Imag(in)ing the Other

Amazons and Ethnicity in Fifth-Century Athens

Bibliographic Data

ID4375147
AuthorsAndrew Stewart (0000-0002-9758-3753, corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume16
Issue4
Pages571
Publication date1995-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePoetics Today (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0333-5372 • E-ISSN: 1527-5507
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1773366
OpenAlexW2328680410
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited11

In this paper, I reconsider the polysemic figure of the Amazon in Greek art, thought, and society during the period circa 750-400 B.C.E., with par- ticular attention to her role as a gendered figuration of the Other. After briefly tracing the development of Amazon scholarship from Bachofen (1861) to the present, and the evolution of the Amazon legend in Greek literature and art from Homer through the Persian Wars, I turn to the Amazons' most distinctive, yet often overlooked, characteristic: their status as parthenoi or unwed females. Wild and unrestrained, they offered a perfect metaphor for the Persian enemy, enabling the Athenians to relegate the barbarian Other to the role of moral and social inferior without diminishing their own achievement. Finally, I con- sider the steep increase in Amazon pictures on Attic vases circa 450 and their accompanying changes in iconography. I suggest that they may be a response to the immigration crisis of the 450s that prompted Perikles' ultrarestrictive Citi- zenship Law of 451. If so, it would be the first time that Amazons were used to stand for other Greeks, and this possibility enriches our understanding of the central role played by Athenian racial superiority in the imperalist ideology of the Periklean state

Ancient history · Ethnic group · Sociology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Anthropology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Gender Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History

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