Penthesilea (as a story)

From Penthesilea

Panel 1: a bit mean.

The Amazon Princess Penthesilia, chasing a red fox up an embankment, allows herself to be caught unguarded by her companions Ainia and Bremusa. Avoiding a barrage of pebbles, the Princess makes her way to the water's edge and successfully defends herself.

The Princess Penthesilea had dropped her quiver and bow and was running through the pines after a red fox that she had seen with a rabbit. She was barefoot, and although her the leather and linen protected her from the acanthus, the alder branches and holly whipped at her arms drawing thin red lines on her bare shoulders. Her hair, cut at the nape of her neck was the same colour as the vixen fox. Her mother Otrere had done her best to shelter her from her father who still possessed the means to penetrate the enclave, but she had noticed that as Penthesilea matured she looked and behaved more and more as an Amazon Queen should, in the spirit of her father.

The fox looked at Penthesilea, as if she feared that she would be forced to fight and lose her prey to the maid. After a diet of insects and berries, the rabbit was a victory for her and her remaining pup. The vixen leaned back on her haunches and unwilling to release her prey she attempted to expose her teeth as a sign of defiance. “I could step on you and it would be over,” thought Penthesilea as her attention turned to some noise behind her. She glanced away briefly and the fox was gone.

Penthesilea suddenly realised that Ainia and Bremusa were at the water laughing and throwing rocks at her. At the beach they had a cache of projectiles, something that she did not have in the bush, where there was nothing to pick up but dried leaves. “Run,” she thought, “to the beach.” She heard a rock fly through the leaves close to her. She sped in a zig zag thinking, “Run fast, to the beach where I can at least defend myself. These are not friends! Get there and find a weapon!”

Of course, she knew that like the fox she should have never allowed herself to be exposed to such nonsense. She felt a stone strike her shoulder followed by pain, then another one on her head. “Ow!” Her hand felt the back of her head and she could hear ridicule. She saw blood on her fingers. “They will pay,” she thought, as she made her way to the water. The beach was lined with cedars and laurels where land ended. The embankment was scoured away leaving boulders and stones that formed a beach. She jumped down and realised that she was alone. No stones, no noise, only the background sounds of nature.

“I should never have allowed myself,” she thought as she selected pebbles. Then she saw Ainia on her left with and far to her right, Bremusa, both with arrows trained directly on Penthesilea. “Give up you little snipe,” Bremusa smiled. “You deserve it.”

Penthesilea looked at the pebbles in her hands, “Its not fair.”

“Fair,” said Bremusa, “ Your father Ares would never use such a word.”

“You know nothing about my father,” said Penthesilea.

“He’s right behind you,” said Ainia. Penthesilea turned to see nothing but water. Suddenly she fell forward, her head going under the surface. Turning with difficulty and trying to breathe she came back to the surface to face two twelve year old girls laughing and pushing her back under. From underwater she could see Ainia’s bow. She reached for it, pulled on it and pushed back deeper in the water, armed it and stood up to see the two girls clearly in her range.

“We wouldn’t do that to you,” Ainia said.

“We were teasing,” added Bremusa, “You know we’ll always be friends.”

...Panel 2: about becoming of age.

The Queen Otrere speaks to a group of Amazon maidens about their ancestry and the founding of Themiscyra. She then talks of relations with men and Amazon customs.

Ainia was called the fast one because of the way that she could run. Hippolyte had already proved to be a formidable archer and Bremusa was easily irritated. It was Penthesilea who was most interested in the old legends. Was it not true that the law once forbid a girl to have a daughter if she had not killed a man in battle? Had there been Amazons who had disobeyed the laws? Penthesilea and the other girls were naturally growing curious about the way they were feeling and she was beginning to wonder about what happened to male children. She knew about fully-grown youths and men, who would be brought into the enclave as prizes but had never seen a male child.

"Tell us why men do not live here,” Penthesilea asked the Queen Otrere.

