I have for the moment avoided an alternative translation, ‘girdle’, because the meaning of that English word has undergone all too many confusions in a world of modernities. Before I proceed, I must stop to reflect on my temporary translation of the Greek word zōstēr here as ‘waistband’. After taking the waistband as a trophy, Hēraklēs carried it away, taking it all the way to Mycenae, where he presented this trophy to Eurystheus, over-king of the Mycenaean Empire, as we read in other sources, to be noted presently. The myth centers on the zōstēr ‘waistband’ of Hippolyte the Amazon, 2.968, who is elsewhere described by Apollonius as Queen of the Amazons, 2.999, and whose waistband was taken away from her by the hero Hēraklēs. We read in this epic of Apollonius, 2.964–971, about a myth that connects the Amazon Melanippe with another Amazon, named Hippolyte, whose name matches in feminine form, as I have already noted in Phase 2 of the Introduction, the masculine name of the famed hunter Hippolytus. The first relevant ancient text I cite is the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, who lived in the third century BCE. For an anwer, I start by analyzing the mythological background of this Amazon. But what does this Amazon named Melanippe have to do with the role of the hero Hippolytus as a hunter? And here is the detail that I think is most telling about the one Amazon I have chosen out of the four Amazons pictured in the Edessa Mosaic: it is the relevance of this Amazon’s name, spelled out in Greek lettering next to her image. The mosaic features also three other Amazons, and all four of them, not just the one Amazon who is featured in our close-up, are pictured in the act of hunting. In this picture, what we see is a close-up taken from a large mosaic, discovered at the ancient site of Edessa, modern Urfa (Turkish Şanlıurfa), which features not only the Amazon we see in our close-up here. To explain, I must first review, however briefly, the archaeological background. The choice that I have made, however, is particularly apt when we consider a detail that I think is most telling in our picture of the moment. The picture is relatively late, and I could have chosen earlier surviving examples of such imaginings. I show here a close-up, as a picture most apt for Phase 3 of my Introduction, where I now concentrate on the role of Hippolytus the hero as a hunter. We see this Amazon in the act of hunting down a lion: she is riding on horseback, and she is aiming her javelin at the beast. A striking example is the picturing of an Amazon in a mosaic found at the site of ancient Edessa, dating from late antiquity. And I will now argue that this role of Hippolytus as a hunter, just like his role as a charioteer, should be viewed as parallel to the role of Amazons, since these women-warriors could likewise be pictured as hunters, especially as hunters riding on horseback. And yet, the fact is that the ancients considered a hero like Hippolytus to be a paragon of athleticism not only because he was a model charioteer: he was also a model hunter. I must highlight the clarity of the premodern mind-set in its viewing of hunters as athletes, since the very idea of hunting as a form of athletics or “sports” has become quite blurred from the varied perspectives of the modern world. Included also-and clearly so-was the activity of hunting. In terms of ancient Greek myths about heroes engaged in athletic activities, these pursuits included not only those “sports” that even the modern world could readily identify as “sports”-such as chariot racing. But now I widen the focus, expanding my view of the athleticism exemplified by Hippolytus. And I have argued that this role of his should be viewed as parallel to the role of the female hero Hippolyte as an Amazon, since Amazons too could be pictured as charioteers-when they fight in war. Up to now, I have focused on the role of the hero Hippolytus as an athlete-specifically, as a charioteer. 5th–6th centuries CE, found in a villa in Urfa/Şanliurfa (ancient Edessa). From a Late Antique mosaic depicting Amazons hunting, ca.
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