c. 3.]
[Footnote 271: [Greek: epi ten tou thorakos epiptuchen] Apparently
some part of the coat of mail where there was a fold to allow of the
motion of the body. As to the battle see Dion Cassius, 37. c. 3, &c.]
[Footnote 272: Appianus (_Mithridatic War_, c. 103) says "Among the
hostages and the captives were found many women, who were wounded as
much as the men; and they were supposed to be Amazons, whether it is
that some nation called Amazons borders on them, and they were then
invited to give aid, or that the barbarians in those parts call any
warlike women by the name of Amazons." The explanation of Appianus is
probably the true explanation. Instances of women serving as soldiers
are not uncommon even in modern warfare. The story of a race of
fighting women occurs in many ancient writers. The Amazons are first
mentioned by Herodotus (iv. 110-116). There is a story of a hundred
armed women being presented to Alexander (Arrian, vii. 13, &c., who
gives his opinion about them). Strabo (p. 503) says that Theophanes,
who accompanied Pompeius in this campaign, places the Gelae and Legae
between the Albanians and the Amazons. It is probable that the women
of the mountain tribes of the Caucasus sometimes served in the field,
and this at least may explain the story here told by Plutarch. The
chief residence of the Amazons is placed in the plains of Themiscyra
on the Thermodon in Cappadocia.
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