The Battle of the Amazons

As early as Homer’s Iliad, the warlike Amazons are mentioned as courageous women who fought ‘like men’. The scene depicted here is from the myth of Theseus, king of Athens. Theseus abducted the Amazon queen Hippolyta, thereby sparking a war. This engraving by Lucas Vorsterman, based on a painting by Rubens, is the largest reproductive print of the seventeenth century. Vorsterman probably began work on it in 1619. However, the print’s completion and delivery were delayed because Rubens did not want to pay the fee demanded by Vorsterman. This led to conflicts that eventually ended their collaboration.