“Conduziu as mulheres aos combates bélicos e atribuiu aos homens humilhação e escravidão”: a barbaridade do feminino e a feminilidade do bárbaro das Amazonas em Diodoro Sículo (século I a.C.)

Abstract

The Amazons are a mythical people of women warriors located by the Greeks on the shores of the Black Sea, and throughout Classical Antiquity they were associated with the narratives of great Greek heroes such as Hercules, Theseus, Achilles and Bellerophon. Nevertheless, they survived the ages and reached the present day, present in pop culture and Brazilian geography. In this Dissertation, we study the myth of the Amazons based on Diodorus Siculus’ work, the Historical Library, seeking to observe how the author manifests himself in relation to the feminine and the barbarian. For this, we use concepts such as gender and cultural identity, studied from an intersectional analysis to understand how femininity and the barbarian in Diodoro Sículo are not unrelated elements. We analyze the myth of the Amazons in consonance with the narratives that precede and succeed them in the work, understanding how the theme of the ruler and the warrior woman, mainly, acquire different meanings as the author narrates the myths of the Amazon and other outstanding women and men. The Historical Library has a strong moralizing character and educational purpose, and clearly relates to the turbulent historical period in which the 1st century BC author is living. In this sense, this Dissertation seeks to bring an overview of Diodorus’ work, the contextualization of the myth of the Amazon in it, the historiography surrounding this myth and an intersectional analysis between gender and cultural identity centered on prominent themes in the narrative.