Amazons were titled Androktones (Killers of Men) by Herodotus, who said that this name was a direct translation of Oiorpata, the name they were known by in the Scythian language.
There are various claims surrounding the origins of the Amazons, but the majority of those believing Amazons to be historical fact agree that they came from somewhere in Central Asia. Evidence is provided from excavations of kurgans containing remains putatively identified as women warriors.
Others note that Amazons are always encountered outside of the confines of the civilized Greek world, and see them more as allegorical representatives of barbaric lands where law and rationality were completely inverted from the norm.
In ancient Greek imagery, Amazons have frequently been depicted as wearing Scythian dress, with headgear representative of the enemy du jour.
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| Amazon wearing Scythian cap. |
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| Amazon with sagaris wearing Phrygian cap. |
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| Amazon wearing Persian (?) cap. |
At other times, they are depicted as wearing Greek-style armor and helmets.
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| Hippolyte (mounted) in Greek-style armor, while her companion wears Scythian garb with a Greek helmet. |
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| Heracles taking down an Amazon wearing Greek-style armor. |
Modern imagery is varied, but ranges from typical fantasy cheesecake armor, to what is more or less Greek-style armor.
Anyway, the first set of plastic 1/72 scale Amazons were produced last year by Dark Alliance. They followed up this year with the release of Modern Amazons.
The initial set of Amazons, are dressed in a mix of fantasy and quasi-historical armor.
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| Archers from Set 1 |
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| Sword and spears from Set 1 |
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| Spear and sword from Set 2 |
There was a lot of flash on the figures, and I found the plastic used for the production of these figures to be particularly difficult to work with when trying to clean them up.
The latest set of Amazons have a modern aesthetic that includes a mix of medieval plate armor, cleavage, and bare midriffs.
They are figurative rather than actual Amazons, and fall more accurately into the classification of "fantasy female warriors".
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| Swords from Set 1 |
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| Dual wield, polearms, and archer from Set 1 |
The archer seems to be different from what is shown on the back of the box. The figures I received had short, unfeathered shafts in their quivers.
I'd be interested to know if others buying this set actually get fully cast arrows for their figures.
These figures had even more flash than the previous sets, but the plastic has a firmer consistency, making clean-up somewhat easier.
I thought it was particularly funny that for more than half of the figures, no matter how heavily armored they were from the front, that their backsides were always exposed.
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| Looks like an album cover for 2 Live Crew... |
The set of Mounted Modern Amazons may be of particular interest to many because of the mounts included in the set.
There was very little flash with this set, and the plastic has a harder consistency that makes clean-up very easy.
Finally, I present a couple of Ral Partha Amazons (Personalities and Things that go Bump in the Night 01-085) portrayed in heroic nudity, and a [Amazon] High Priestess from the Wizards and Clerics box set (The Adventurers 98-001).
A comparison of some of the taller Dark Alliance Amazons, and a Ral Partha Amazon.
