In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες Amazónes, singular Ἀμαζών Amazōn, via Latin Amāzon, -ŏnis) are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, the Argonautica and the blogger.com were a group of female warriors and hunters, who matched men in physical agility and strength, in archery, riding skills and the Nevertheless, a hero like Odysseus proves his mettle when faced with the opposition of the gods. Odysseus is shrewd, tough, clear-sighted, experienced, a man very well equipped to brave adversity. Like a few other heroes he is intensely self-reliant, confident of Nov 19, · This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by professional essay writers. Analysis of Odysseus as an Epic Hero
Analysis of Odysseus as an Epic Hero: [Essay Example], words GradesFixer
In Greek mythologythe Amazons Ancient Greek : Ἀμαζόνες Amazónessingular Ἀμαζών Amazōnvia Latin Amāzon, -ŏnis are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Herculesthe Argonautica and the Iliad.
They were a group of female warriors and hunters, who matched men in physical odysseus hero essay and strength, in archery, riding skills and the arts of combat. Their society was closed for men and they only raised their daughters, either killing their sons or returning them to their fathers, with whom they would only socialize briefly in order to reproduce.
Courageous and fiercely independent, the Amazons, commanded by their queen, regularly undertook extensive military expeditions into the far corners of the world, from Scythia to Thraceodysseus hero essay, Asia Minor and the Aegean Islandsreaching as far as Arabia and Egypt. The texts of the original myths envisioned the homeland of the Amazons at the periphery of the then known world.
Various claims to the exact place ranged from provinces in Asia Minor LyciaCaria etc. to the steppes around the Black Seaor even Libya. However, authors most frequently referred to Pontus in northern Anatolia, on the southern shores of the Black Seaas the independent Amazon kingdom where the Amazon queen resided at her capital Themiscyraon the banks of the Thermodon river. Palaephatuswho himself might have been a fictional character, attempted to rationalize the Greek myths in his work On Unbelievable Tales.
He suspected that the Amazons were probably men who were mistaken for women by their enemies because they wore clothing that reached their feet, tied up their hair in headbands and shaved their beards. Probably the first in a long line of skeptics, he rejected any odysseus hero essay basis for them, reasoning that, because they did not exist during his time, most probably they did nοt exist in the past either. Decades of archaeological discoveries of countless burial sites of female warriors, including royalty, in the Eurasian Steppes prove that the horse cultures of ScythianSarmatian, Hittite and other women have inspired and fundamentally defined the Amazon myth.
The origin of the word is uncertain. Among the ancient Greeksthe term Amazon was given a folk etymology as originating from ἀμαζός 'breastless'connected with an etiological tradition once claimed by Marcus Justinus who odysseus hero essay that Amazons had their right breast cut off or burnt out. Amazons are called Antianeirai Ἀντιάνειραι 'equivalent to men' and Aeschylus used Styganor Στυγάνωρ 'those who loathe all men'. In his work Prometheus Bound and in The Suppliantsodysseus hero essay, Aeschylus called the Amazons " τὰς ἀνάνδρους κρεοβόρους τ᾽ Ἀμαζόνας" 'the unwed, flesh-devouring Amazons'.
In the Hippolytus tragedy, odysseus hero essay, Phaedra calls Hippolytus'the son of the horse-loving Amazon' τῆς φιλίππου παῖς Ἀμαζόνος βοᾷ Ἱππόλυτος In his DionysiacaNonnus calls the Amazons of Dionysus Androphonus Ἀνδροφόνους 'men slaying'. The ancient Greeks never had any doubts that the Amazons were, or had been, real.
Not the only people enchanted by warlike women of nomadic cultures, odysseus hero essay, such exciting tales also come from ancient Egypt, odysseus hero essay, Odysseus hero essay, India and China. Greek heroes of old had encounters with the queens of their odysseus hero essay society and fought them. However, their original home was not exactly known, odysseus hero essay, thought to be in the obscure lands beyond the civilized world.
The Amazons existed outside the range of normal human experience, odysseus hero essay. Some authors preferred comparisons to cultures of Asia Minor or even Minoan Crete. In his Histories 5th century BC Herodotus claims that the Sauromatae predecessors of the Sarmatianswho ruled the lands between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, arose from a union of Scythians and Amazons.
Herodotus also observed rather unusual customs among the Lycians of south-west Asia Minor. The Lycians obviously followed matrilineal rules of descent, virtue and status. They odysseus hero essay themselves along their maternal family line and a child's status was determined by the mother's reputation. This remarkably high esteem of women and legal regulations based on maternal lines, still in effect in the 5th century BC in the Lycian regions that Herodotus had traveled to, lent him the idea that these people were descendants of the mythical Amazons.
Modern historiography no longer relies exclusively on textual and artistic material, but also on the vast archaeological evidence of over a thousand nomad graves from steppe territories from the Black Sea all the way to Mongolia. These women turned out to be able to fight, hunt, ride and utilize a bow and arrows just like the men. According to myth, Otrerathe first Amazon queen, is the offspring of a romance between Ares the odysseus hero essay of war and the nymph Harmonia of the Akmonian Wood, and as such a demigoddess.
Early records refer to two events in which Amazons appeared prior to the Trojan War before BC. Within the epic context, BellerophonGreek hero and grandfather of the brothers and Trojan War veterans Glaukos and Sarpedonfaced Amazons during his stay in Lyciawhen King Iobates sent Bellerophon to fight the Amazons, hoping they would kill him, yet Bellerophon slew them all.
The youthful King Priam of Troy fought on the side of the Phrygianswho were attacked by Amazons at the Sangarios River. There are Amazon characters in Homer 's Trojan War epic poem, the Iliadone of the oldest surviving texts in Europe around 8th century BC.
The now lost epic Aethiopis probably by Arctinus of Miletus 6th century BC which, like the Iliad and several other epics, is one of the works that odysseus hero essay combination form the Trojan War Epic Cycle. In one of the few references to the text an Amazon force under queen Penthesileawho was of Thracian birth, came to join the ranks of the Trojans after Hector 's death and initially put the Greeks under serious pressure.
Only after the greatest effort and the help of the reinvigorated hero Achillesodysseus hero essay, the Greeks eventually triumphed. Penthesilea died fighting the mighty Odysseus hero essay in single combat. He was also convinced, that the Amazons lived not at its fringes, but somewhere in or odysseus hero essay Lycia in Asia Minor - a place well within the Greek world.
Troy is mentioned in the Iliad as the place of Myrine 's death. The Poet Bacchylides 6th century BC and the historian Herodotus 5th century BC located the Amazon homeland in Pontus at the southern shores of the Black Sea, and the capital Themiscyra at the banks of the Thermodon modern Terme riverby the modern city of Terme.
Herodotus also explains how it came to be, that some Amazons would eventually be living in Scythia. A Greek force, that after it had defeated the Amazons in battle at the Thermodon river, sailed home. The fleet included three ships, that were crowded with Amazon prisoners. Once out at sea the Amazon prisoners overwhelmed and killed the small crews of the prisoner ships and, despite not having even basic navigation skills, odysseus hero essay, managed to escape and safely embark at the Scythian shore.
As soon as the Amazons had caught enough horses, they easily asserted themselves in the steppe in between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and, according to Herodotus, would eventually assimilate with the Scythians, whose descendants were the Sauromatae, the predecessors of the Sarmatians. Strabo 1st century BC visits and confirms the original homeland of the Amazons on the plains by the Thermodon river.
However, long gone and not seen again during his lifetime, the Amazons had allegedly retreated into the mountains, odysseus hero essay. Strabo, however, added that other authors, among them Metrodorus of Scepsis and Hypsicrates claim that after abandoning Themiscyra, the Amazons had chosen to resettle beyond the borders of the Gargareansan all-male tribe native to the northern foothills of the Caucasian Mountains.
The Amazons and Gargareans had for many generations met in secrecy once a year during two months in spring, in order to produce children. These encounters would take place in accordance with ancient tribal customs and collective offers of sacrifices.
All females were retained by the Amazons themselves, and males were returned to the Gargareans. Hippolytean Amazon queen died by the hand of Herculesodysseus hero essay, who had set out for her in order to obtain the queen's magic belt in a task he was to accomplish as one of the Labours of Hercules.
Although neither side had intended to resort to lethal combat, a misunderstanding led to the fight. In the course of this, odysseus hero essay, Heracles killed the queen and several other Amazons. In awe of the strong hero, the Amazons eventually handed the belt to Heracles. In another version, Heracles does not kill the queen, but exchanges her kidnapped sister Melanippe for the odysseus hero essay. Queen Hippolyte is abducted by Theseuswho takes her to Athens, makes her his wife and she bears him a son odysseus hero essay Hippolytus.
In other versions, the kidnapped Amazon is called Antiopethe sister of Hippolyte. In revenge, the Amazons invaded Greece, plundered some cities along the coast of Attica, and besieged and occupied Athens. Hippolyte, who fought on the side of Athens and according to another account with the Amazons was killed during the final battle along with all of the Odysseus hero essay. According to Plutarchthe god Dionysus and his companions fought Amazons at Ephesus.