Otrere was tall even among the Amazons. Her face expressed the responsibility that she carried for her tribe. Although frankness was a part of their social code, Amazon women did not share everything with each other or with their children. Intimate feelings would still exercise considerable influence in social discourse. There were also many things that were far too complicated for children. Hippolyte and Penthelisea were the daughters of the Queen from Ares , who had also fathered Otrere. Amazon culture was well enough developed to provide a coherent framework to nurture children but physicality in itself is a mysterious thing that can be disruptive and transgressing of organised social systems. The body has the independent capacity to challenge order, reason and collective ideals.

Otrere began, “Let me begin by telling you how we came to live here by the Thermodon River. We are Sauromatae and we speak the language of Scythia but we have never spoken it correctly, having learned it imperfectly because of the hate we had for those who oppressed us. Our language has also taken words from Achaean traders because of our relations with them.”

Hippolyte looked at her Mother, “ Were our ancestors the Scythians?”

“No, they were our enemy. In ancient times they were known by other names like Cimmerians or the Gimirri. They were wanderers who came from the north with horses. Our people came from the land between the two rivers, and eventually followed their flocks to rich grazing land on the northern shore of the Hospitable Sea (in the Achaean language: the Euxine) by the river that we now know as the Tanaïs. There, living among the Sarmatians we could grow crops, take fish from the sea and be isolated by the salt marshes. We lived at peace with our husbands and bore many generations of children. We lived well and were protected until the Scythians, who had first come as traders returned with chariots and quivers.

The Scythians killed our husbands and destroyed our lands and homes. They took the Amazon women and children into the mountains on the northern coast of the Sea. Our people had been conquered and became concubines to their enemies because their husbands had been unable to protect them. They lived with their violators until chaste Artemis came to help deliver them from slavery. The maiden Hippolyte had been chosen by the Scythian King to be his bride because she was the strongest, tallest and wisest of the Amazons. The Princess implored Artemis to help them. The Goddess was moved by the suffering of the Amazons and instructed Hippolyte to quietly tell her sisters to sharpen the shell of the golden Venus so that on her wedding night, when they heard her screams of passion, they were to cut the throats of their captors. By this signal they would escape by their own means and from that moment they would live separately from men. On that night, there was commotion and terror as blood soaked Amazons fled their dwellings into the night. Never had the world seen such horror as men grasping at their throats desperately trying to breathe were cut down at their thresholds by the vengeance of sisters. When Dawn’s rosy fingers lit the horizon, the Amazons, in tears, embracing their children and in fear of the future, gathered around fiery-eyed Hippolyte. She surveyed the scene of death in silence and at that moment the sun darkened from the God’s displeasure. She looked skyward and suddenly tore at her right breast in rage as blood flowed from her as torrential water. She voiced her contempt of the Gods and said that she would bear her mutilation as an everlasting symbol of Amazon defiance. From that day on, to overcome their physical constraints, the Amazons trained in the arts of war. They vowed to never fight for honour, conquest or the spoils of battle. They would build their Cities for the purpose of maternity and in war, their objective would always remain the protection of their daughters and sisters. For procreation, men would be taken in conquest as to preserve Amazon autonomy. The women learned to make ivory and sinew bows and became expert archers but fearing the reprisals of their enemies’ families, and considering that their tribe would be outnumbered, the Queen Hippolyte decided that they would move eastward away from Sarmatia.

The Amazons returned to the Tanaïs but found that the Sarmatians were afraid of warrior women without husbands and were unwilling to accept their customs. But some of the Amazon women did adapt to Samartian ways. In one battle, the men put down their weapons refusing to fight maidens. The warring camps were then joined in one, and the Amazon’s prizes began living with them as husbands, but the men were unable to learn the Amazon language. The women however, soon learned theirs and when they could understand one another, the men told them that they had parents and properties and they wished that we could give up our customs, and return to live with them. The Amazons would be their wives there no less than on Amazon land, and they promised that they would have no others. But the Queen responded that we could never live with foreign women. Our customs were far too different. Archery, combat and horsemanship were our skills and we knew nothing of economics, or the distaff. It appeared to the Amazon Queen that there would be only discord, but to be fair, she asked the men that if they truly wished that we lived with them, they should go home to their parents, pick up their possessions, and come back to our land, and live together with us as families.

