#myrina

~ Nike.

Date: ca. 190 B.C.

she is EASILY the MOST SUCCESSFUL AMAZON OF ALL TIME THE AMAZON EMPIRE IS WILD "The Amazons, then, the account continues, being a race superior in valour and eager for war, first of all subdued all the cities on the island except the one called Mene, which was considered to be sacred and was inhabited by Ethiopian Ichthyophagi," "The first people against whom they advanced, according to the tale, was the Atlantians, the most civilized men among the inhabitants of those regions, who dwelt in a prosperous country and possessed great cities; it was among them, we are told, that mythology places the birth of the gods, in the regions which lie along the shore of the ocean," "Now the queen of the Amazons, Myrina, collected, it is said, an army of thirty thousand foot-soldiers and three thousand cavalry, since they favoured to an unusual degree the use of cavalry in their wars. 3 For protective devices they used the skins of large snakes, since Libya contains such animals of incredible size, and for offensive weapons, swords and lances"

"Upon entering the land of the Atlantians they defeated in a pitched battle the inhabitants of the city of Cerne, as it is called, and making their way inside the walls along with the fleeing enemy, they got the city into their hands; and desiring to strike terror into the neighbouring peoples they treated the captives savagely, put to the sword the men from the youth upward, led into slavery the children and women, and razed the city. 5 But when the terrible fate of the inhabitants of Cerne became known among their fellow tribesmen, it is related that the Atlantians, struck with terror, surrendered their cities on terms of capitulation and announced that they would do whatever should be commanded them, and that the queen Myrina, bearing herself honourably towards the Atlantians, both established friendship with them and founded a city to bear her name in place of the city which had been razed;" "And since the natives were often being warred upon by the Gorgons, as they were named, a folk which resided upon their borders, and in general had that people lying in wait to injure them, Myrina, they say, was asked by the Atlantians to invade the land of the afore-mentioned Gorgons. But when the Gorgons drew up their forces to resist them a mighty battle took place in which the Amazons, gaining the upper hand, slew great numbers of their opponents and took no fewer than three thousand prisoners; and since the rest had fled for refuge into a certain wooded region, Myrina undertook to set fire to the timber, being eager to destroy the race utterly, but when she found that she was unable to succeed in her attempt she retired to the borders of her country."

"after making war to the end upon the Arabians and slaying many of them, she subdued Syria; but when the Cilicians came out with presents to meet her and agreed to obey her commands, she left those free who yielded to her of their free will and for this reason these are called to this day the "Free Cilicians." 5 She also conquered in war the races in the region of the Taurus, peoples of outstanding courage, and descended through Greater Phrygia to the sea; and then she won over the land lying along the coast and fixed the bounds of her campaign at the Caicus River. 6 And selecting in the territory which she had won by arms sites well suited for the founding of cities, she built a considerable number of them and founded one which bore her own name, but the others she named after the women who held the most important commands, such as Cyme, Pitana, and Priene."

"She seized also some of the islands, and Lesbos in particular, on which she founded the city of Mitylene, which was named after her sister who took part in the campaign. After that, while subduing some of the rest of the islands, she was caught in a storm," "In these times, they go on to say, Mopsus the Thracian, who had been exiled by Lycurgus, the king of the Thracians, invaded the land of the Amazons with an army composed of fellow-exiles, and with Mopsus on the campaign was also Sipylus the Scythian, who had likewise been exiled from that part of Scythia which borders upon Thrace. 11 There was a pitched battle, Sipylus and Mopsus gained the upper hand, and Myrina, the queen of the Amazons, and the larger part of the rest of her army were slain. In the course of the years, as the Thracians continued to be victorious in their battles, the surviving Amazons finally withdrew again into Libya. And such was the end, as the myth relates, of the campaign which the Amazons of Libya made" -Diodorus Siculus, Library

Iliad 2.813–814 (paraphrased by Strabo)

[Myrina], historians say, was one of the Amazons, inferring this from the epithet "much-bounding"; for they say that horses are called "well-bounding" because of their speed, and that Myrina, therefore, was called "much-bounding" because of the speed with which she drove her chariot. Myrina, therefore, is named after this Amazon

Strabo 12.8.6

The first to rule as king over the land of Troy was Teucer, son of the river-god Scamander [...] To Teucer was born a daughter, Bateia, whom Dardanus married

Diodorus Siculus 4.75.1

The scholiast and the commentary of Eustatius on the [Iliad] passage tell that this Myrina was an Amazon, the daughter of Teucer and the wife of Dardanus, and that from her the city Myrina in Aeolis was said to have been named

Amazons# 6 Myrina: Conqueror Queen

South of Greece, across the Mediterranean Sea, exists an older race of Amazons Led by the Amazon Queen Myrina in the desert lands of Libya of North Africa. The Queen conquers surrounding tribes with her 30,000 Amazon foot soldiers, 3,000 cavalry, and shields and armor made of giant snakeskin. Their horseback archery skills were unmatched, and were masters of the Parthian Shot, (hitting targets behind, while riding away).

Invading the lands of the Atlantians, Queen Myrina treated the conquered cities savagely, slaughtering the boys and men, and enslaving the women and children, until the neighboring cities accepted Myrina as ruler. Myrina also defeat another neighboring race of warriors called the Gorgons, who Medusa later leads against Perseus. She continues her quest into Egypt, befriending the god king Horus, son of Isis. Journeying East she conquers the Arabians and Syrians and founds cities along the way. Myrina is finally killed in battle fighting Thracian and Phrygian warriors, and the Amazons, suffering high casualties, are forced to retreat back to Libya in defeat.

This episode of North African Amazons comes from Diodorus Siculus, in his book “The Library of History,” (1st century B.C.) Diodorus seems to be an outlier from other ancient authors in placing Amazons in North Africa. In addition, the Atlantian civilization he mentions is not the lost mythical island of Atlantis made famous by Plato, which authors place in the Atlantic ocean, just west of the Pillars of Herakles (strait of Gibraltar).

The Thracians, said to derive from a son of Ares, were considered a barbarian race which thrived on the west coast of the black sea in modern day Turkey and Bulgaria, and they were known as allies of the trojans at Troy.  The Phrygians resided in Anatolia and the Southern Balkans, and were said to have fought with King Priam of troy against the amazons. King Midas, cursed with his golden touch, was a Phrygian king.

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I'm participating in a strawberry themed collab on IG and decided to draw Myriam and Rina having a cute little strawberry picnic together c:

Terracotta figure of aboy carrying a quiver

Myrina

About 50 BCE - 30 CE

British Museum