Warrior women: the changing appeal of the Amazon in the art of Greece and the wider Mediterranean c. 600-300 B.C.

Thesis

This thesis investigates the mythological figure of the Amazons in the literary and material culture of the ancient Mediterranean. Beginning with the earliest references to the Amazons, this thesis examines the wide variety of media featuring the myth with a particular focus on material culture of sixth to fourth centuries B.C. The thesis is organised both chronologically and geographically, beginning with material from Archaic and Classical Greece before exploring the material culture of Italy and Western Anatolia. The thesis thus tracks the development of this single myth through a variety of media, geographical contexts, and chronological periods. This is a novel approach, as these aspects of the Amazon mythos are usually considered in isolation. These approaches are supplemented throughout by an analysis of what the myth potentially represented to the societies who interacted with the story through imported and local material culture. The thesis concludes that the inherent adaptability and enigmatic nature of the Amazon story was a key factor behind its popularity, and that mythological art from antiquity can be as significant for its ambiguities and complexities as in its more straightforward codifications of meaning.

Authors: Parkin, AE

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-6rbqxg16x
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Amazons; Athenian vases; Etruscan material culture; Caria; Athenian vase trade; Classical Greece; Etruscan Italy; classical archaeology; South Italian vases; Greek mythology; Archaic Greece; Greek material culture; Anatolian material culture; Lycia; Amazonomachy
• Subjects: Sculpture, Greek; Marble sculpture, Classical; Mythology, Classical, in art; Turkey, Southeastern; Mythology, Greek, in art; Classical antiquities; Art, Etruscan; Art objects, Classical; Etruria--Antiquities; Vase-painting, Greek--Themes, motives; Vases, Greek, in art