Last of the Amazons is a historical fiction novel (emphasis on fiction) by Steven Pressfield that retells Greek legends of the Amazons, particularly the legend of the Attic War, with a much more gritty and less romantic spin.
Set at some point in Bronze Age Europe (before the Trojan War), the novel follows two interconnected storylines that take place across two timelines and is presented as a Homeric epic. It is told through a series of interlocking flashbacks from the perspectives of an Athenian girl named Bones; her uncle, Damon; and her Amazon governess, Selene.
The "present" storyline is the novel's Framing Device, taking place several years after the Attic War (the Amazon war against Athens), and follows an Athenian expedition that sets off towards the steppes of the Black Sea on the trail of a rogue Amazon named Selene. The "past" storyline takes place several years before the first and re-tells the legend of said Attic War. The Athenians, led by Theseus, embark on an expedition to Amazonia, where the inadvertently spark a conflict between the Amazons and a Scythian tribe. After becoming disillusioned with her own people's brutality, the Amazon war queen Antiope returns to Athens with Theseus. This in turn causes the enraged Amazons to form a massive army with allies from the steppes and Caucasus to invade Greece for the purpose of destroying Athens and civilization as a whole.
Tropes in this work include:
- A Father to His Men: Theseus is this for the Athenians.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: The Tower People tribe try to use siege warfare tactics against the Athenians when the Athenians use the steppe peoples's lack of siege warfare experience against them. It doesn't really work.
- Abnormal Ammo:
- The Amazons sometimes use discuses as throwing weapons.
- During the siege of Athens, the Athenians use the stones of their very buildings as projectile ammo against the Amazons and their allies.
- Acceptable Feminine Goals and Traits: Bones and Europa despise this idea as young girls and are enamored by Selene's stories of the Amazons. Europa eventually joins the last remaining Amazons while Bones ends up playing this trope straight and finds happiness in her arranged marriage.
- Some of the Athenian men invoke this as a reason to hunt down the rogue Selene.
- Action Girl: Nearly every named female in the book, especially Antiope, Eleuthera, and Selene. Though Bones is more of an Action Survivor.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Depending on the version of the myth, Theseus raped Antiope (or Hippolyta) and abducted her to Athens. Here, Antiope willingly goes with Theseus after being disgraced and the Amazons invent a rumor of her being abducted.
- Adaptational Villainy: Once again, depending on the story version, the Amazons invade Greece as justified retaliation for their queen's abduction. Here, their invasion is purely out of a desire to destroy civilization.
- Aerith and Bob: "Damon", "Selene", and "Elias" next to names like "Theseus", "Hippolyta", and "Antiope."
- Alas, Poor Villain: The Athenians come to view the decimation of the Amazons this way, even building a cemetery for their fallen at the Amazoneum.
- Damon and Elias allow Selene to pass back to the retreating Amazon camp with her badly wounded "friend", who they are fully aware is a disguised Eleuthera.
- All Amazons Want Hercules: Averted (in the classical sense). The Amazons despise Heracles for humiliating Hippolyta by defeating her in a duel and taking her girdle (as per his legendary Nine Labors). Played straight in the sense that the Amazons find skilled male warriors to be desirable.
- All for Nothing:
- In the past storyline, Eleuthera advocates for war against Athens to ostensibly save the Amazon way of life from civilization. In the end, however, the Amazon-Scythian war against Athens accomplishes nothing other than ensuring the Amazons will eventually go extinct from the immense loss of life.
- In the present storyline, the expedition to hunt down Selene and return her to Athens as a political prisoner becomes this when Selene unexpectedly dies.
- All Men Are Perverts / All Women Are Lustful: The Amazons think sex is the only romantic thing men care about, whereas the Athenians think the Amazons are promiscuous for having sex with any men who'll give them babies (as well as sleeping with each other).
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Iron Mountain Scythians come off as this, with the exception of the women and children who the Amazons massacre, as well as Borges in the last act.
- Amazon Brigade: The Amazons, naturally.
- Amazon Chaser: Damon and Theseus after they fall in love in Selene and Antiope. Much more emphasized with Damon, as he's willing to abandon the expedition that's ironically hunting Selene in order to stay with her.
- Ambition Is Evil: After usurping Antiope as war queen, Eleuthera convinces Hippolyta to relinquish her title of peace queen and allow her to lead the Amazon tribes in the war against Athens, the implication being that the power has gone to her head.
- Anachronic Order: The story is told this way, jumping from "past" and "present" events of the two storylines.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Damon gives one to Selene when finding her again in the middle of a Scythian ambush in Amazonia and runs away with her, staying with her until her untimely death.
