Blog | Alison Morton's Thrillers

Amazons: Myth, Fear, and the Long Memory of Warrior Women

Armed Amazon, her shield decorates a Gorgon head; Tondo of Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BCE, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Berlin (Public domain)

The Amazons stride through ancient myth with spears, bows, and a reputation that unsettled the ancient world. These warrior women, said to live beyond the edges of the known Greek world near the Black Sea, were described as superb horse-archers, fiercely independent, and stubbornly resistant to male control.

Whether they really existed as a distinct people is debated, but archaeology from the Eurasian steppe has uncovered graves of armed women among Scythian and Sarmatian cultures—enough to suggest that the legend may have grown from encounters with societies where women did, at times, ride and fight. We all know how the rumour mill works and I’m sure it was the same in the ancient world.

To the Greeks, Amazons were both fascination and warning: a mirror held up to their own gender order. To the Romans, who inherited Greek myth along with so much else, Amazons were something more complicated – a symbol of chaos, exoticism, courage and a distinct challenge to Roman assumptions about power, family and citizenship.

Romans and Amazons

Diving deeper… Romans encountered Amazons first through Greek art and literature, then through their own retellings. In the epics and histories circulating in the Roman world, Amazons appear at pivotal moments. The Amazon queen Penthesilea fights at Troy and falls to Achilles – a scene beloved by artists for its tragic intensity. The hero Heracles must seize the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta as one of his labours. These stories circulated widely in Roman mosaics, frescoes, and carved sarcophagi.

The Dying Amazon, 2nd century AD copy of a Greek original of the 2nd century BC. National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Author photo)

Roman writers such as Virgil included Amazon figures in their works. In the Aeneid, the warrior maiden Camilla is not an Amazon by name, but she is unmistakably cast in their image – swift, deadly, devoted to martial life but ultimately doomed. Camilla is admired, even honoured, but she cannot be allowed to survive into the orderly Roman future Virgil is constructing. She belongs to a wild, heroic past.

That is telling about ancient Roman attitude.

Romans admired courage wherever they found it; it’s deep-rooted in their culture. However, they were deeply invested in a social order in which women’s power was expressed through family, lineage and influence behind the scenes – not on the battlefield. We have many stories about that influence and about Roman women taking a courageous stand or demonstrating incredible fortitude.

But the Amazon was an altogether different type of woman. She fought openly, rejected male authority and lived outside the social and civic structures that Romans believed defined civilisation. To a Roman mind, that placed her somewhere between noble savage and existential threat.

Yet there was also respect. The Amazon was not mocked. She was formidable. Roman art often depicts Amazons as dignified, athletic, and beautifully equipped. They are enemies worthy of heroes. The very care taken in their portrayal suggests a grudging admiration for their martial skill.

In short: the Romans did not dismiss the Amazons. They contained them—by placing them in myth, in the distant past, or on the far edges of the world.

Why did the idea trouble them?

Because Ancient Rome itself had a complicated relationship with women and power. Roman matrons could own property, run households, influence politics, and shape dynasties. Women like Livia, Agrippina, and Julia Domna exerted enormous influence. But it was influence within a framework. The Amazon suggested what might happen if that framework vanished.

The Amazon was a thought experiment: What if women did not accept the roles assigned to them? What if they claimed the spear as well as the spindle?

The answer, in Roman storytelling, was usually tragedy.

A Roma Novan perspective on Amazons

Now imagine a modern, Roman-descended society such as Roma Nova where the society evolved differently over the centuries. Women have, out of the practical needs for survival and then thriving, held formal authority, commanded troops, and shaped state policy not from behind curtains but from the centre of power.

To Roma Novans, Amazons would not be aberrations. They would be ancestors of the imagination.
A Roma Novan historian might smile at the old Roman discomfort. Of course, women can fight. Of course, they can command. Of course, courage and discipline are not gendered traits. The real question, from a Roma Novan perspective, would not be why Amazons existed, but why other societies found them so unsettling.

Roma Nova would likely interpret Amazon legends not as fantasy, but as distorted memory – garbled reports of cultures that organised themselves differently from Greece and Rome. Where Romans saw myth, Roma Novans might see early evidence that martial ability among women is neither new nor unnatural – merely suppressed or ignored in certain traditions.

And they would probably have a certain dry amusement at Virgil’s Camilla; admired, but conveniently removed by death before she could in any way complicate the Roman future.

In Roma Nova, she would have been promoted.

What women in warrior roles bring to the fight

Beyond myth and fiction, the modern world has demonstrated something the Amazons hinted at: when women serve in military roles, they bring distinct strengths alongside shared human qualities of courage, endurance, and skill. I can endorse this from my own six years in uniform.

