Dr. Owen Rees

Yeah, so the image of the Scythian woman in Greek and Roman thought is one of fear. So Scythian women are portrayed as quite independent, holding prestigious positions, leaving the house, riding horses. And in some contexts, we also hear them, especially young women, so sort of young adult women in the context of battle.

Yeah, so the image of the Scythian woman in Greek and Roman thought is one of fear. So Scythian women are portrayed as quite independent, holding prestigious positions, leaving the house, riding horses. And in some contexts, we also hear them, especially young women, so sort of young adult women in the context of battle.

Yeah, so the image of the Scythian woman in Greek and Roman thought is one of fear. So Scythian women are portrayed as quite independent, holding prestigious positions, leaving the house, riding horses. And in some contexts, we also hear them, especially young women, so sort of young adult women in the context of battle.

The reason why this causes fear in the Greek and Romans is because this is the exact opposite of what the Greek or Roman male writers think a woman should be doing. There's a couple of things here. One is our alarm bells should be ringing because it's a bit of a cliche. At the edges of the world, the order of things is reversed. Men stay at home, women go to war, things like that.

The reason why this causes fear in the Greek and Romans is because this is the exact opposite of what the Greek or Roman male writers think a woman should be doing. There's a couple of things here. One is our alarm bells should be ringing because it's a bit of a cliche. At the edges of the world, the order of things is reversed. Men stay at home, women go to war, things like that.

The reason why this causes fear in the Greek and Romans is because this is the exact opposite of what the Greek or Roman male writers think a woman should be doing. There's a couple of things here. One is our alarm bells should be ringing because it's a bit of a cliche. At the edges of the world, the order of things is reversed. Men stay at home, women go to war, things like that.

This is quite a common trope. However, Going back to the burial evidence we have, they have found female burials where the bodies bear all the hallmarks of combat. Not violence, as in literally they've clearly been subject to a violent attack and that's what's killed them, but the hallmarks of a combative body. If it was male, we'd have no question we're looking at someone who's experienced war.

This is quite a common trope. However, Going back to the burial evidence we have, they have found female burials where the bodies bear all the hallmarks of combat. Not violence, as in literally they've clearly been subject to a violent attack and that's what's killed them, but the hallmarks of a combative body. If it was male, we'd have no question we're looking at someone who's experienced war.

This is quite a common trope. However, Going back to the burial evidence we have, they have found female burials where the bodies bear all the hallmarks of combat. Not violence, as in literally they've clearly been subject to a violent attack and that's what's killed them, but the hallmarks of a combative body. If it was male, we'd have no question we're looking at someone who's experienced war.

For a long time, it was always explained away. There must be another reason, even to the point where they just assumed they were male bodies, things like that.

For a long time, it was always explained away. There must be another reason, even to the point where they just assumed they were male bodies, things like that.

For a long time, it was always explained away. There must be another reason, even to the point where they just assumed they were male bodies, things like that.

But over the past 30 plus years, there's been a lot of research kind of going, no, this does seem to verify what we're hearing, which is that young women in particular may well have seen battle or combat or raiding or whatever it be that they did. So this is also where you can start to see the links to the Amazon myth. So this culture of a female warrior group that

But over the past 30 plus years, there's been a lot of research kind of going, no, this does seem to verify what we're hearing, which is that young women in particular may well have seen battle or combat or raiding or whatever it be that they did. So this is also where you can start to see the links to the Amazon myth. So this culture of a female warrior group that

But over the past 30 plus years, there's been a lot of research kind of going, no, this does seem to verify what we're hearing, which is that young women in particular may well have seen battle or combat or raiding or whatever it be that they did. So this is also where you can start to see the links to the Amazon myth. So this culture of a female warrior group that

bans men from its society on horseback with the bow. We can see the Scythian imagery coming in. And they are the great foe of so many Greek heroes, whether it be Hercules, Theseus, whoever it be. So many of the Greek heroes have to fight the Amazons at some point. And it's almost like this sense of asserting patriarchal control over this embodiment of everything the Greeks fear.

bans men from its society on horseback with the bow. We can see the Scythian imagery coming in. And they are the great foe of so many Greek heroes, whether it be Hercules, Theseus, whoever it be. So many of the Greek heroes have to fight the Amazons at some point. And it's almost like this sense of asserting patriarchal control over this embodiment of everything the Greeks fear.

bans men from its society on horseback with the bow. We can see the Scythian imagery coming in. And they are the great foe of so many Greek heroes, whether it be Hercules, Theseus, whoever it be. So many of the Greek heroes have to fight the Amazons at some point. And it's almost like this sense of asserting patriarchal control over this embodiment of everything the Greeks fear.

The independent woman, basically.

The independent woman, basically.