The Amazons fled to Samos and Dionysus pursued them and killed a great number of them at a site since called Panaema blood-soaked field. In another myth Dionysus unites with the Amazons to fight against Cronus and the Titans. Polyaenus writes that after Dionysus has subdued the Indians, he allies with them and the Amazons and takes them into his service, who serve him in his campaign against the Bactrians.
Nonnus in his Dionysiaca reports about the Amazons of Dionysus, but states that they do not come from Thermodon. Amazons are also mentioned by biographers of Alexander the Greatwho report of Queen Thalestris bearing him a child a story in the Alexander Romance. He noted a moment when Alexander's naval commander Onesicritus read an Amazon myth passage of his Alexander History to King Lysimachus of Thrace who had taken part in the original expedition.
The king smiled at him and odysseus hero essay And where was I, then? Virgil 's characterization of the Volsci a warrior maiden Camilla in the Aeneid borrows from the myths of the Amazons. Philostratusin Heroicawrites that the Mysian women fought on horses alongside the men, just as the Amazons. The leader was Hiera, wife of Telephus.
The Amazons are also said to have odysseus hero essay an expedition against the Island of Leukeat the mouth odysseus hero essay the Danubewhere the ashes of Achilles were deposited by Thetis. The ghost of the dead hero so terrified the horses, odysseus hero essay they threw off and trampled upon the invaders, who were forced to retreat. The biographer Suetonius had Julius Caesar remark in his De vita Caesarum that the Amazons once ruled a large part of Asia.
Appian provides a vivid description of Themiscyra and its fortifications in his account of Lucius Lucinius Lucullus ' Siege of Themiscyra in 71 BC during the Third Mithridatic War.
An Amazon myth has been partly preserved in two badly fragmented versions around historical people in 7th century BC Egypt. The Egyptian prince Petechonsis and allied Assyrian troops undertook a joint campaign into the Land of Womento the Middle East at the border to India. Petechonsis initially fought the Amazons, but soon fell in love with their queen Sarpot and eventually allied with her against an invading Indian army. This story is said to have originated in Egypt independently of Greek influences.
Sources provide names of individual Amazons, that are referred to as queens of their people, odysseus hero essay, even as the head of a dynasty. Without a male companion, they are portrayed in command of their female warriors. Among the most prominent Amazon queens were:. Otrerawas the daughter of the nymph Harmonia and god of war, Ares. She was the mother of Hippolyta, Antiope, Melanippe, and Penthesilea.
She is the mythical founder of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Hippolytedaughter of Otrera and Ares, part of the Theseus and Heracles myths, Antiope is her sister there.
Alcippe, the only Amazon known to have sworn a chastity oath, belongs to her entourage. Penthesileakills her sister Hippolyte in a hunting accident, comes to the aid of odysseus hero essay hard-pressed Trojans with her warriors, is defeated by Achilles, who falls in love with the dying woman. Myrinaleader of a military expedition in Libya, defeats the Atlanteans, forms an alliance with the ruler of Egypt, and conquers numerous cities and islands.
Thalestris odysseus hero essay, the last known Amazon queen, odysseus hero essay. Meets, according to legend, the Greek conqueror Alexander the Great in BC. Her home is the Thermodon region, or variably the Gates of Alexandersouth of the Caspian Sea.
Quintus Odysseus hero essayauthor of the Posthomerica lists the attendant warriors of Penthesilea: " Clonie was there, PolemusaDerinoeEvandreand Antandreand BremusaHippothoedark-eyed HarmothoeAlcibieDerimacheiaAntibroteand Thermodosa glorying with the spear, odysseus hero essay.
Diodorus Siculus lists twelve Amazons who challenged and died fighting Heracles during his quest for Hippolyta's girdle: AellaPhilippisProthoeEriboeaCelaenoEurybiaPhoebeDeianeiraAsteriaMarpeTecmessaAlcippe.
Odyssey Essay: Writing the Introduction
, time: 3:27Comparison of Aeneas and Odysseus: Heroes & Journey | SchoolWorkHelper
Nevertheless, a hero like Odysseus proves his mettle when faced with the opposition of the gods. Odysseus is shrewd, tough, clear-sighted, experienced, a man very well equipped to brave adversity. Like a few other heroes he is intensely self-reliant, confident of Nov 19, · This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by professional essay writers. Analysis of Odysseus as an Epic Hero In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες Amazónes, singular Ἀμαζών Amazōn, via Latin Amāzon, -ŏnis) are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercules, the Argonautica and the blogger.com were a group of female warriors and hunters, who matched men in physical agility and strength, in archery, riding skills and the
No comments:
Post a Comment