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In ancient times the Amazons gathered and formed their peaceful matriarchal society of Amazonia with the backing of Aphrodite, who gave their queen Hippolyte a magic girdle which would prevent their being overthrown so long as she wore it.

Themyscira, also known as Paradise Island, is the second home of the Amazons, named after their prior home in what is now modern day Turkey. The island has undergone several changes in location and appearance over the years.

History

Earth-Two

Origins

In ancient times the Amazons gathered and formed their peaceful matriarchal society of Amazonia with the backing of Aphrodite, who gave their queen Hippolyte a magic girdle which would prevent their being overthrown so long as she wore it.[1][2]

Amazonia quickly became a flourishing successful nation, but male warriors became bitter at taunts that they could not defeat a bunch of women who refused to kill. As part of Mars' ongoing philosophical feud with Aphrodite he prompted violent men representing his own ideals lead by Hercules to attack. Hercules was defeated in single combat by Hippolyte and resorted to trickery to steal her girdle and enslave the Amazons. Hippolyte managed to recover her girdle and lead the Amazons to escape their captors, stealing a fleet of ships and setting sail for new shores. Following this ordeal Aphrodite directed them to build a new nation aloof and separate from men on Paradise Island, where the local Fountain of Youth imbued them with immortality so long as they were on the island and keep men from stepping foot there.[1][2][3]

The Queen's Daughter

While the Amazons did rescue and raise girls from the outside world Queen Hippolyte yearned for a daughter of her own and started sculpting clay infant figures.[4][5][2] Aphrodite eventually granted her loyal follower this wish by turning one of the Queens sculptures into a living child, which the queen named Diana, after the Roman name for Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. Diana was beloved by the queen and the other Amazons and quickly began to stand out among the Amazon children for her speed and strength.[2][6]

WWII

When Diana was a young woman an outing with her childhood friend Mala was interrupted by the crash of a strange plane from the outside world, containing an injured male pilot named Steve Trevor. The girls rescued the pilot and the Amazons learned of the ongoing war in the outside world from him, with the queen declaring a contest to see who would return the pilot to his country and represent the Amazons as their champion off the island. While Diana was forbidden from entering the contest she did so in disguise and won, becoming Wonder Woman.[1][2] During the war the Amazons came into conflict with the Valkyries, as the winged women were supporting the Nazi Party in the war. The Amazons were ultimately the victors and incorporated their defeated foes into their own society.[5]

New Earth

Heritage

The immortal Amazons were created over 3,000 years ago to teach the merits of virtue, love, and equality to the men of "Patriarch's World", and they founded the city-state of Themyscira in ancient Greece (in a part of modern Turkey).

Ares, the God of War, a chief opponent of the Amazons, manipulated his half-brother Heracles to gather forces and attack Themyscira, where Heracles seduced and ravaged the Amazon Queen Hippolyta. His forces succeeded in ransacking Themyscira and enslaving the Amazons. Through strength and savage cunning, the Amazons freed themselves, slaughtering most of their captors. Soon after, Antiope led a force of Amazons off into Greece, seeking vengeance on Heracles. As decreed by the goddesses, Hippolyta led the remaining Amazons to a remote island, where they were tasked with guarding Doom's Doorway as punishment for their failures as teachers. They named the island itself Themyscira, after their fallen capital, and began new lives, erecting buildings and monuments, and perfecting their skills as artisans and warriors.

For centuries the Amazons lived in what they felt a perfect state of harmony with their surroundings. Occasionally, the Nereides would bring to the shores of Themyscira young infants who would have drowned otherwise in accidents. These infants would wash up on the shores of Paradise Island and be tutored spiritually in Amazonian ideals, a process of which is colloquially called Called "sending forth"; wherein one of the tribeswomen act as a surrogate mother/teacher figure to the young and would then send them back mystically to the place of their disappearance. Julia Kapatelis, the Amazon princess Diana's first friend in Patriarch's World, was one such infant.

