Amazons #2 - Vienna, Austria
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 48° 12.460 E 016° 21.968
33U E 601496 N 5340284
This sculpture known as "Virtute et Exemplo" is located in the Michaelertrakt of the Hofburg Palace.
Waymark Code: WMK30E
Location: Wien, Austria
Date Posted: 02/05/2014
Views: 8
At first glance, this appears to be a sculpture of a man and woman with the figure on the left carrying a sword and wearing a breastplate and sandles with shinguards. But, on closer examination, that figure also seems to have breasts...and this Wikimedia Commons page (
visit link) presents additional photos while also showing that the work is tagged by them as "statues of women". It is one of at least three under the dome of the Michaelertrakt of the Hofburg Palace which is almost certainly depicting Amazons.
No artist or date is presented.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"The Amazons ...also known as Oiorpata in the Scythian language, are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia (modern territory of Ukraine). Other historiographers place them in Asia Minor, or sometimes Libya.
Notable queens of the Amazons are Penthesilea, who participated in the Trojan War, and her sister Hippolyta, whose magical girdle, given to her by her father Ares, was the object of one of the labours of Hercules. Amazonian raiders were often depicted in battle with Greek warriors in amazonomachies in classical art.
The Amazons have become associated with many historical people throughout the Roman Empire period and Late Antiquity. In Roman historiography, there are various accounts of Amazon raids in Asia Minor.[citation needed] From the Early Modern period, their name has become a term for female warriors in general."