Wonder Woman and the World of Myth

Wonder Woman and the World of Myth — page 5
THE AMAZON RIVER The 16th century Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana gave the Amazon River its name He claimed to have seen tall fighting women while exploring the South American jungle He named the river after the Amazons of Greek mythology In the mythology of Wonder Woman the Amazons broke into two groups after a battle destroyed their home The warrior queen Antiope headed one group They moved to Egypt and became known as the Bana-Mighdall tribe of Amazons Queen Hippolyta ruled the other group They lived together peacefully on a remote island and were granted immortality by the goddesses Thousands of years later Hippolyta sculpted a child out of clay and asked the goddesses to bring it to life This first child born to the Amazons was named Diana She would later become Wonder Woman descend to belong to a later generation of the same family immortality the ability to live forever CONTESTS Contests play an important role in many tales of Greek mythology In fact today’s Olympic Games are based on festivals held from 776 BC to AD 393 in Olympia Greece to honor the gods One example of contests in myth involves a Greek princess named Atalanta She was left on a mountaintop to die by her father Raised in the wilderness she developed incredible hunting and athletic skills Most importantly she became famous for a series of athletic contests in which she defeated every man who proposed to her She won wrestling matches against the strongest male champions She used her spears and arrows to defeat other men in hunting games Princess Diana became Wonder Woman after she participated in an important athletic contest on her hidden home island of Themyscira It happened after the Amazons discovered that the war god Ares was threatening humankind Queen Hippolyta called for a contest to choose one Amazon champion to travel to the human world to defeat Ares Diana was forbidden to take part but she