Beundrad barbar : amasonen i västeuropeisk bildkultur 1789-1918

The aim of this thesis is to study the Amazon as a motif in relation to a sex/gender hierarchy during the period 1789-1918. The myth of the Amazons was an inheritance from Greek antiquity and told of a female warrior-people who were ruled by a queen. The Amazons are said to have lived in Northern Turkey or in the Caucasus, it is also claimed that they cut or burnt off their right breasts in order to facilitate their fighting. In this thesis the myth is examined in its visual form in six separate chapters.