A very interesting news!

[Cyrus]

http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_p ... PN=1&TPN=1

[marcus]

That *is* interesting. Thanks, Cyrus!

[justme]

Did anyone see "Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women" with Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball? It aired in the US on PBS several months ago. She talked about a woman warrior who was found with an arrowhead in her remains, showing that she had been killed in battle. She followed a probably migratory path for these women who she believes to have been nomadic. In Mongolia, she found a natural child of two Mongols with blond hair and blue eyes and believes this little girl to be an Amazon decendent.Thoughts anyone?

[jona]

I recall a similar discovery by Russian archaeologists in the southern Caucasus area in the 1970's - so to speak in the non-Iranian part of Azerbaidjan. Same area, same type of discovery. In the Alexander sources, Amazons are mentioned in both Media and Hyrcania, not too far from Azerbaidjan. This is most intrigueing. I love it.Jona

[S]

Greetings, Cyrus, First, thank you for the link. I have been following related discoveries for some time. That said, while the idea of women warriors is certainly not a new one, it is the interpretation of the material that requires care, without romanticizing the findings to match what we *want* to believe as opposed to what is true. Of course, there is some satisfaction in seeing these come to light.. it was postulated long ago that female warriors (within tribal groups of men and women) existed (and of course, even in the ancient world mythology was created from reality and muddied the waters); then we seemed to go through a long period when the idea was dismissed - and here we are again, back at the start.Hopefully, this time we can discard the mythology surrounding them and examine the reality. It is important to remember that "amazons" were already mythologized by the time of Alexander, which is why the Thelastris story is just that: a story, albeit an amusing one. To date, there is no evidence to either support that these women lived apart from men, nor to match the mythology. I suppose a movie-maker could take this tidbit and create an entire culture from it, however (said smiling). Regards,
Sikander

[Cyrus]

Zan in Persian language means woman, Amazon, old Persian "haumazan" (in Zoroastrianism hauma is a sacred drink and also a powerful deity) and middle Persian "Mazan" was not a mythical creature but it was the name of women who still live in Mazandaran province in the north of Iran.It might be strange for you, if I say that in Mazandaran and Gilan, women are arrested for beating their husbands, the interesting fact is that Mazani men work at home and these are women who work at the farms.http://www.parstimes.com/women/employme ... .html"Case studies show the situation of women and their labor force. In the villages of Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, women are considerably active and have a high share in productive activities. In the village of Ahandan in Gilan, women form 76 per cent of the labor force in rice-planting and 80 per cent in tea- planting.""In most villages in Gilan and Mazandaran, a group of women under the supervision of a woman who is called "Mobasher" (Supervisor) go to the neighboring villages for weeding and planting seedlings."

[Cyrus]

An interesing article about it in Yahoo:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... r_dc"These days Iranian women are not even allowed to watch men compete on the football field, but 2,000 years ago they could have been carving the boys to pieces on the battlefield."

[S]

Greetings Cyrus,Thank you for the added input. As I said, this was postulated some time ago, then dropped, and now it is back as the evidence increases.I have never felt women as warriors was a myth, but I do feel the Amazon *mythology* as it is presented is a myth. And almost certainly Thelastris is, fascinating though it might have been (smiling). Regards,
Sikander