The men approved and went to their homes to get the portion of goods that fell to them and returned to the Amazon camp. Then the Queen, touched by their faithfulness, addressed the young men and said that the Amazons were ashamed to live in a country that they had conquered. Not only had they stolen land and treasures but they had done great damage by their ravages. Since the young men had chosen Amazons as wives, then her people were obliged to leave the country to dwell beyond the Tanaïs. The men complied and the Amazons packed their goods and moved, crossing the river, they journeyed eastward and again northward to an uninhabited country and took up their abode in it. The women who live there have continued to this day observing ancient customs, worshipping Artemis, hunting on horseback with their husbands, in war taking the field and wearing the very same dress as the men. These women speak our language and their marriage law states that no girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle, but for this reason many women die unmarried at an advanced age, having never been able in a lifetime of peace to fulfil the ancient conditions. These women are still our sisters and Lysippe, our most renowned Queen was also born in that country.

For those who continued their journey away from the river Tanaïs with their Queen Hippolyte, a new city, Themiscyra was established by on the river Thermidon where a beech tree had been planted by the archer Goddess. Queen Hippolyte placed a statue of Artemis under the tree where the Amazons offered tributes and soon the land became fruitful. In time, we were instructed by Artemis and Ares in all manners of war and learned to be entirely capable of defending our cities and preventing surreptitiously disguised intrusion by our enemies.

Now even Ares is reluctant to enter Themiscyra because of the protection offered by Artemis.”

“Why is Ares kept away from the city?” asked Bremusa.

“ Ares was once welcome in our cities but it is Artemis who protects us now and that is large part of our history. There was a time when we were dependant on Ares. As children, we were all ceremoniously betrothed to him. The sons of Ares provided us with shelter and protection and when, in the course of seven years we had mastered our land and household, we would honour Ares through the children we could provide. This was the way of the world at a time when we had forgotten Artemis. But she was already there in the form of the mountains and rivers and the peat and the forests. Artemis was within the very soil from which sprouted the beech tree.

Many Queens ruled Themiscyra, under the title of Hippolyte, including Lysippe, Deianeira, Androdaira and Phillipis until Orithya also known as Hippolyte came to the throne. Hippolyte wore a golden belt given to her by our father, Ares. Her girdle was a symbol of her supremacy until Hera began telling her stories that Heracles, which means being born with great strength, planned to put an end to the Amazons. Queen Hippolyte and her sisters went to war against Heracles until he artfully captured and ransomed Melanippe. Antiope’s love for her sister was so strong that she gave Heracles the symbol of her throne. When the Amazons realised that the girdle of Ares had not protected their Queen or her people, they turned to Artemis and her original promise of eternal protection in return for the chastity of Amazon warriors.”

Otrere continued, " Ares was the father of all the Amazon women but at a disparaging cost to our people. To be women under the War God was not an acceptable way of living. The men would choose from among the Amazons whomever they wished and whenever it pleased them. In such a situation all sex, even consensual sex could be considered as an act of violence against women. That is not to say that all sexual relations between man and woman is rape. We Amazons have never held that, now or ever, however, the whole issue of intercourse as the penultimate expression of Ares’ dominance was and still is of interest to us as Amazons. We must approach the subject as a social practice, material reality. This is our history, but I think that when we hear that all sex is rape it is probably a simplification and misunderstanding. You should know that most men and women experience sexual pleasure in inequality. For Ares the paradigm for sex has been one of conquest, possession, and violation, consequently I think that many men believe they need an unfair advantage, which at its extreme would be called rape. I personally don’t think they need it. I think that intercourse and sexual pleasure can eventually be experienced on an equal basis among all.

