Penthesilea's Wish [Vol.2]

Chapter Eleven

That afternoon, Daniela was shown the computerized retrieval system used inside the Blagen Library at the American School of Classical Studies. She was amazed at the level of security on the recourses. All materials were to remain within the premises and no books or journals could be checked out. After writing the specific retrieval information about a resource onto a request form, this paper was presented to one of the research librarians and the book or folio was located and given to the scholar for reading or photocopying while inside the facility. While Nicasio spent his time looking over the scope of the categories available within the library, Daniela searched for books which featured the visual images of Amazons created during the Classical age and before. She also searched through a computer data base for collections of digital photos and descriptions of the Amazons rendered in art throughout history.

She quickly learned that the phenomenon of Amazon women depicted in ancient Greece—carved in marble friezes on monuments or painted on ceramic vases, was a very common motif between approximately 700 and 300 BCE. Several of the books she checked out were beautiful collections of such artifacts housed in various museums throughout the world. As she looked at the exquisitely carved marble base-reliefs of these women on horseback, actively engaged in combat with their Greek male enemies, she was astounded by the grace and femininity which characterized them, at the same time they were being mortal combatants on a battle field.

In all cases there was no malice or frenzy in their expression, and though many of them were frozen at the moment of injury or death in these scenes of action, they seemed stoical and heroic in their demeanor and body language. In the earlier works, the women warriors depicted by Greek artists wore a simple tunic which clung to their athletically fit bodies. It bared their legs, arms and often one or both breasts in the heat of battle. They wielded swords or the double-edged battle axe—she learned was called the labrys, and how they deftly manipulated their deadly bows. All this action took place in close contact with the Greek hoplites—some engaged on the ground and some also on horseback. She paid particular attention to how at-one they seemed with their own horses in movement, and how skillfully they manipulated their weapons against a physically stronger foe.

Looking over exquisite photos of statuary and friezes taken from collections in the Louvre, the National Museum at Athens, the British Museum, the Künsthistorische Museum of Wein, the Pergamon Museum of Berlin, the Museo Capitolino of Copenhagen, as well as from ancient sites such as Epidaurus and Ephesus—Daniela could sense these ancient women were represented with sensitivity and respect. Seen by the Classical sculptors as exotic foes to their Greek culture, and originating at the edge of the known world, the artists never demonized them or reduced their valor or prowess on the battle field.

It was as if every mainland or island craftsman who rendered Amazons in stone or on a vase, a plate or libation vessel was in love with them as an idea. Yet, sadly, while fierce and skilled warriors, these women were never shown to be victorious against the men, their perennial opponents. Daniela found them in every confrontation being defeated, their sisters dying or being routed with great dignity at the hands of the male artisans who recorded their existence—whether in myth or reality.

Another observation Daniela made that day while going over hundreds of images of statues, monuments, and architectural friezes discovered throughout ancient Greece, was that, while always sensual and feminine in physique, there existed among these young, vibrant women an enviable aloofness to their expression and gaze. This was true of the vase paintings, as well, showing them in a variety of activities from hunting, riding in chariots, or even carrying away their dead. They looked to be contented within themselves—confident, exhibiting no stress or fear. They seemed totally comfortable in their skins as members of a tribe of women living out their lives recognizably marginalized by choice, from men—accepting of the strife inherent of having to defend themselves.