Imagine an enemy army on horseback heading in your direction, shooting hundreds of poison-tipped arrows into the sky, launching javelins, wielding iron blades, and slinging bullets made of lead. If you’re lucky enough to survive the first onslaught, a silent lasso is likely to pull your feet from under you, the impact of the fall knocking your breath away as your killer swiftly approaches. The last thing you see are her tattooed arms reaching up as she lands the pointed end of her battle axe into your skull.
This is what it was like to face the Scythian [SITH-y-an] women warriors, or Amazons, who roamed the expanse of land from the western Black Sea to the Central Asian mountains from about 600 BCE to 400 CE.
While scholars once believed the Amazons were pure myth, recent archeological findings of burial mounds, called kurgans, have backed up Greek, Persian, and Chinese accounts of fearsome bands of nomadic women. And along with weapons, gold, and sacrificed horses, skeletons of these warrior women were buried with personal cannabis-burning kits.
The Scythians, both men and women, were expert horse riders, archers, hunters, herders, and raiders. Their fluid, nomadic lifestyle meant boys and girls were raised equally, with an early focus on horsemanship and weaponry.
The ancient Greeks were both fascinated and terrified by the Scythians, describing their interactions (via trade or war) in astonishing detail through art and written record. They called Scythian women “Amazons,” whom Stanford University historian and author Adrienne Mayor says behaved just like Greek men in their physical aptitude, freedom to roam, and choice of sexual partners, “causing the Greeks to feel awe, fear and respect.”
