"HOMELAND OF LEGENDARY AMAZONS, SAMSUN" Samsun by Arkeolog

Samsun Travel Guide: 16 reviews and 62 photos

SAMSUN, A PLACE WHERE LEGENDS HAD WRITTEN...

There are many historical buildings in Samsun city center. Samsun has used to have 13 consulates during Ottoman times. end of 19th century, international banks had branches in Samsun also foreign companies.

Samsun placed at the Black Sea Region is one of the region cities has highest tourism potential with, natural historical and cultural merits, opportunity of maritime, airway, air and railway arrival. There is an airport at Carsamba district in Samsun. It's 25km. far from the city center of Samsun and shuttle service is available between center and airport. One way price is 7.50 TL=4 Euro (feb 2009)

The Land of Legendary women warriors, THE AMAZONS

Colossal Amazon Statue at Samsun

THE AMAZONS
The Amazons are the legendary women warriors lived in 1200s B.C. They lived in Themiskyra city that they established near Thermodon (Terme River) in Blacksea Coast of Turkey.

It is said that the women used the cut their right breasts while young in order to pull the bow efficently and thus they were called "Amazons", which means the "breastless".

The Greek mythology mentions the Amazons as the children of Ares, the God of War, and Harmonia (or Aphrodite), the benevolent Goddess. After a nomadic life of hunting and collecting, the settled way of life was adopted and the resulting surplus products brought abundance and welfare.
The symbol of abundance was the woman and thus Cybele, the Goddess of Abundance, appeared.

Turning into a settled way of life affected the position of women in the society and increased their efficiency and selfesteem. This ascending status caused a matriarchal way of life in some societies in time.
The Amazons were the warriors of this matriarchy in Anatolia. They worshipped the Mother Goddess, Cybele, since she symbolized the significance attached to women.

The strange life attitude to life of the Amazons have been mentured in literature. It is said that they used males a workers and servants in daily life and had intercourse with the males they captured in wars for survival and killed them after wards. Their tradition required them to have killed at least three males in order to have intercourse with a man. It is said that they had disabled or killed the male children or given them to their fathers and brought up their daughters with horse milk and halva of power in order for them to become puissant. It is also said that they were related to the Artemis Temple, one of the 7 wonders of the world, that they had built the temple, acted as nuns there and they had embellished temple with their breasts that they sacrificed for the temple.
We see in the Greek fine arts that the Amazons had worn light shirts that they left down to their right shoulders and tied with tapes on the hips, worn Greek helmets on their heads and left their, arms, legs and feet bare. When they had dressed in the Asian style, they had covered their bodies tightly up to their necks, worn some sort of swimsuits on their legs and Phrygian (Phrygia is located in the center of Anatolia -Turkey) helmets on their heads.
The Amazons had used only a sort of cloth instead of packsaddles. They had shot arrows and thrown spears very well while riding their horses. The Amazons which were the most interesting and attractive warrior women of the history have been subject to fine arts throughout history.
A competition had been held in Ephesus in order to construct a statue for the Amazons in 5 B.C. the Amazon Woman Statues that had been built by the competitors have reached today. The most significant of these works are the "Wounded Amazon" statue in Berlin and Rome Capitol and the "Amasone Mattei" statue in Vatican. Besides, the famous "Amazon Warrior" statue by Rubens is one of the most renowned works about Amazons.

Samsun and ATATURK

samsun scenes

Samsun was important during the Turkish Independence War as the spot where Ataturk landed on May 19, 1919 to organize the defense of the country.The extraordinary equestrian statue of Ataturk at the city park stands as a memorial of that day. This statue'a sculptor is an Austrian named Krippel. Erection date of the sculpture is 1932.

Pros and Cons

Pros:homeland of The Amazons
Cons:too much places to see

Last visit to Samsun: Feb 2009
Intro Updated Feb 25, 2009
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Reviews (5)

Cable car at Samsun and hills of Amisos Off The Beaten Path (1)

There is a cable car adventure :) to Amisos hills at Samsun. Ýt takes you to tumuli of Baruthane where you can visit the... more travel advice

Museum of Archaeology Things to Do (3)

The mosaic wich can seen in the central hall was made in times of Alexander Severus (AC 222 - 235), the Rome Emperor and... more travel advice

Treasure of AMISOS Things to Do (3)

Amisos Treasure During the road enlargement works in Ancient Amisos city, at Cedit quarter, it was informed on Tuesday,... more travel advice

HAVAS shuttle service to/from airport Transportation (1)

Havas offers you a easy transpotation to/from airport of Samsun. cost is 7.50 TL=4 Euro. more travel advice

Comments (12)

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cachaseiro Sep 28, 2010 at 5:22 AM

Nice page. I was in Samsun a few years ago and had a really good time there.
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picek Jun 15, 2010 at 5:27 AM

Thanks for great introduction. Amazons would scare me off, I bet it was not good to 'drink wine' with them. Even if they exist in mythology only :)
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fabrice Dec 2, 2009 at 1:02 AM

must be very nice also in summer
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Karyatid Feb 24, 2009 at 1:51 PM

Amazons and nice mosaics. Interesting place. good info n nice photos. congrats.
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Lyndra Feb 23, 2009 at 9:01 AM

Enjoyed reading about Samsun very much and you have some great photos
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hopang Feb 21, 2009 at 12:34 PM

Great page with great photos, it must be said. ~ho & pang
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jumpingnorman Feb 19, 2009 at 6:25 AM

I did not know the Amazons' legend started in Turkey! (I though it was Brazil or somewhere in South Americ, duh...hehehe)... I am a learning a lot thru your pages! Norman :)
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revontulet Feb 18, 2009 at 11:16 AM

Very impressive legend and very impressive page... I really like it especially the cable car;)) congrats!!
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codrutz Feb 18, 2009 at 5:13 AM

A lot of history .. didn't know amazons were there :)
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janetanne Feb 18, 2009 at 3:06 AM

Very interesting updates. Thanks for sharing. Janet