derbices, a tribe possibly related to the Massagetae, who'd allied themselves with a force from the Indian subcontinent. However, in the end the Persians were victorious, after the arrival of reinforcements from their allies, the Amyrgians, led by their King Amorges. Cyrus is said to have struggled on for a few more days, before finally succumbing to his injuries. During this period he's said to have worked to consolidate his empire, appointing Spitaces as satrap (a provincial governor) of the Derbices.

Very little is known about Tomyris after the battle against Cyrus. By about 520 BC, the Massagetae were ruled by a king named, Skuxa, who also vehemently opposed Persian rule. He was eventually defeated after one of Cyrus' descendants, Darius I, launched a new offensive against the Saka peoples of the steppes, sometime between 518-520 BC. The Persians conquered the Massagetae lands, captured Skuxa & replaced him with a puppet ruler, loyal to the Achaemenid throne.

In the millennia since Tomyris' lifetime, she has remained a cultural icon all over the globe. She has been portrayed dozens of times in Western art including paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Mattia Preti, Luca Ferrari & Gustave Moreau. The opera, Thomyris: Queen of Scythia, was first performed in London, in 1707. The nation of Kazakhstan has adopted Tomyris as a national heroine & has minted coins bearing her image. In 2019, a Kazakhstani film entitled, Tomyris, was released with the Kazakhstani actress, Almira Tursyn in the lead role.