Identifying the Amazons in Aurelian’s Triumph: an Examination of the Vita Aureliani 33.4-34.1

Abstract In the Vita Aureliani 34.1, captive warrior women are paraded as Amazons during Aurelian’s triumphal parade. Previous scholarship on their appearance in this parade has provided gendered readings of the triumph, as well as illustrated how it creates a narrative of conquest over mythical realms. Recent work on Amazons in Greco-Roman literature, however, has used archaeological evidence from Eastern Europe to show that Amazons were based on real women warriors. This note adds to this recent scholarship by arguing that the women in the triumph of Aurelian reflected the reality of women warriors on the battlefield during the Later Roman Empire, which ultimately changes the role of the triumphal parade in the Vita Aureliani .