Enter Wonder Woman

After her sojourn into man's world, Hippolyta's daughter Diana, known to men as Wonder Woman, became an ambassador to the outside world. With Diana's help, the Amazons opened the shores of Themyscira to dignitaries of "Patriarch's World". The creatures beneath Doom's Doorway had long since been defeated, and for a time the Amazons destroyed their battle armor as a testament to their call for a new period of peace. The Amazons even conducted their own tour of the United States, where they were framed for the murders of several people by Antiope's descendants, the mercenary assassins of Bana-Mighdall, and Circe. Eventually, the lost Amazon tribe of Bana-Mighdall would be transplanted on Themyscira, and formed an uneasy truce with the Amazons, choosing to live at opposite ends of the island.

With Diana and Hippolyta adventuring in Patriarch's World as Wonder Woman for longer and longer periods of time, the Banas and the Themyscirans were manipulated into a bloody civil war at the hands of Magala, who used allies among both Amazon cities to spark the vengeful conflict. The island was left in ruins, and the war was only stopped when Hippolyta abolished the royal family, renounced her throne.

Left at odds, but on an even political ground, the Bana Amazons and the Themyscirans joined forces against the alien forces of Imperiex. Themyscira, mystically moved into outer space, where it was destroyed by the marauder, and hundreds of Amazons from both tribes died.

New Themyscira

Following its destruction, Themyscira was rebuilt and relocated once again, this time to the Bermuda Triangle. Designed by the likes of Julia Kapatelis, the Martian Manhunter, the second Doctor Light, Steve Trevor, Canadian architect Henri Claude Tibet, and Amazon master designer Kaleeza Fashed, the new Themyscira was built with the help of alien technology and was restored by the combined might of the Greek and Egyptian goddesses the Amazons worshiped, with each one bestowing a blessing over the land and the Amazons.[7]

Transformed into a mighty series of floating islands dedicated to the free exchange of information and ideas, the new Themyscira was governed by Philippus, the political leader, and Artemis serving as the military commander and co-leader. This Themyscira was nearly destroyed in a jealous fit of rage by the goddess Hera. Because of her actions, the islands ceased to float, and resumed being a cluster of traditional islands. The islands were positioned just off the East Coast of the United States.[8]

Infinite Crisis

During the events of the Infinite Crisis, Themyscira fell under attack by an army of O.M.A.C. units.[9] Though the Amazons rallied to fight, they were overwhelmed, even after using the Purple Death Ray.[10] Also, Brother Eye broadcast the fight around the world, convincing everyone that the Amazons were not interested in peace.[10] Their home being ravaged and their name tarnished, Wonder Woman encouraged the Amazons to take the only option left. To ensure the survival of the Amazons, Themyscira was removed from the Earthly realm, taken by the Gods of Olympus as they left the Earth.[10] The island sank beneath the waves, leaving Princess Diana, Donna Troy, and Cassandra Sandsmark the only remaining Amazons known to be in the world.[10]

Points of Interest

A number of smaller islands also surround Paradise Island and are considered part of the Amazons' domain:

Residents

Notes

  • Paradise Island has shifted locations over the years. It has been in the Bermuda Triangle, the Pacific Ocean (in one case off the California coast, in another near Papua New Guinea[4]) and the Aegean Sea. It was eventually explained that Paradise Island didn't really exist in time and space as mortals saw it allowing it to be anywhere or anywhen the Amazons wish it to be.[35]
  • The island is generally referred to as Paradise Island, especially in the Pre-Crisis continuity. Its secondary name, Themyscira, has been used as either the capital, the state on the island, or as an alternative name for the island, primarily Post-Crisis. Technically, the island was New Themyscira, as the old name was a city-state in modern day Turkey (based on the real world Themiscyra). The New was dropped over time, so "New Themyscira" has been used to refer to the island rebuilt after Our Worlds at War and the colonized parts of the United Kingdom during Flashpoint.
  • On the Pre-Crisis Earth-One, Paradise Island periodically needed to be transported to the dimension of Mount Olympus to replenish the Amazons' superhuman powers. During one such period, Wonder Woman elected to remain on Earth, and needed to relinquish her powers until Paradise Island returned.[36]
  • On Earth 1, Paradise Island, also called Amazonia, has at least two cities: the capital New Athena and its sister city New Sparta.[22]
  • On Earth-50, Themyscira is not an island, but rather a mountain, with the official name of Mount Themyscira. It is located in the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece, and is home to the Coda Sisterhood.
  • On Earth 3, Paradise Island is called Demon's Island.[37]

See Also

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