Αμαζονες
A race of women descended from Ares the god of war, and the Nymph Harmonia. Their kingdom was believed to lie in the north, either on the slopes of the Caucasus, or in Thrace, or yet again in southern Scythia, in the plains on the left bank of the Danube. They conducted their own government; they were ruled by a queen. They could not stand the presence of men except as servants for the most menial jobs, and at certain times had intercourse with strangers to preserve their race keeping only the baby girls. According to some accounts they mutilated the male children at birth by blinding them or making them lame. According to others, they killed them. They removed one of the breasts of the infant girls so that they should be unencumbered and able to shoot with the bow or to handle a spear, and it was from this custom that they were given the name of α-μαζων (those who have no breasts). Their main love was war.
A number of legends tell of Greek heroes fighting these strange women. Bellerophon fought them at the command of Iobates. Heracles received from Eurysthenes the mission of going to the bank of the river Thermodon in Cappadocia and taking the girdle of Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons. Hippolyta would have been willing to give him the girdle but Hera, in jealousy, incited the Amazons to mutiny and Heracles was forced to kill Hippolyta. On this expedition he was accompanied by Theseus, who abducted an Amazon called Antiope. In search of revenge the Amazons marched against Athens and the battle took place in Athens itself, where the Amazons set up camp on the hill later to be called the Areopagus (the hill of Ares). They were defeated by the Athenians led by Theseus. There was also a story that the Amazons had sent a contingent commanded by the queen, Penthesilea, to help Priam. But Achilles lost no time in killing her, though her last look aroused his love for her.
The goddess worshipped above all by the Amazons was, naturally, Artemis, whose legends have so much in common with the life attributed to these huntresses and female warriors. They were sometimes regarded as the founders of Ephesus and the builders of the great Temple of Artemis.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Apollod. Bibl. 2, 3, 2; 2, 5, 9; Epit. 1, 16
- Hom. Il. 6, 186
- Apoll. Rhod. Arg. 2, 96ff. with schol.
- Plut. Thes. 27
- Diod. Sic. 4, 28, 2
- Val. Flacc. Arg. 5, 132
- Paus. 1, 2, 1; 1, 15, 2; 1, 17, 2; 1, 25, 2; 1, 41, 7; 2, 31, 4; 2, 32, 9; 3, 25, 3; 4, 31, 8; 5, 10, 9; 5, 11, 4; 5, 11, 7; 5, 25, 11; 7, 2, 7f