To create and preserve a less violent world, our culture had to affirm a female future. To this purpose, the responsibility of children had to be returned to us and the proportion of men had to be reduced and maintained at a serviceable minimum. I personally do not think it is a bad idea. If we were to survive as a people, there had to be a decontamination of these lands. The implication was a drastic reduction of the population of males, including male children. We must never be afraid to say these things. Right now, I am totally joyous to have a great community of women - whether men are somewhere out on the periphery or not. We as Amazons do not share a goal of reconciliation with men. From our history and experience that does not seem to be a very promising future. So why would we think about it? I think that it is obvious that men are not central to us."

Otrere looked at the girls and smiled. “Of course the sons of Ares still do visit our city but they cannot live here. We return them to their fathers and wives because they are not accustomed to our ways. But our customs exist to preserve the Amazon way of life in Themiscyra,” the Queen continued, “for example, you must all know by now that temperance and moderation are virtues characteristic of the Amazon. We also practice moderation with our use of pleasures. We are said to be beautiful and strong if we are able to conquer and tame our desires.” She looked at the wide-open eyes of the Amazon maidens seated around her, “Men can taste unpleasant and look perfectly alarming but we love them anyway. There are places on a man’s body, like the delicate covering of his shaft where the outer skin is softer than anywhere on a woman's and there is no part of a body so vulnerable as the testes. We are taught to always to say of his membrum virile that it is huge, wonderful, larger than any other .... And then we must say, ‘Come fill me, O my wonder!’ and other compliments of the same kind. Men are always afraid that we will laugh at them so we never, mention the size of his member in public... and never, ever let him know that anyone else knows or you may find it shrivels up and disappears.”

The girls giggled at the direction that the talk had turned. Otrere continued, “And here is one of the ways that we are quite different. For a man the essence of sexual performance is concrete. The physical excitement is apparent and perceptibly expended. For women, artifice has been the essence of performance but our sexuality is more easily understood as a transferable, mobile, fluid. No matter what each of us may think in terms of lovemaking we are, on the whole, swiftly aroused when we observe men with men, women with women or women with men. We respond much more to the exercising woman than to the strolling man, and our blood flow rises quickly - and markedly, though to a lesser degree than with humans when we hunt animals. For the Amazon woman, the mind and genitals seem to scarcely belong to the same person. When watching women make love to women we report disinterest but our bodies respond cordially; when watching men with men, we articulate little but are as aroused as when we see a man and a woman making love. Among our women who love each other, there is a vehement denial of interest when observing men with men but the acorn is moistened nearly as much as when watching women.”

Otrere smiled at the Amazon maidens, “Of course all this kind of talk eventually brings us children, which is a serious responsibility for our race because with half the people of our neighbouring tribes we cannot afford mistakes. We begin to be fully engaged in parenting even before our children are born. First our mothers and sisters explain to us what it is to have a child. They teach our sacred customs and prepare maidens for the grieving and pain that we sometimes bear as Amazons. All through the swelling of our bellies and the months of waiting, our sisters tend to us and we learn of childrearing and the beauty of being a mother and a family and then when the time comes that Eileithyia helps deliver the child, our sisters are there to encourage and to soothe pain and if necessary, to take the stillborn or male-born away, and comfort his grieving mother who for nine months has suffered in fear of this moment. This fear is so powerful that there are all kinds of herbs and incantations and medicines invented to assure the safe arrival of a daughter, but let me warn you now my daughters,” Otrere’s eyes were serious now, “none of these work! They are but foolish lies that some, in pity, use to attempt to make our labour less difficult.”

The Queen continued in a softer tone,” The male child is never shown or spoken of and he may be returned to his father or to the family of his father or, if he no longer has a family, he may be sent to his home country to be raised by neighbours. If war and strife has lain to waste their lands, then he might be traded to the sea merchants. Rarely, and only after profound deliberation by all the community, is he placed in the arms of Morpheus with potent herbs.

Our sisters remain close to us as we educate our daughters and try to remain close to the children however unique their interests, orientations and preferences. Keeping a happy and satisfying relationship with your mothers help you later to assume the responsibilities of a mature warrior. We choose to speak gently and guide rather than strike punishment, for we know that all of us can make poor decisions at times. We have learned that children sometimes turn to delinquent behaviour as a means to ask for guidance.

