In the same way that you have to grasp the Kents to know Superman, there's no wrapping
your head around Wonder Woman without a firm understanding of the isolated island where
she grew up.
Without the lessons she learned in her matriarchal society, there is no Wonder Woman.
This is the history of Themyscira, explained
Before diving into Wonder Woman's history on Themyscira, it's worth understanding why
she was created in the first place.
Where many years of fan service from the entertainment industry might lead you to believe that Wonder
Woman was a cash grab to capitalize on young girls who weren't buying Golden Age comics,
the real origin of the character is considerably more idealistic.
"Don't you think it's time to start my training?
Antiope thinks I'm ready!"
As the 2017 film Professor Marston & the Wonder Women depicts, William Moulton Marston created
the character to put forward the idea of a feminist utopia, believing that a world led
by women with the interests of women first would be a better one.
The inventor and psychologist exaggerated the traits of the liberated women he saw around
him, especially the two women he was in a polyamorous relationship with, and created
a new kind of hero.
Marston wrote in The American Scholar about his most famous creation,
"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength,
and power.
Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good
women are.
Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness.
The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman
plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."
For the moral of Wonder Woman to land, she couldn't be an anomaly in her world.
She had to come from an entire nation of powerful women, whose world proved Marston's thesis
of a better world built entirely by women.
In short, Themyscira needed to be a paradise.
Marston, who used pen name Charles Moulton, wrote at the time,
"Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe,
rule the world."
And so Wonder Woman's home was designed as an idyllic paradise, almost comically so.
The original name of Themyscira — in that uniquely plainspoken language of Golden Age
comics — was Paradise Island.
Early issues made it very clear what they wanted readers to take away from the island
overall.
It was a perfect place — and it was perfect because of the exclusion of men.
Other names floated during the early years of Wonder Woman were equally descriptive.
The island was known as the Amazon Isles, because of its status as home of the Amazons.
Occasionally it was known as Paradise Isle, for reasons that are just as easy to guess.
It didn't take on its name of Themyscira until decades after Wonder Woman first graced the
page.
The island of Themyscira came into existence in the fallout from the massive DC crossover
event Crisis on Infinite Earths in the '80s.
The landmark event was a way to cast off decades of canon and continuity, streamlining the
DC universe under a series of new titles with clear backstories.
So it was that Paradise Island became Themyscira.
According to the post-reboot continuity, Themyscira didn't begin its life as an island at all.
Instead it was a city-state of Amazons near modern-day Turkey.
The state was created by the gods themselves, molding the Amazons out of clay and tasking
them with teaching traits like compassion to the wider world.
From the beginning of their time on Earth, the Amazons are depicted as being in contention
with Ares, the God of War.
As the Amazons spread ideas like good will and world peace, Ares corrupts humanity and
steers them toward vengeance and anger.
They square off with their bitter rival wherever they find him trying to steer the wider world
toward destruction and they model their virtues in their own city-state, which is known to
be a paradise.
The state of Themyscira is ruled over by Hippolyta and Antiope, monarchs and sisters.
Ares eventually disrupts the idyllic capital of the Amazons by tricking Heracles, aka Hercules,
into attacking the Amazons.
His initial attack is unsuccessful, as the extremely powerful Amazons quickly defeat
him.
Hippolyta and Antiope live in a society that is largely free of rage and deceit, one that's
built on forgiveness.
Because of this, they invite the humiliated Hercules to a feast in their capital to embark
on a new era of friendship.
Hercules has other things in mind, however.
He attends the feast as a ruse to get his forces inside the city without resistance.
At the feast, he drugs the Amazons and takes them prisoner.
The Amazons plead to the women of Mount Olympus and Athena finally responds to their cries,
offering to free them from bondage if they agree not to seek revenge on the men who had
enslaved them.
Because Athena's goal is to foster creation, she views all destruction of life as evil.
The Amazons agree, though not all among them actually hold feelings of forgiveness in their
hearts: Athena uses her powers to break the chains holding the Amazons captive — and
many of them proceed to slaughter the men who had held them.
This angers Athena, and she comes down hard on the Amazons, demanding that they pay penance
for what they've done and sending them to an island — one they name after their former
capital — that sits on top of the doorway to the underworld.
Their role as guardians helps to pay back Athena by keeping destructive forces out of
the world of man.
In addition, the Amazons have to wear bracelets as reminders of the time they were tricked
into slavery.
Not all of them are entirely willing to go along with the plan, though.
These "bracelets of submission" are symbols of their devotion to the goddess Aphrodite
and reminders of what waited for them outside of their island.
The Amazon warriors were raised from birth to view falling prisoner to a man as the gravest
possible outcome.
The iconic gold bands were a symbol of real-world women's status in society and the hope that
they would break out of oppressive systems.
The bracelets also had quite a bit to do with Marston's own affinity for bondage.
Though Hippolyta and Antiope had ruled as co-leaders of the Amazons since time immemorial,
the decision to retreat from the world of man and set up a peace-loving society on Themyscira
doesn't sit right with one of them.
Antiope disavows her fellow Amazons, taking with her a force of vengeful warriors who
are entirely unwilling to forgive the men who had enslaved them.
Antiope sets out to destroy Hercules and his general Theseus.
Though she does not get her revenge, she ends up falling in love with Theseus and starting
a family.
The exiled Amazons try to make peace with the Greek forces of Theseus, but most of them
can't countenance fighting alongside the same men who invaded and enslaved them.
Antiope is eventually killed by the vengeful ex-wife of Theseus, breaking the tenuous alliance
between Theseus' army and the band of Amazons.
The remaining Amazons promote Antiope's adopted daughter to be their leader, and they head
out to a remote corner of the Earth.
They set up shop in the deep desert of the Middle East, creating a colony while Themyscira
carries on outside the world of man.
Though Themyscira is meant to be an island fortress separate from man's world, that would
make for a remarkably boring story.
Over the years, many intruders have landed on the island's shores, both intentionally
and accidentally.
Everyone from random fighter pilots to Darkseid have made their way to Themyscira over the
years.
The cosmic villain invaded the island and wiped out half of its population.
Hercules tried yet again to subdue the Amazons.
Aliens have invaded from deep within the recesses of Jack Kirby's mind.
The goddess Hera has invaded, turning all but the queen into snakes.
They've frequently been turned to stone, aesthetically in line with their classical Greek island.
But because of the slippery nature of comic book continuity, where death rarely lasts,
and the enduring passion of the Amazons, Themyscira always returns in some form or fashion.
All this history and ancient intrigue leads us to the rather odd birth of a classic DC
superhero.
Hippolyta formed her daughter Diana, who we come to know as Wonder Woman, from the dirt
of the island of Themyscira.
"Hello, Mother.
How are you today?"
Destined to bring change to her native land, Diana objects to the isolation of Themyscira
— and she eventually comes to serve as an ambassador between the necessarily sheltered
world of superpowered women where she came into being and the world of man.
Diana's sway in both worlds leads to an era of open borders, with visitors from the outside
world stopping by with the welcome of the royal family for the first time in eons.
As Diana becomes one of the protectors of the outside world through her work — both
as a solo superhero and a member of the Justice League — many dignitaries and representatives
want to know more about her hidden home.
And why wouldn't they?
These superwomen uphold the ideals of love and peace in their own society, serving as
an example to all humanity.
As an extra bit of poetic justice, the Amazons were crafted out of the souls of women who
had met violent deaths at the hands of men.
"As Amazons, this is our duty!"
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