Themiskyra at the river Thermodon
The home of the warlike Amazons was never a fantasy world for the ancient Greeks, but was
quite definite. It was the country at the mouth of the river Thermodon in Northern Turkey.
Today the name of this river is rather the same - Terme Çay.
This river flows about 50 km east of the coastal town Samsun into the Black Sea.
This region consists of a fertile plain which is very secluded. In the South and East there
are high mountains, in the West flows the broad river Yesil Irmak and in the North
there is the Black Sea.
The Amazons were reputed as skilled horsewomen,
and even today you can see horses running free at that place.
At the banks of the river Thermodon there was Themiskyra -
the famous town of the Amazons.
Until now Themiskyra was not yet discovered, however it was not thoroughly searched for it! But there are numerous very ancient traces of a refined culture in this area.
In Dündartepe, near the sea coast some kilometers east of the town Samsun, there were
found the remains of a approximately 4000 till 5000 years old settlement.
The most interesting fact of this excavation was that the finds there are quite
different to the contemporary finds outside this area.
Furthermore the finds allow the conjecture that in this culture women had a preeminent position!
More detailed information about Dündartepe and more photos you find in the Amazon Research Center.
Near the spring of the Thermodon (today Terme Çay) in the southern mountain area
there are the ruins of a fortress which is extremely inaccessible.
Though very unapproachable and very destroyed, it still represents a mighty monument
which conveys that this fortress must have been an important place.
Was it the last refuge for the hard-pressed Amazons?
More detailed information about Kapru Kale and more photos you find in the Amazon Research Center.
Aretias, today Giresun Adasi, is the one and only island along the whole south coast of the Black Sea, and it is a place of mystic appearance. Even today cultic rites are performed there. It seems that there is a continuity from the Bronze Age till today. It was the sacred island of the Amazons, in the Middle Ages there has been a Byzantine monastery, and today it is a place of pre-islamic rites. There is the mystic Stone of Hamza where wishes shall become true, and every year there is a festival which is dominated by women.
More detailed information about the Island of the Amazons - Aretias - you find in the Amazon Research Center.
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