AEU TOCW vvv wares. It is not likely that a race rf female warriors ever existed ; nor are they now and where to be found. Straho is still more explicit, and seems indignant that such an absurdity should have obtained currency so long : His authority is entitled to particular regard, as he was a native of Cappadocia, one of the coun tries which the Amazons were said to have possessed, and where it was most likely that traces of their his tory might be found ; yet he thus expresses himse.f: " Many stories have a mixture of truth ; and most ac counts admit of some variation. But the history of the Amazons has been uniformly the same ; the whole a monstrous and absurd detail, without the least share of probability. For who can be persuaded, that a of women, either as an army, or a city, or a state, could subsist without men ; and not only subsist, but make expeditions into other countries, and gain the sove reignty over kingdoms ; not merely over the Ionians and those who were in their neighbourhood ; but to pass the seas, and carry their arms into Europe. To accede to this, were to suppose, that nature varied from her fixed principles ; and that in those days women were men, and men women." Lib. xi. p. 770.
We are not sure, however, but that Straho goes somewhat farther on this subject than we should choose to follow him. The authorities which have been quoted, seem sufficiently to prove, that there was a race of people called Ainazonides, that they sent out colonies, and had extensive possessions. If there is any depen dence at all on history, this point seems to be clearly made out. \\e do not, therefore, dispute the existence of the Amazonians; we only cplestion their at tributes; that is, we deny that they were a community of women, or that they either maimed the legs of their sons, or cut off the breasts of their daughters.
How then, it may be asked, has this improbable fiction arisen ? We need not go far for a solution; the plastic genius of the Greeks was equal to rout Ii more than this, and has produced stories much more unaccountable. But as most fables have either their origin in truth, or arise from etymological deductions, or allegorical inter pretations, it might be interesting to enquire, how the story of the Amazons has :writ ed at such an overgrown height of absurdity ? and though we arc far from enter taining the presumptuous hope of explaining half the abeirations of the human understanding, vet ancient his tory seems to supply sufficient materials fur explaining the Amazonian legends. Flerodotus, (lib. iv. c. 110.) for instance, tells us, that the Amazons were called, amongst the Scythians, 0.;w/rulu. Mr Bryant, in con formity w ith his favourite system, tells us that Oiorpata signifies the priests or worshippers of 0 rus. But 11 ero dotus says, that it is compounded or two words, Oior, a /nun ; and Pata, to kill ; consequently the word Dior pata, is the same as 'Ayo'fo?..royag, man-ki//er. We believe
this to be the origin of the table about the Amazons killing their husbands; but we are persuaded that the name was not given them on that account, but because they were notorious for the barbarous custom prevalent amongst the savage nations of antiquity, of sacrificing the unfortunate strangers who happened to be cast on their shores. The notion of their being women, of their cutting oR' their breasts, kc. arose from another blunder in etymology. The Greeks, w ho never went beyued their or, n language for the origin of any term, supposed that the word ./nuszon was compounded of et, priv. and egos, a breast. I fere, then, were ample mate rials for a fertile imagination, to paint women without breasts, murderers of their husbands, and delighting ill ..,•ar and bloodshed, together with the whole tissue of absurdities interwoven with this improbable story. Who ever is acquainted with the structure of Grecian fables, must be convinced, that many of the most celebrated stories of the ancient mythology, were founded on cir cumstances not more. substantial than those which have been stated as the orie:in of the Amazonian history. They who wish for farther information respecting the \mazons, may consult the authors quoted or referred to in this article ; particularly in favour of the common ac counts, Petri Petiti, Philosoldzi at Medici, de .linazoni i' zr, Dis.sertatio Lutetix Parisior. 1605. Against them, Bryant's ..11yrho/ogy, ol. i. p. 53.; and vol. v. p. 110. Sel edit.
The Hindus have also had their Strirajya, or country !,.re,Tenet! by ;eomen. They assert, that the sovereign of it was always a queen, and that all her officers, civil and military, were females, while the great body of the nation lived as in other countries ; but they have not in this respect carried the extravagance of the fable to the same pitch with the Greeks. It is related in one of their ancient books, that when Ravana was apprehensive of bcfrig totally he sent his wives to distant countries, where they might be secure; that they first settled on the Indian peninsula, near the site of Sriran ga pattana, or Seringapatani; but that being disturbed in that station, part of them proceeded to the north of D wa.raca in Gujasat, and part into sane'-hadwipa, where they formed a government of women, whence their set tlement was called Strirajya. It was on the sea-shore near the Cola mountains, extending about 40 yojanas in length, and surrounded by low swampy grounds, named Jalabhumi in Sanscrit, and Daldal in the Nulgar idiom. Strirajya, therefore, must be the country of Saba, now Assab, which was governed by a celebrated queen, and the land round which has to this day the name of Tattal. (c)