n 18 February 2026 at the Polish Archaeological Institute at Athens, Professor Maria Chantry (University of Wrocław) delivered a lecture entitled Reinterpretation of the Myth of the Amazons in Renaissance Literature. Having outlined the ancient literary and cultural background of the Amazon myth, the speaker focused on its Renaissance transformations, particularly in Giovanni Boccaccio’s De mulieribus claris and in the Latin tragedy Penthesilea by Szymon Szymonowicz, composed within the circle of Jan Zamoyski. The figure of the Amazon queen was portrayed as suspended between heroic admiration and unease provoked by female transgression of social norms.
In the second part of the lecture, the figure of Wanda was examined in Jan Kochanowski’s Elegiarum libri IV. Depicted as a warrior rejecting conventional female roles, Wanda ultimately sacrifices her life in the waters of the Vistula, thereby becoming a heroine of Polish cultural memory. Analysis of these examples demonstrated how the Amazon myth was transformed in Renaissance literature into a tool for reflection on gender, virtue, and collective identity.
The lecture attracted keen interest from the academic community, fostering lively discussion among attendees online and in the headquarters of PAIA.