1. Adaptability and problem-solving
Women entering historically male spaces often develop acute situational awareness and adaptive thinking. This translates well to asymmetric warfare, intelligence work, and complex operational environments.

2. Cohesion and communication
Mixed units frequently report improved communication and team cohesion. Women are often trained – socially, culturally and professionally – to read group dynamics closely, a valuable trait under stress.

3. De-escalation and cultural access
In modern conflict zones, female soldiers can interact with local women in societies where male soldiers cannot. This provides intelligence, builds trust and reduces friction with civilian populations.

4. Psychological resilience
Those who have had to prove themselves repeatedly tend to develop formidable mental resilience. The need to earn one’s place can forge exceptional discipline and commitment. (Nothing new under the sun about that, I hear you say.)

5. A broader leadership model
Women leaders often employ collaborative leadership styles alongside decisiveness, broadening the tactical and strategic options available to a unit.

None of this suggests women fight like Amazons of myth. Rather, it shows that capability in war is human, not male.

The enduring power of the Amazon idea

The Amazon endures because she represents a possibility that societies have alternately feared, admired, suppressed and rediscovered something very powerful: that women can be visible, effective agents of force. For the Romans, she had to remain safely in legend. For Roma Novans, she would be a familiar concept – less a mythic outsider than a symbolic foremother.

And for us, she remains a reminder that history is not only what happened, but what people believed could not happen.

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. JULIA PRIMA and EXSILIUM, set in the late 4th century, tell the story of Roma Nova’s foundation. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity and Double Pursuit start a new contemporary thriller series. The third, Double Stakes is now out.

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Women's history? Or herstory?

‘The Monstrous Regiment of Women’

Wikipedia defines women’s history as follows, ‘Women’s history is the study of the role that women have played in history, together with the methods needed to study women. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman’s rights throughout recorded history, the examination of individual women of historical significance, and the effect that historical events have had on women.

Inherent in the study of women’s history is the belief that more traditional recordings of history have minimized or ignored the contributions of women and the effect that historical events had on women as a whole; in this respect, woman’s history is often a form of historical revisionism, seeking to challenge or expand the traditional historical consensus.’

Women history graduates

Hm. Maybe I haven’t drunk enough coffee this morning, and there’s a lot to unpick in those sentences, but I read it as if a favour is being granted; “Let’s allow the girls to have a whole section of history to themselves. They’ll be able to go off and write serious stuff that other girls will love and it will keep them out of our mainstream hair.”

When I was younger and questioning the under-representation of women and the male dominance of history, heroines such as Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I and Florence Nightingale were quoted at me as strong, exceptional, female models.

Exceptional.

Exactly.

The unremarked lives of other women, duchesses to beggars, who made up fifty per cent of the population, were treated as peripheral and confined to traditional women’s auxiliary roles as wives, mothers, sisters, servants.

Both historical accounting and public awareness of history are moving on; it would be harsh to say otherwise. In the media we have the splendid Mary Beard, Bettany Hughes, Lucy Worsley and Alice Roberts among others leading us into grand sweeps and minute details of places and lives of both women and men. But even with women talking about life and death in Rome, Socrates in Athens or Kensington Palace and British crime, are we much further on?

You may remember the virtual attacks on Professor Mary Beard for not confirming to female norms in respect of appearance and behaviour?

Her clever and often witty insights into past lives and her wealth of knowledge were ignored in torrents of spite about her hair, clothes and teeth and the fact she had spoken out at all. Vicious and rather sad. But Professor beard has – luckily for us – gone on from strength to strength in her mission of informing us and challenging us all about ordinary women’s lives in the past.

Almost unbelievably, Caroline Criado-Perez (far right) was told to ‘shut up’ and threatened with rape when she campaigned for at least one female historical figure to be portrayed on UK bank notes as Elizabeth Fry was to be dropped from the £5 note. Happily, Jane Austen appeared on the £10 note from 2017 but even in the 21st century, it’s depressing to see that in some quarters traditional male attitudes to female speakers and active participants in life are still welded to ancient roots. (And yes, that is Mark Carney, the current Canadian prime minister when he was governor of the Bank of England.)

In brief, there are two strands here: the historical account itself and dissemination of that account. Perhaps this is where ‘good’ historical fiction comes in, ‘good’ meaning meticulously researched and well written: no fictional spouses; no anachronistic food or clothes; no characters saying ‘great’ or ‘no way’ in response to a suggestion in the seventeenth century; muskets and spathae in their correct wars.

Works of fiction are by their nature made up, or fictionalised versions of known stories. Historical fiction in the hands of a competent writer can fill out the known account and suggest logical developments even when there are very few substantiated facts. Sarah Johnson from the Historical Novel Society produced some thoughtful guidelines to what historical fiction is, and can do. Although written in 2002, they still provide a helpful definition.

