MYRINE 'swiftly bounding'
The deeds attributed to Myrine are truly of mythic proportions. Queen of the North African Gorgons, she
succeeded in raising an army of 33 000, 30 000 of which was cavalry, and conquer a stupendous amount of
territory, including Atlantis. Depending who is writing, she was a kind conqueror, or an incredibly vicious one,
acting more like a butcher than an Amazon. Her story was still in the process of revision when these versions
were written down.
Considering how difficult it was for most early cities to reach 10 000 people, even assuming Myrine collected
vast numbers of allies or conscripts, the numbers seem too large. The story reads like a telescoped, confused
explanation of how the Amazon Nation came to be so vast. The Nation was of considerable size, but what the
Greeks knew of it was created and administered mainly in a time when societal norms were changing.
Information on it derives mainly from biased sources, who considered large groups of allied people impossible without warfare. Considering the Northern Amazon Nation existed as a political power for over 400 years and only ceased to be one after two centuries of concerted pressure from
patriarchal forces, and the inability of war based empires to last even 100 years, fighting has too strong a role in
these stories.
Some of the first African Amazon tribes lived on an island off the vast Northern coast of the continent,
alternately called Tritonia or Hespera by later authors. The island was probably called Tritonia, giving the inland
sea Lake Tritonis its name later. Others lived in a territory including the vast Atlas mountain range.
Unfortunately for the island Amazons who worshipped the Moon and Sea Goddess Sipylene 'the Mother,'
Tritonia was a volcanic island. In a cataclysm that would be repeated at Thera near Crete, the island was
destroyed, leaving behind only the present day Canary Islands. The Tritonians were driven to the mainland. However, life was difficult in and around the Atlas Mountains.
The Sun beat down mercilessly, and it was necessary to contend with the desert. The sea-loving Tritonians soon came into conflict with the Gorgons, worshippers of Athena the Sun Goddess. Such a huge number of refugees of a different culture although similar philosophy could not be absorbed easily. After some fighting, the first Myrine led her people further east, to the region around Lake Tritonis. The name 'Myrine' became a title taken by each queen in honour of her role in resettling her people and repairing relations with the Gorgons. Her efforts on the latter were so successful that the two tribes eventually united, much to the confusion of outsiders later, resulting in the garbled tale of the invasion of Atlantis.
The next Myrine of great influence had to deal directly with the united Egypt. Its armies forced a Libyan migration which led to conflict between the Amazons and the fleeing tribes. Myrine was more than successful, turning her army from defense to offense and taking control of Syria, Egypt, Phrygia, and other Mediterranean lands. After some years holding that territory, renewed fighting forced them to withdraw from most of it, except Phrygia and some small areas around the Mediterranean. The resurgence of unified Egypt forced a Libyan migration, resulting in Amazons and other tribes sailing on to Crete and Cyprus. It became clear that taking over other nations was not a successful tactic for increasing the Amazon Nation or maintaining it.
Unlike most nations, since the Amazon Nation consisted solely of women, any strategy that ended numerous lives to no purpose had to be abandoned by necessity, even without the difference in mindset between Goddess worshipping and god worshipping cultures. So by philosophy and practicality, a conquistadora strategy never became enshrined in Amazon culture.
The Myrine who helped found Ephesus was a great warrior and general, but more importantly she was an excellent diplomat. Her numerous 'foot and cavalry' were not raised solely from Libyan Amazonia, if such numbers could have been raised. Rather than going out to conquer, she sent out numerous riders and messengers to search out like minded tribes of women, with overtures to confederation.
The tactic was enormously successful. By the end of it, the Taurian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caucus river formed the boundaries of the Amazon Nation in Europe and Asia Minor. Numerous Goddess worshipping tribes that were not Amazon became allies in order to gain support against the growing numbers of hostile patriarchal tribes coming from the North. Myrine went on to found a city in Aeolis named for herself, and Smyrna in Lydia, also named for herself. During one of her many sea journeys she was caught in a storm. She sacrificed to Sipylene, long considered a protector of sailors caught on rough seas, and made it to shore. Myrine died fighting Scythian and Thrakian tribes that felt threatened by the increased power of the Amazons. Her tomb, called Bateia 'thorn hill' was near Troy, a later barometer for the strength of patriarchal forces.
The next Myrine, daughter of Orithia, was forced to fight followers of 'Dionysus' focontrol of Ephesus. Besides being an important crossroads, it was of such religious importance that control of it was considered a source of Amazon strength. Myrine's army was fronted by her Gorgons in snakeskin armour, armed with bows which they drew past their chests and could fire rapidly from horses at full gallop.
Gathering allies as she moved North, a huge army with a significant mounted component attacked the Greek stronghold of Olympus. Succeeding in breaking its power at least temporarily, memory of this army remained, multiplying in numbers and ferocity as time passed. Much of this army, like others before it, consisted of women past childbearing age. Later encounters with increasing numbers of Greek soldiers forced younger women to fight on a regular basis, leading to the eventual tales of the beautiful Gorgons, protected by their crone sisters, the Graea.
Later the Thermodontine Amazons reunited the numerous tribes and cities of women who worshipped mainly Athena, Artemis, and Cybele, and recreated alliances with other Goddess-worshipping tribes. Artemis was the main embodiment of feminine power in the Northern areas of the Amazon Nation, and never ceased to be associated with it. Athena suffered cruel transformations at the hands of the newly powerful Greek warlords,
who made her white and a cruel foe to women.
URL: