TY  - JOUR
A1  - Skibinski, Connie
ED  - Potter, Amanda
ED  - Gardner, Hunter H.
T1  - ‘Crazy Man-Killing Monsters’
BT  - The Inimical Portrayal of the Amazons in Supernatural’s ‘Slice Girls’
JF  - thersites 17
N2  - The Amazons have a long legacy in literature and the visual arts, extending from antiquity to the present day. Prior scholarship tends to treat the Amazons as hostile ‘Other’ figures, embodying the antithesis of Greco-Roman cultural norms. Recently, scholars have begun to examine positive portrayals of Amazons in contemporary media, as role models and heroic figures. However, there is a dearth of scholarship examining the Amazons’ inherently multifaceted nature, and their subsequent polarised reception in popular media.


This article builds upon the large body of scholarship on contemporary Amazon narratives, in which the figures of Wonder Woman and Xena, Warrior Princess dominate scholarly discourse. These ‘modern Amazon’ figures epitomise the dominant contemporary trend of portraying Amazons as strong female role models and feminist icons. To highlight the complexity of the Amazon image in contemporary media, this article examines the representation of the Amazons in the Supernatural episode ‘Slice Girls’ (S7 E13, 2012), where their portrayal as hostile, monstrous figures diverges greatly from the positive characterisation of Wonder Woman and Xena. I also consider the show’s engagement with ancient written sources, to examine how the writers draw upon the motifs of ancient Amazon narratives when crafting their unique Amazon characters. By contrasting the Amazons of ‘Slice Girls’ to contemporary figures and ancient narratives, this article examines how factors such as feminist ideology, narrative story arcs, characters’/audience’s perspectives and male bias shape the representation of Amazons post-antiquity.
KW  - Amazons
KW  - Warrior women
KW  - Classical reception
KW  - Supernatural
KW  - Monsters
Y1  - 2023
U6  - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.240
SN  - 2364-7612
VL  - 2023
IS  - 17
SP  - 183
EP  - 211
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - McNamara, James
T1  - The Portrayal of Germani in German Latin Textbooks, 1989-2009
JF  - Syllecta Classica
N2  - A survey of the portrayal of the Germani in Latin textbooks from 1989 to 2009, tracing the resurgence of interest in the Germani in the Federal Republic of Germany after German reunification and leading up to bimillennial commemoration of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest. The central sources are textbooks for the teaching of Latin, while context is provided by academic scholarship and representations of the Germani in other cultural contexts, including film and theatre, museums and tourist attractions. The study traces a process of demythologisation and the rise of a myth of mythlessness in the handling of ancient Germanic history. Germany’s role in the European Union is considered as a developing influence on the portrayal of ancient Germania, including Germania Romana, the Roman provinces of Germania, and Germania libera, the lands outside the empire.
KW  - Classical reception
KW  - Germania
KW  - Tacitus
KW  - Caesar
KW  - Textbooks
KW  - Education
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1353/syl.2020.0003
SN  - 2160-5157
SN  - 1040-3612
VL  - 30
SP  - 73
EP  - 108
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - McNamara, James
T1  - The Portrayal of Germani in German Latin Textbooks, 1989-2009
JF  - Syllecta Classica
N2  - A survey of the portrayal of the Germani in Latin textbooks from 1989 to 2009, tracing the resurgence of interest in the Germani in the Federal Republic of Germany after German reunification and leading up to bimillennial commemoration of the battle in the Teutoburg Forest. The central sources are textbooks for the teaching of Latin, while context is provided by academic scholarship and representations of the Germani in other cultural contexts, including film and theatre, museums and tourist attractions. The study traces a process of demythologisation and the rise of a myth of mythlessness in the handling of ancient Germanic history. Germany’s role in the European Union is considered as a developing influence on the portrayal of ancient Germania, including Germania Romana, the Roman provinces of Germania, and Germania libera, the lands outside the empire.
KW  - Classical reception
KW  - Germania
KW  - Tacitus
KW  - Caesar
KW  - Textbooks
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1353/syl.2020.0003
SN  - 2160-5157
SN  - 1040-3612
VL  - 30
SP  - 73
EP  - 108
PB  - University of Iowa, Department of Classics
CY  - Iowa
ER  -