A rich collection of books, both fiction and non-fiction, about women’s roles in the past can be found on the HNS site under the search category ‘women’. A number are about remarkable women, because their lives are more or less documented, but others include or even focus on ordinary women and trends around their lives.

Historical novels are an increasingly popular genre with readers, and more women’s stories set in the past are being portrayed by, for instance, Philippa Gregory, Diana Gabaldon, Amy Tan and Tracy Chevalier. Making women as present as men in historical events and stories should be the norm.

While it isn’t possible for every female historical protagonist to be a kick-ass heroine like Buffy the Vampire Slayer – women and men both live within the context of their time – writers are bringing forward more positive and active representations of women as courageous, decision-making and resilient. And stories of known events, but from a female point of view, are filling the real and virtual bookshelves.

Historical fiction also reflects values and concerns prevalent at the time of their publication. Perhaps that’s another reason why interest in women’s historical fiction is now growing.

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.

International Women’s Day and the Roma Nova way

International Women’s Day is a moment to celebrate women’s achievements, recognise the struggles that shaped them and look ahead to the work still to be done.

Across the world, some women have stepped into leadership, challenged expectations and reshaped societies.

Stories remain one of the most powerful ways to explore what courage, resilience and ambition could look like in practice.

This is one reason the world of the Roma Nova series resonates with readers. It imagines a society founded by Romans who refused to surrender their religious and cultural independence and who built a state where women would over time hold authority, lead armies and govern a nation. It is not a utopia. Like the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, it has its fair share of politics, danger, greed and ambition. But crucially, it’s a world where women’s visibility and power are natural rather than questioned.

For International Women’s Day, that feels especially relevant.

Roma Nova’s women shoulder responsibility, make difficult decisions and accept the consequences. Their strength is not simply physical or political; it lies in their determination to protect their people and their values.

Take Carina Mitela, the heroine of INCEPTIO, CARINA, PERFIDITAS and SUCCESSIO. Carina is forced to flee from her homeland to Roma Nova – a society strange to her. She must learn quickly who to trust and how to fight back. Her journey is one of identity and courage where she discovers what she is capable of achieving.

Carina represents a familiar challenge for many women: stepping into roles that feel daunting, unfamiliar or overwhelming. She learns that leadership requires persistence, emotional resilience and the ability to make choices especially when no option is perfect.

Aurelia Mitela, Carina’s grandmother, is a master, no, a mistress of strategy and long-term thinking. She understands that political power requires patience as well as strength. Her influence and actions show how experience, wisdom and sheer grit can shape a nation’s future.

Julia Bacausa in JULIA PRIMA demonstrates another form of courage. Caught in the harsh consequences of religious conflict, she carves out her own path, sometimes obeying her society’s norms, but sometimes not! But she learns a great deal along the way. She won’t put up with any nonsense, though, something she leaves as an inheritance to her daughter Lucilla in EXSILIUM.

Across the series, women lead intelligence services, command security forces, manage government and defend their country. Their authority is accepted as normal – perhaps the most radical idea of all. Because when women’s leadership is treated as routine, the focus shifts away from whether they belong there and towards what they actually do.

International Women’s Day often highlights pioneers – the first woman to do this, the first to achieve that. These achievements deserve recognition. But the goal is a world where women’s presence in leadership at any level no longer requires special comment.

Roma Nova offers a glimpse of that possibility. The women of Roma Nova succeed not because the path is easy, but because they refuse to give up when it becomes difficult. That message feels particularly powerful today.

Victory

Around the world, women continue to push boundaries in every field. They run countries, lead global companies, command space missions, drive scientific breakthroughs and create cultural change. Many women run charities, schools and small, local businesses. Yet progress is uneven and barriers to visibility, let alone leadership, still exist for many women.

Stories help us imagine alternatives. They allow us to explore what might happen if societies were built differently, if talent mattered more than gender and if courage, intelligence and competence were the only qualifications required for leadership.

The Roma Nova series asks a simple question: what if a state had evolved where women normally held power?

The answer is not perfection. It is complexity, ambition and humanity. Women in Roma Nova make mistakes, face criticism and encounter opposition. But they continue to lead, to protect their people and to shape their nation’s destiny.

And that, perhaps, is the spirit worth celebrating on International Women’s Day.

In reality, women have always led, innovated and defended what matters most, but in a covert or subtle way. Sometimes history recorded their achievements; more often, it overlooked them. Although, thankfully, research continues to unearth hidden ‘herstory’, fiction can take us much further along that road by imagining what could be so.

And once we imagine, then we have set a goal for ourselves to pursue in the real world.

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.