- Anti-Hero / Anti-Villain: The Amazons generally shift between these two depending on the point in the storyline, going more into full "villain" mode during the Attic War. Antiope is the only true "hero" with a consistent moral compass.
- Arc Words: "Blood to iron. Iron to blood." A ritual chant that the Amazons recite before going into combat.
- Arc Villain:
- Within the narrative, Selene is the first "villain", then Borges and the Iron Mountain Scythians, then the Amazons as a whole, then back to the Iron Mountain Scythians. (Chronologically, Iron Mountain Scythians > Amazons > Selene > Iron Mountain Scythians.)
- Artistic License – History: The whole story is naturally this, but Pressfield also invents steppe and Caucasian tribes to serve as allies for the Amazons in their war against Athens (e.i., there was never such thing as "Iron Mountain Scythians", "Copper River Scythians", "Tower People", or "Black Cloak Armenians").
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Being the Amazon war queen requires this.
- Badass Family: Damon, Selene, and Bones.
- Being Good Sucks: Antiope inadvertently tarnishes her reputation among the Amazons simply for trying to stop a massacre of Scythian women and children (as the Amazons basically consider it blasphemous to show mercy to any people of their enemies).
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Eleuthera and Borges during the Attic War.
- Big Good: Theseus for the Athenians.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- Past storyline: The Athenians win the Attic War at a heavy cost, as much of the city is destroyed, much of the Greek countryside is devastated, and Antiope gives her life for Athens in combat fighting her own people.
- Present storyline: The entire expedition becomes pointless when Selene unexpectedly dies, but she lived her last days in happiness with Damon. The Athenians then help the few remaining Amazons escape from Scythia to modern-day Russia, where they can peacefully live until extinction, but Theseus is forced into exiled from Athens in order to secure safe passage and dies alone (it's also heavily implied that he's either assassinated or commits suicide).
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: To the Amazons, "good" is the status quo of their lifestyle, which they literally refer to as "the way we've always done it." "Evil", to them, is anything different from their lifestyle, to such a degree that Selene notes in the narration that "evil" and "new" are the same word in the Amazonian language. This mindset allows the Amazons to commit brutal war crimes against their enemies without a second thought, even women and children, much to the horror and revulsion of the Athenians. It also ends up motivating the Amazons to destroy Athens and Greek civilization as a whole, as it is the antithesis of their nomadic, warlike hunter-gather lifestyle.
- The Chains of Commanding: Eleuthera gets a hard dose of this when she leads the Amazons and their allies into a siege warfare campaign that they aren't prepared for.
- The Exile: Theseus ultimately exiles himself from Athens in order to secure safe passage for his men and the remaining Amazons.
- Everyone Is Bi: The Amazons as a whole. They are mated into groups of three as girls (called 'trikonas'), as they believe forming romantic bonds creates stronger bonds as warriors, but they are also encouraged to sleep with men for procreation, and even have a festival specifically dedicated to it.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The Amazons are bewildered by Antiope defending Athens against their genocidal invasion, even more so that she would choose to peacefully raise a child with Theseus.
- Face Death with Dignity: Antiope allows Eleuthera to kill her after she herself kills most of her former comrades.
- Fantasy Conflict Counterpart: The clash between Greek civilization and the nomadic, hunter-gatherer steppe peoples draws parallels the clash between the US and the American Indians (though taken to a much more extreme level).
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Amazons are portrayed as having a similar culture to the Plains Indians of North America, like the Sioux or Commanche (
Word of God says this was intentional). They are a nomadic, horse-based culture who paint their bodies for battle, primarily fight with arrows and hatchets, are said to have an ululating war cry, and score their kills with scalps. - Gracefully Demoted: Hippolyta has no problem giving full authority to Eleuthera to lead the Amazons to war, believing her blessed by Ares.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Subverted. The Amazons primarily fight as mounted archers, but their preferred close combat weapons are double-headed axes.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Thesues nearly beats Eleuthera to death in retaliation for killing Antiope.
- Noble Savage: Inverted. The Amazons ironically think of themselves as this and believe it makes them superior to the civilized Greeks. The Athenians, on the other hand, quickly come to view the Amazons as bloodthirsty barbarians.
- One-Woman Army: Antiope, who, aside from being said to be the greatest Amazon warrior, single-handedly kills nearly all of the Amazon champions during the final battle for Athens before letting Eleuthera kill her.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Essentially how the Amazon hierarchy works, to the point where they can immediately lose their standing among the rank-and-file by showing any mercy (even to innocents).
