The Truths Behind Myths of Ancient Amazons古亚马孙人传说背后的真相

Hippolyta， Antiope and Penthesilea. These are the names of Amazonian women warriors made famous in folklore， thanks in large part to male Greek storytellers like Homer and Herodotus.

希波吕忒、安提俄珀、彭忒西勒亚，这些都是民间传说中著名亚马孙女武士的名字。她们之所以出名，在很大程度上要归功于荷马及希罗多德等古希腊男性作家。

They were huntresses， founders of cities， rivals and lovers of adventurous men. They battled the Greek hero Heracles and fought alongside the Trojans in the final hours of Troy. And yet， they are widely held to be little more than figments1 of Greco-Roman imagination.

她们是女猎手，是城市的创建者，是爱冒险的男人的对手与恋人。她们曾与古希腊英雄赫拉克勒斯交手，也曾在特洛伊城即将陷落之际与特洛伊人并肩作战。然而，人们普遍认为她们是古希腊-罗马人想象出来的。

But warrior women actually existed， according to Stanford’s Adrienne Mayor， a research scholar in the Department of Classics. In her new book， “The Amazons2： Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World，” Mayor explains the real-world underpinnings3 and history behind the Amazonian folklore.

但斯坦福大学古典学系的研究学者阿德里安娜·梅厄却认为，女武士是真实存在的。有关亚马孙人的民间传说源于现实，有其真实的历史背景，梅厄在她的新书《古代世界亚马孙女战士的生活与传说》中对此作了阐述。

In Hellenic legends， as Mayor learned， Amazons often faced defeat and death at the hands of male Greek heroes. Yet the storytellers also described these female foreigners as exceptionally heroic， civilized and worthy counterparts to the Greek champions.

正如梅厄所了解到的，在古希腊传说中，亚马孙女战士常被希腊男性英雄击败，甚至被杀，但讲故事的人却又把这些异邦女子描绘得极有英雄气概又文明开化，还说她们是与希腊斗士旗鼓相当的女中豪杰，是值得尊敬的。

“Amazons were modeled on stories of self-confident women of steppe4 cultures who fought for glory and survival and enjoyed male companionship，” but， as Mayor puts it， “on terms that seemed extraordinary to the ancient Greeks.”

“亚马孙女战士的原型是自信的游牧民族女子，有关她们的故事是大草原文化的一部分，她们为了荣誉和生存而战，喜欢与男子为伴。”但如梅厄所说，“在古希腊人看来，她们与伴侣的关系似乎有点奇特”。

The hereditary stories left quite a mark on the Greeks. “The popularity of Amazon stories and images suggests that Greek women and men enjoyed imagining heroes and heroines interacting as equals and seeking adventure and glory in hunting and battle，” Mayor said.

这些故事世代流传，极大地影响了希腊人。梅厄说：“亚马孙女战士的故事脍炙人口，她们的形象深入人心，这些都说明希腊的男男女女都喜欢想象男女英雄人物平等交流，一起在狩猎和战斗中寻求冒险与荣耀。”

Real women warriors

真正的女武士

Mayor began her investigation by amassing all the surviving ancient Greek and Latin accounts she could find that told of encounters with Amazons as well as “warlike， barbarian” women who behaved like Amazons of myth. The texts described them as members of nomadic tribes roving the territories that the Greeks collectively called “Scythia”—a vast expanse between the Black Sea and Mongolia—from the seventh century B.C. until the fifth century A.D.

现存的古希腊语和拉丁语文献记录下了遭遇亚马孙女战士的情形，以及遭遇“野蛮好战”女子的事件，后者举止行为犹如神话中的亚马孙女战士。梅厄把她能找到的所有这些文献都汇集到一起 ，开始调查研究。从文献上看，她们都是游牧部落的成员，从公元前7世纪到公元5世纪，这些部落在黑海和蒙古之间的广阔土地上漂泊生存，希腊人将那片地域统称为“斯基泰”。

She proceeded to research the Scythians—Eurasian steppe peoples who cultivated a mastery of horseback riding and archery for thousands of years. Mayor consulted early European travelers’ reports and ethnographical materials as well as contemporary descriptions of steppe life， comparing the latter to ancient Greek knowledge and speculation concerning the identity of the Amazons.

接下来，她研究了欧亚草原上的游牧民族斯基泰人，数千年间，他们磨练出了精湛的骑射技艺。梅厄翻阅了古代欧洲旅行者的见闻录及人种志，也查看了当代人对游牧生活的描述。古希腊人对亚马孙女战士的特征是有所认识的，也做过推测，梅厄将此与当代人对游牧生活的描述作了比较。

Mayor also analyzed physical evidence—including “actual battle-scarred skeletons of women buried with their weapons and horses”—and she corresponded with the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to learn how researchers there used infrared cameras to reveal invisible tattoos on frozen female Scythian mummies from more than two millennia ago.

梅厄还分析了实物证据——包括“一些女性的尸骨，骨头上留有战斗创痕，陪葬品是她们自己的武器及战马”——她还与圣彼得堡艾尔米塔什博物馆取得了联系。那里有一些冻住的斯基泰女性干尸，这些尸体都有2000多年的历史，身上有些肉眼难辨的纹身。她想知道博物馆的研究人员是如何用红外线照相机把那些纹身拍出来的。

“Their tattoos of deer and geometric designs resemble the tattoos and patterns on Amazons depicted in ancient Greek vase paintings，” Mayor said.

梅厄说道：“她们身上有野鹿和几何图形的纹身，这些纹样与古希腊花瓶上所绘的亚马孙女战士身上的纹身和图样相似。”

Furthermore， Mayor was able to collect and verify lesser-known tales and reports （such as a newly translated Egyptian papyrus5 in Vienna） that showed warrior women were the subject of much fascination in cultures beyond Greece—Persia， Egypt， Caucasia， Armenia， Central Asia， China and among the steppe peoples themselves.

此外，梅厄还收集并核实了一些不大为人所知的传说（如最近在维也纳完成的一个古埃及纸莎草纸文献的译本）。资料显示，除了希腊文化，在波斯、埃及、高加索、亚美尼亚、中亚和中国文化中以及草原民族自身当中，女战士都是令人着迷的主题。

Examining the corroborating evidence， Mayor found that “real women warriors lived at the time that the Greeks were describing Amazons and warlike women of exotic eastern lands.” She even determined that there was even more respect and exaltation for women warriors in the non-Greek traditions that stretched from the Black Sea to China.

梅厄仔细研究了这些确凿的证据，她发现“在古希腊人用神话描写亚马孙女战士及东方异邦的好战女子的时期，正是现实中女武士所生活的年代”。她甚至推断，在有些非希腊民族的传统中，人们对女武士有着更多尊重与赞赏，这样的传统扎根于从黑海到中国的广大地区。

In these non-Greek stories， she said that male and female enemies were so equally matched that neither could win： “Instead of ending in doom for the woman， the former foes declare their mutual admiration and decide to become companions in love and war.”