De Amazonibus Dissertatio. Second edition

1687

Shoults Lb 1687 P

[Amsterdam]: Apud Johannem Wolters et Ysbrandum Haring

The first literary mention of the matriarchal society of the Amazons was in Homer’s Iliad. Ancient historians Herodotus (5th cent. BC), Polybius (3rd cent. BC), Strabo (1st cent. BC), and Plutarch (1st cent. AD) all wrote of these ‘warrior women’ who were remembered as skilled horsewomen; man-haters, who were fierce and unforgiving in battle. It is easy to dismiss them as a myth. However, with the discovery in recent years of female warrior graves on the Russia-Kazakhstan border, there is now evidence that the Amazons could have existed. The frontispiece of Pierre Petit’s work on Amazons features a breastless Amazon, seated in the foreground, while a battle rages in the background. The most modern iteration of the women is, of course, Wonder Woman (2017), with Gal Gadot in the lead role.