Who were Amazons?

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The Amazons were a legendary race of female warriors in Greek mythology. They feature frequently in Greek and Roman accounts of warfare, but whether they were purely legendary or based on an actual group of female warriors is unknown. The Amazons of myth were an exclusively female society.
According to Greek myth, the Amazons had an independent kingdom located in present-day Türkiye. Different accounts place the Amazons in different locations, typically on the edge of the known world. In some versions, men were not allowed to live in Amazonian territory or mate with Amazons. Each year, the Amazons mated with members of a nearby all-male tribe, the Gargareans, to maintain their population. Male children would be abandoned, killed or sent to live with the Gargareans.

Amazons occupy a number of important places in Greek myth. The best-known story is that of the Attic war between the Athenians and the Amazons, which began when Heracles stole the magic girdle belonging to the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, as one of her twelve tasks. Heracles was joined in his enterprise by Theseus, who kidnapped Hippolyta’s sister Antiope. The Amazons retaliated with a raid on Attica in southern Greece and were defeated by the Athenians. Depictions of this battle, called amazonomachy, were popular in Greek art. In some versions, Theseus marries Antiope and in others, he marries Hippolyta. Either way, it is the only account of an Amazonian marriage. Theseus had a son from this union named Hippolytus.

Archaeological evidence suggests that there may have been actual female warriors upon whom the legendary Amazons were based in Scythia, an area of ​​Eurasia north of the Caspian Sea. Graves of warrior maidens have been discovered in the area. As the men of the area were often away fighting for long periods, the women may have had to defend themselves and go a long time without mating, perhaps inspiring the myth of the Amazons.

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