These are our ways and we know that through these customs our daughters excel at being as sociable with their friends as with foreigners. You are unmatched in the skills of riding, archery and sports, and of course we seldom have problems with rule-breaking, aggressiveness, and blaming others.”

The maidens were curious of this discussion. So far they had only experienced farming and fishing, which were rooted in the reality of the land and the sea and play, rooted in their imaginations. They also were aware that it was the practice of the Amazon women to take warriors in battle and bring them to their city in triumph.

"I have seen men here and they were not slaves," said Penthesilea. "We have always wondered why they did not run from Themiscyra."

"This is an excellent question," continued Otrere. "There is a misconception among the Hellenes that because we are as men we hate men. Nothing is further from the truth. To be an Amazon is to be a woman. We have always enjoyed being independent and not following the foreign ways but that does not mean that we do not adore men. For most occasions we prefer our tunics and trousers to the chiton and peplos and women who work and ride cannot wear heeled footwear. We have no husbands to tend our animals or glean our grain. We are not raised to sit by a spindle and distaff, although we are certainly able to spin our thread. It is because we do our work well that men fear us. We also know that even though we can take men as prizes, we also desire and expect love from the men that give us our daughters.

It might seem that seducing a man is easy work and it may very be so but Amazons believe that our daughters should be conceived by willing partners. Our ancestors as concubines cut the throats of their captors as they slept. Why should we expect our prizes to behave differently? Seducing is a means to temporarily divert a man from his usual intentions. So how do we communicate desire without threatening? Before we begin to think about perfuming ourselves and tressing our hair, we must make a man aware of why we have spared him. When we are attired as warriors, men naturally conspire to escape or even to kill their captors. Our prizes are dangerous because we as warriors are always attracted to the ones who could be lovers of Aphrodite, those who also happen to be the bravest and the strongest. We must not respond cruelly for Adonis is attracted to the woman with a softened demeanour. It is certain that as Amazons we can and do prevail over men despite their physical abilities but in our homes, we court our prize with our femininity and his weakness is that he is naïve when faced with these charms. If we change our behaviour just enough to show him that we serious about getting his attention, he might imagine his release.

Sensuality is the graceful movement of a feline. Those who are not confident in their womanhood might flaunt themselves blatantly and that will indeed get the attention of a man but will not render him less dangerous. If you desire something more substantial, then you must seduce him. Sensuality is having confidence in your womanhood. There is nothing more intoxicating to any man than confidence. It is a state of knowing what you desire and what you reject. When you mirror a man you are engaging with him. Seduction is the ability to understand the captive’s arrogant demeanour and to return the same arrogance without anger or remorse. The better you play these games, the more fun they become. So let your body speak for you. Let your lips and tongue speak of your desire. Let your movements and the ways you gently touch yourself communicate. Men are interested in all of your body.” The girls laugh. “Acknowledging his attention by the way you stand and carry yourself without being blatant or timid will make you irresistible.

The youth who talks of his conquests has none to speak of can be returned to his camp with little fear of reprisal. Amazons never seduce with words! Seduction is only about you and your body. It is touching your neck with your fingertips, it is the way you move and the unspoken confidence that you carry."

...Panel 3: more lessons and history

Otrere explains the use of the Achaen war spear in a hunt. She tells the maidens more of their ancestry and tells them about Queen Lysippe and Queen Hippolyte who bore the name Orithya.

As children Penthesilea and her sisters used to make poplar hunting spears, fishing spears, lances and even knifes. Otrere explained that a pointy stick will punch a hole in something but that is different from hunting with a spear, and so Otrere gave all the daughters of Themiscyra an expensive Greek war spear at about the age of twelve. Otrere went on to explain to the girls, “Unlike our ivory tipped spears, the war spear, is a stick sharpened at both ends having an iron spearhead at one end and a bronze spike at the other. A weapon is a tool, and its form reflects its intended function. The two ends of the spear are different shapes and made of different materials because they are intended to perform different functions.

