Amazon and Centaur

This modern limestone abstract sculpture depicts a nude Amazon riding a Centaur. Within the Amazon myth, sexuality plays a large role in the conception of the Amazon warrior. Having taken reproductive control away from the male, the Amazon warrior threatens man's power through heirs. Moreover, by exhibiting violence toward the male children, the Amazons' inverted common practices endangered masculine domination. One of the more common myths concerning Amazon sexuality associated this female warrior with the male Centaur. The Centaurs were known for a brute violence and sexual drive, whereas the Amazons acted as warring and sexual female creatures. As the myth of the Centaurs recounts the near-rape of the Lapith women, the parallel Amazon myth tells of a society in which the female unfairly dominates men. Amazon sexuality reveals itself as a major issue within the myths since these women were seen to be overly promiscuous. When the Scythians overcame the Amazons in battle, the Greeks attributed this loss to the fact that the Amazons preferred sex to victory.这件现代石灰石抽象雕塑，刻画了一名裸体亚马逊（Amazon）女战士骑乘半人马（Centaur）的形象。在亚马逊部族的神话体系中，性征在亚马逊战士的形象塑造中占据核心地位。她们脱离男性掌控了生育权，通过子嗣威胁男性的统治权力。不仅如此，亚马逊族群对男性子嗣施以暴力的反常习俗，更对男性主导的社会秩序构成了威胁。有关亚马逊女战士性征的常见神话之一，便是将这位女性战士与男性半人马绑定关联。半人马向来以野蛮暴力与旺盛性欲著称，而亚马逊族群则兼具好战与纵欲的女性特质。正如半人马神话中记载了拉庇泰（Lapith）女性险些遭半人马强暴的事件，与之形成对照的亚马逊神话，则描绘了一个女性凌驾于男性之上的不公社会。亚马逊的性征议题在神话中始终是核心议题，因为这些女性被普遍视为极度纵欲的群体。当斯基泰（Scythians）部族在战场上击败亚马逊族群时，希腊人将这场败绩归咎于亚马逊族人更重视情欲而非胜利。