Women wielding swords/daggers/bows in the past

[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by Luc LEFEBVRE

Somes pics of african (Congo) women or young girls with knives, in ceremonial use.

Thanks for the interesting pics, Luc

Some of the women have large breasts as is obvious. Though the geographic setting is different, just the same the fact appears to disprove the urban legend that the right breast of Amazons are cut off for practical purposes.

Like for instance we read about the myth[?] in the Wikipedia article on Amazons:

"This word [Amazon] is probably derived from an Iranian ethnonym *ha-mazan-, 'warriors'.[citation needed] A connected word is probably Hesychius of Alexandria's gloss ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι (hamazakaran: "to make war" (Persian), containing the Indo-Iranian root kar- 'make' also in kar-ma).[citation needed] Among Classical Greeks, amazon was given a naive etymology as from a- (privative) + mazos, 'without breast', connected with an etiological tradition that Amazons had their right breast cut off or burnt out, so they would be able to use a bow more freely and throw spears without the physical limitation and obstruction;[1] there is no indication of such a practice in works of art, in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although the right is frequently covered."

xxx

"Hippocrates describes them as: 'They have no right breasts...for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm.' (See breast ironing, a current practice in which breast growth is deliberately stunted.)"

Perhaps those who know archery can also give us their insights.