The spear is just a little taller than a woman. It has a leaf-shaped iron head, attached to the shaft by a tapered socket at the base. The other end of the spear is capped with a long and thin bronze butt-spike. The spearhead blade has two sharp edges that curve to maximum width in the middle and taper back towards the socket. The Argives cast it from iron, and as such is strong and holds a true edge well. But the iron is brittle and can snap if bent too much. The shape of this spear is made for cutting flesh. If the opponent twists or turns, or the weapon is manipulated in the wound, then the wound is likely to be considerably larger. Because of it's curved blade the spearhead can cut when pulled out and when pushed in. The blade is edged even on the taper behind the maximum width. Even as the spear is withdrawn it widens the wound. By virtue of its size and its shape the spearhead can inflict large life threatening wounds in almost any circumstance. The spearhead, however, has great difficulty penetrating armour. The spearhead is too wide and too brittle to effectively cut anything other than unprotected flesh. For this reason, at the other end of the shaft, there is a long slender bronze spike with a square cross-section. It is generally used to stand the spear in the ground when it is not in use, and for this reason the Argives call it a sauroter, which means lizard-killer. The spike may also be used as a weapon, especially if the spearhead breaks off, an event that is reasonably common. For the women standing behind those at the front, in battle, the long thin profile of the sauroter is always the preferred weapon designed to penetrate armour.

In close combat, the wounds inflicted by the spearhead are more likely to instantly incapacitate the enemy than the deep narrow wounds of the sauroter. The deep, wide gashes caused by the spearhead will bleed profusely and tendons and nerves will probably be severed. When the fighting is close, and the opponent is on his guard, the power of the spearhead is greatly valued. If, however, the opponent is on the ground, wounded or unarmed then the warrior may plunge the sauroter through the armour and move swiftly on to the next encounter.

“As you can see,” continued Otrere, “the Argive spear is designed for battle but we do use it for hunting as well.”

“When do we throw the spear when hunting?” asked Hippolyte.

"You do not throw a spear when hunting deer. You must lunge or stab with it to make sure the spear goes deep enough for a clean kill. You must get within touching distance of the deer to do this.

There are three practical ways to get close enough to be effective with your spear. The first is to wait in a tree shelter. This is the best deer hunting method. Deer rarely look up and do not see someone sitting a few feet off of the ground. For spear hunting you will want to sit a little lower than you would instinctively. A good rule is to sit holding your spear with both hands and reaching down so that the tip of the spear not more than a pygmē (one pace) from the ground. You will want to use a long spear for this, like one that we make from ivory, about an orgyia or two spread arm lengths. A deer at ten paces is not a kill with a spear unless you throw it and that is not a good idea for deer hunting. You will need to sit hidden in such a way that the deer will walk as directly beneath you as possible.

Another way to get close enough is to use what we call a lunging pit or hidden depression where you sit or kneel in waiting for the deer to pass by. You can use a shorter spear than you would from a tree, an Argive spear, for example. You may still use a longer spear but it is harder to manoeuvre in the brush. When the deer walks by, you lunge out at it as it passes.

Or you can make a hiding place on the ground with some brush. The hunting method is similar the lunge pit but on top of the ground. You sit next to a deer trail or watering place waiting for the deer to wander by. You may also wish to try stalking, which is trying to sneak up within range of a deer without it knowing that you are there. This is difficult with a bow and next to impossible with a spear, but as Artemis has taught us, hunting is the challenge of mastering your prey.

Your spear should be sharpened as sharp as you can make it. A good length for a spear is your height or slightly taller. If you hunt dangerous game such as a boar, you will want a cross guard on the shaft of your spear. It is no myth that a speared boar could ‘run up’ the shaft of the spear and gore the wielder. A cross guard about a pous from the head will keep the animal at a distance.”

Otrere stops to show the maidens the sharpened tip of a spear then continues, “And we must not forget the hounds. They are always with us when we hunt. No animal has been as important to us as the hound. We have built a relationship where the dog has exchanged his independence from us for support and care. Our word for hunting, κυνήγι, is derived from the word dog. Dogs find, chase and retrieve and sometimes kill game. Dogs allow us to pursue and kill prey that would otherwise be very difficult or dangerous to hunt.”

