Many of us have heard of the Amazon Warrior Women through myths and legends, but did you know that there is archeological evidence that proves that they were, in fact, part of our history? In the Golden Armour Collection, I wanted to create large overbearing pieces to evoke these great women's empowering stature and inspire and remind the women of today to step into their power.

 

Amazon Warrior Statue in Samsun, Turkey

'Between 2000 and 1000 BC, tribes of the Amazon Warrior Women lived in the Geography of Samsun (Turkey). In this period, cities and city-states were founded by the Amazon Warrior Women, who adopted a matriarchal social structure. Amazon tribes were subjected to legends, mythologies, movies, painters and poets. 

The word Amazon refers to different meanings in different languages, such as breastless, widowed, brave or amazing warriors. Being a matriarchal-nomadic society, the Amazon Warrior Women lived in different geographies. They were affected by other societies, such as Kazakh, Turkish, Mongol, Scythian and Sarmatian tribes of Central Asia (areas in and around modern day Iran).

Although Amazon Warrior tribes lived in different time intervals and geographies, they preserved common ideals, cultures and lifestyles."

Writes one of Samsun's largest landmarks with the towering statue of a warrior woman holding a spear and shield. She is wearing garments similar to how the Amazons are depicted in movies with bare legs, a pleated skirt and armour, looking powerful and proud with a ferocious expression.

 

Who were the Amazons? 

'Courageous and fiercely independent, the Amazons, commanded by their queen, undertook extensive military expeditions from Scythia to Thrace, Asia Minor and the Aegean Islands, reaching as far as Arabia and Egypt.' Wikipedia.

The Amazons have a mythical representation in Greek history. They are portrayed as a group of female warriors and hunters who surpass all men in physical agility and strength in archery, riding skills, and the arts of combat. Their society was closed to men; they only raised their daughters and returned their sons to their fathers, with whom they would only socialize briefly to reproduce.

But now decades of archaeological discoveries of burial sites of female warriors, including royalty, in the Eurasian Steppes suggest that the horse culture of the Scythian, Sarmatian and Hittite peoples likely inspired the Amazon myth. In 2019, a grave with multiple generations of female Scythian warriors, armed and in golden headdresses, was found in Russia.

Scholars now suggest, the mythical versions of events written by Greek writers and poets may be based on historical facts and were most likely inspired by these Scythian warrior women who lived by the shores of the Black Sea in the first millennium BCE.

 

Changing History to Suit Patriarchy.

Many times in history, we have seen how influential women figures have been turned into myths when they are, in fact, history. It is easier for our current patriarchal society to reduce the power of matriarchy into a tale to keep our existing social structure intact. The Amazons are no different.

My most recent collection Gun's and Lace, inspired by the Anatolian women who fought for freedom in the Turkish War of Independence, proved the power of women once again, as are the women in Iran in the first women-led revolution against male oppression. As is written Homer's Iliad about the Amazons, they also proved the following sentence: ' Then..., he brought the Amazons down, a match for men in war.'

Scattered throughout modern-day Turkey, we can see structures and statues commemorating powerful women from history. 

As modern Turkey grapples with one of the highest rates of Femicide in the western world, a presidential decision declaring that Turkey was leaving the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women, and the world in its entirety suffering from the imbalance of masculine and feminine energies, it is more important than ever that we, the women, are reminded of the bold, independent, courageous women of history to empower us to step into our power in the most fearless way in the present.

 

To a fearless and empowered tomorrow. 

 

XO, 

 

Filiz

#awakenyourheroinewithin