Re: Cimmerians and Amazons

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, " Alexander Stolbov" <astolbov@...>
wrote:

> Thank you for the interesting information, George.
> (Unfortunately, Oleg Trubachov died in March 2002)
>
> Just an unlearned guess follows :)
>
> Bellerophon is famous due to victories over his enemies: Chimera,

Amazons

> and Solims.
> It happens rather often in myths when several images or events merge
> together, or, in opposite, one image or event splits and is

presented as

> several different stories.
> Let's assume that all the Bellerophon's enemies represent the same

or a few

> closely related items. What could we say about their ethnic

attribution?

>
> Amazons
> 1) Older pictures of Amazons show them as riders dressed in long

trousers.

> Please note that nobody else in the Near East was able to ride in

that time

> (before the Trojan war). And naturally nobody else wore long

trousers

> because only horse(wo)men need them. Plus, Amazons had a cap of

Iranian

> type. The next folk appeared in the Near East which had these

peculiarities

> (riders, long trousers, caps of this form) were Cimmerians. However

all the

> ancient Iranian tribes had this set of features.
>
> 2) Lysias said that Amazons were the first to mount horses and to

use iron.

> Until the fall of the Hittite empire the iron metallurgy was the

monopoly of

> Hittites, who adopted it from Hatti. The territory of Amazons was

very close

> to the Hattic ethnic territory so Amazons might adopted this

technology from

> them like Hittite.
>
> 3) I hope that professional linguists will correct my attempt to

give the

> Iranian etymology of the Amazons word:
> "Ama" - from Aryan *ama 'force, power' (Old.Ind. a_ma 'force of

impact',

> Avestan ama 'force of impact, man power')
> "Zon" - from IE *gWen 'woman' (cf. Persian zan 'woman')
> [or perhaps corrupted Iranian *zantu 'tribe' ?]
> Thus the Iranian meaning of the word could be 'mighty women'
>
> Chimera
> It is a monster with Eastern roots and a distinctive metallurgical

smell:

> http://www.unifi.it/unifi/surfchem/solid/bardi/chimera/origins.html
> (By the way, to kill Chimera Bellerophon had to mount Pegasus like

an

> Amazon)
> Could not the words Chimera and Cimmerians have the same origin?

> Solims
> It is very temptative to compare Solims with Sarmatians.

In this case the Solims are probably the Solymi, a name for Lycian-
speaking peoples. Lycia was an Anatolian area near Hittite territory
(and the Lycian region was once a vassal state in the Hittite
kingdom) where most of Bellerophon's exploits take place. I
interpreted the story about the Solymi as legendary reference to war
between Anatolian Lycians and Ionian colonists.

As for the chimera, I have my pet theory-One etymology given for
chimera is she-goat. My theory is that Chimera was a local divinity
or monster of some kind identified with she-goat.

Cort Williams