Otrere smiled and said, "Now I will speak again of Hippolyte. You might have been curious about the several accounts of her name. The Mother of all Amazons is Hippolyte. She led our people out of Sarmatia at time not long after the floods. The waters of the Hospitable Sea, now salty had settled and Dardanus the son of Zeus built Troy to guard the passage at Hellespont.

Hippolyte is also a dynastic name, like that of Minos, who was a king who ruled Crete long before the Achaeans sailed there, but we now know Minos as a title, such as high king or honourable, that has belonged to many great rulers at the Palace of Minos including the grandfather of Idomeneus who now rules.

The great warrior Queen Lysippe’s reign predates the Queens of Themiscyra that we know today. She ruled in an area north of the Sea, where flowed a river that was called Dānu by the people who lived there. She had a son, Tanaïs, whose virginity and worship of Artemis offended Aphrodite, who found him very attractive. In revenge for his spurning of all her attempts to have him lose his prized virginity, she cursed him to know lust, for no one else but his own mother. Lysippe had no time to ever learn of this, since it has been said that Tanaïs drowned himself in the river.

Lysippe renamed the river Tanaïs, and consulted her oracles that told her to leave the area, lest the ghost of Tanaïs return to her as an evil spirit. Lysippe at once picked up and marched her people around the Hospitable Sea to its south-central coastal area, where they found other women living by a river called the Thermodon. There, her nation split into three tribes, and each formed a separate city. Lysippe’s tribe formed Themiscyra, and conquered the land all the way back to the Tanaïs. With the spoils of war Lysippe built temples to Ares and Artemis, whose worship she founded.

It was Lysippe, which means, she who lets loose the horses who moved most of our people to the Thermodon plain. Lysippe was the founder of the worship of Artemis. Devastated by the suicide of her son, she remained chaste and turned her energies to consolidating and expanding our Nation.


Queen Lysippe built the cities Lykastia, Chadesia and our capital, Themiscyra, divine Themis with its great temple, and she was the one who consolidated our laws. She was an ingenious strategist and general, who led our first cavalry. Her strategy and judgment of character were so sound that all other Amazon leaders refer to her.

There were five, perhaps even more Queens who succeeded Lysippe including Deianeira, Androdaira, Phillipis and Hyppolyta but they have all been remembered as Hippolyte in honour of our Great Mother. At times we have had two Queens simultaneously, one who led the warriors and another who stayed in the City. This was the case when Queen Myrene laid siege on the Phrygians leaving domestic affairs to Androdaira, who was also known as Hyppolyte at the time.

Sly Heracles and Theseus arrived from Athens to beguile the Queen Hippolyte who was born as Orithya. From what my Grandmother told me, Heracles may have given Queen Hippolyte as a prize to King Theseus who had accompanied him on his quest. On the other hand, Hippolyte (who is often confused with her sisters, Glauce, Molpadia, Antiope and Melanippe) may have also been abducted at a separate time when Theseus sailed back to the Hospitable Sea, or as Queen, she may have chosen to stay on Theseus’ ship some time after Heracles’ departure (these stories become confused over time because Hippolyte shared her reign with her sisters)

When Theseus sailed home again, with Hippolyte, her Amazon sisters led by Molpadia pursued them and began a siege on Athens. The war raged four years before Hippolyte offered peace to both sides. By then, having broken most Amazon laws, she had become the wife of Theseus and mother of their son, Hippolytus. In another more virtuous story, Hippolyte led a march on Attica and the Peloponnese, where she was defeated. She then fled to Megara where she died of grief. According to many, her tomb, which for some reason no longer exists, had been seen for many years after.

As a people we have lived here by the Thermidon for many generations. Time has given us stories, some true and some that were invented to be told to foreigners. Our life would be more difficult without these legends.

continued... Penthesilea (as a story;2)