Amazonomachy

Alteration of Amazonomachia, after -machy (suffix forming nouns with the sense ‘battle, fight’).^[1] Amazonomachia is either borrowed from French Amazonomachie or German Amazonomachie, or is a direct learned borrowing from their etymon Ancient Greek Ἀμαζονομᾰχῐ́ᾱ (Amazonomăkhĭ́ā),^[2] from Ἀμαζών (Amazṓn, “mythical female warrior from the Black Sea region”) (for further etymology see that entry) + μᾰ́χη (mắkhē, “battle, combat”) (either ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂gʰ- (“to fight”) or Pre-Greek) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌæməzəˈnɒməki/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌæməzəˈnɑməki/, /ˌæməˌzɑ-/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ama‧zon‧o‧machy

Amazonomachy (plural Amazonomachies)

1. (Ancient Greece, mythology) Synonym of Amazonomachia (“a battle with Amazons (“mythical female warriors thought to inhabit the Black Sea region”); also (art), an artistic representation of such a scene”).

   Coordinate terms: centauromachy, gigantomachy, theomachy, Titanomachy, Typhonomachy

   • 1920, F[rank] B[igelow] Tarbell, “Centauromachy and Amazonomachy in Greek Art: The Reasons for Their Popularity”, in William Nickerson Bates, editor, American Journal of Archaeology, volume XXIV (2nd Series), number 3, Concord, N.H.: […] [F]or the [Archaeological] Institute [of America] by the Rumford Press […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 226:

     The usual themes are mythological, and of these certain ones enjoyed especial popularity. A few great mythical contests, viz., that of the Gods against the Giants, those of the Greeks against Centaurs, against Amazons, and against Trojans, supply subject matter to an impressively large number of decorative Greek sculptures. Of these themes the centauromachies and amazonomachies were the most often repeated.

   • 1936, Alice Whiting Ellis, “Summaries of Dissertations for the Degree of Ph.D., 1935–1936 [Reliefs from a Sarcophagus, Decorated with an Amazonomachy, in the Fogg Museum]”, in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, volume XLVII, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: Humphrey [Sumner] Milford, Oxford University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 216:

     Several substantial fragments of a sarcophagus decorated with an Amazonomachy are in the possession of the Fogg Museum of Harvard University. […] The composition of the scene on the front is in three parts, the usual division of groups on sarcophagi with Amazonomachies.

   • 1998, Ken Dowden, “Amazons”, in Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, editors, The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilisation, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 31, column 1:

     Amazons exist in order to be fought, and ultimately defeated, by men in an Amazonomachy ('Amazon-battle'). […] Heracles' ninth labour was to fetch the girdle of the Amazon queen, Hippolyte, resulting in another Amazonomachy […].

   • 2021, Christina G. Williamson, “Festival Networks: Stratonikeia and the Sanctuary of Hekate at Lagina”, in David Frankfurter, Johannes Hahn, Frits G. Naerebout, Miguel John Versluys, editors, Urban Rituals in Sacred Landscapes in Hellenistic Asia Minor (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World; 196), Leiden, South Holland; Boston, Mass.: Brill Publishers, →ISBN, →ISSN, pages 277 and 279:

     One of the earliest studies of this frieze was by Schober, who drew attention to the 'north' section and its depiction of soldiers and Amazons: these are not engaged in battle as they would be in a regular Amazonomachy, but instead are enjoying cordial relations, shaking hands and clasping shoulders […].

• Amazonomachy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia