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In Greek mythology, Amazonomachy (English translation: "Amazon battle"; plural, Amazonomachiai () or Amazonomachies) was the portrayal of the mythical battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Amazons, a nation of all-female warriors. Many of the myths portrayed were that of Heracles' ninth labor, which was the retrieval of the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and of Theseus' abduction of Hippolyta, whom he claimed as his wife. Another famous scene portrayed is that of Achilles' victorious battle against Penthesilea during the Trojan war. ==Symbolism of Amazonomachy== Amazonomachy represents the Greek ideal of civilization. The Amazons were portrayed as a savage and barbaric race, while the Greeks were portrayed as a civilized race of human progress. According to Bruno Snell's view of Amazonomachy For the Greeks, the Titanomachy and the battle against the giants remained symbols of the victory which their own world had won over a strange universe; along with the battles against the Amazons and Centaurs they continue to signalize the Greek conquest of everything barbarous, of all monstrosity and grossness.〔DuBois, Page (1982). ''Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the Pre-History of the Great Chain of Being''〕 Amazonomachy is also seen as the rise of feminism in Greek culture. In Quintus Smyrnaeus's ''The Fall of Troy'', Penthesilea, an Amazonian queen, who joined on the side of the Trojans during the Trojan war, was quoted at Troy, saying: Not in strength are we inferior to men; the same our eyes, our limbs the same; one common light we see, one air we breathe; nor different is the food we eat. What then denied to us hath heaven on man bestowed?〔Quintus Smyrnaeus. "The Fall of Troy." Translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913.〕 According to Josine Blok, Amazonomachy provides two different contexts in defining a Greek hero. Either the Amazons are one of the disasters from which the hero rids the country after his victory over a monster; or they are an expression of the underlying Attis motif, in which the hero shuns human sexuality in marriage and procreation.〔Blok, Josine (1994). ''The Early Amazons: Modern and Ancient Perspectives on a Persistent Myth''〕 In the 5th century, the Achaemenid Empire of Persia began a series of invasions against Ancient Greece. Because of this, some scholars believe that on most 5th-century Greek art, the Persians were shown allegorically, through the figure of centaurs and Amazons.〔DuBois, Page (1982). ''Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the Pre-History of the Great Chain of Being''〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「amazonomachy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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