THE EARLY AMAZONS Modern and Ancient Perspectives on a Persistent Myth

E. J. Brill. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. 1995. Hardcover. 9004100776 . Minor creasing and edgewear to DJ. Very light wear to book. ; Religions in the Graeco-Roman World; 473 pages; The Early Amazons offers a new understanding of the ancient Amazon myth, situating mythical representations in the realm of cultural history. The first section examines how the Amazons have presented a challenge to views on history, myth and gender in classical mythology from the late eighteenth century up to the impact of structuralism. Topics included are nineteenth-century historiography and the interest in linguistics. The second section sheds new light on the culture of archaic Greece, offering a coherent assessment of literary and visual representations. Taking mythical narrative as a form of oral storytelling, it shows the emergence of the Amazon motif and its meaning in the world of epic. Iconographical analysis reveals how the visual arts have made a contribution of their own to the imaginary presence of the Amazons. .