Amazons
("breastless
women")
The daughters
of Ares were a tribe of warrior women who according to tradition lived on
the northern coast of Asia Minor. The amazons only slept with men when they
needed children, which happened for two months every spring. If they had boys
In the Trojan war they sided with the Trojans. It was there their queen Penthesileia
died by Achilles hand. As the hero's eyes met the dying queens, he fell desperately
in love with her, ordering the Trojans to give her an honorable funeral.
The tenth labour of Heracles was to get the girdle of the Amazon queen Hippolytes.
According to one version he had to fight for it, according to another the
queen gave it to him. One of Theseus deeds was to defeat the amazons, which
he did, taking their queen Hippolyte or Antiope as his bride. This might have
happened since the Amazons reputedly attacked Athens once.
