Feature

Renaissance Wonder Women

To Renaissance audiences, the mythical Amazons were exotic, mysterious and revealed hidden truths about their own society.

Alanna Skuse | Published in History Today Volume 72 Issue 12 December 2022

Bronze parade mask perhaps worn by male soldiers representing the Amazons. Nola, Italy, second century.
Bronze parade mask perhaps worn by male soldiers representing the Amazons. Nola, Italy, second century. Photo © The British Museum/ Trustees of the British Museum.

First conceived in the ancient world, the legend of the Amazons resurfaced in the age of Shakespeare to become a fully fledged story of female power, charisma and cruelty. From keeping men as sex slaves to removing their own breasts, the Amazon women imagined in Renaissance texts were much racier – and much less sanitised – than their Hollywood descendants.

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