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. 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.