" ... As regards the Amazons, the same stories are told now as in early times, though they  are marvelous and beyond belief.  For instance, who could believe that a an army of women, or a city, or a tribe, could ever be organized without men, and not only be organized, but make inroads upon the territory of other people, and not only overpower the peoples near them to the extent of advancing  as far as what is now Ionia, but even send an expedition acrossthe sea as far as Attica?  For this is to say that the men of those times were women and that the women were men." -Strabo, Geography (11.5.3) 

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Introduction
           To many in the modern audience, the word amazon evokes exotic images of a mysterious and foreboding class of brute-like women.  Today amazon functions in a variety of eclectic settings, marking tropical rivers in South America, feminist attempts at empowerment through semantic repossession and even the name of an on-line internet bookstore.  These modern stereotypes however, are just that; in order to understand the historical implications the name amazon conveys, it is necessary to explore the contexts of its original significance and function.
             The etymology of the word reveals that amazon is actually derived from two Greek words: a- from the prefix for without, and mazon- from the word for breast.  Hence there is the common connotation that amazon women had only one breast.  Indeed, many legends confirm this; telling that every Amazon participated in some type of "breast modification"; either through amputation (so as to not impede the holding of a shield in battle) or an unspecified process of atrophy (intending to transfer the strength of the breast to the arm for fighting).  One story even suggests that the Amazons, instead of nursing their babies themselves, fed them horse milk.  While providing insight to the name and perhaps barbarizing the subjects of the stories, the fables strangely contradict all known images of Amazons from the same time period, as every Amazon portrayed has two breasts.
            One of the first mentions of Amazons comes around the eighth century BCE, in Homer's Iliad, but the myths about these legendary women reached the heighth of their popularity in Ancient Greece around the fourth through sixth centuries BCE.  It should be noted that these documentations occurred hundreds of years after the events retold supposedly happened.  The legends of Amazons then continued in different forms, one of the most contemporary probably being the alleged encounter of Alexander the Great with the Amazon Queen Thalestris in Northern Persia (circa late fourth century B.C.E.), historicized varyingly by Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, Arrian and Curtius.
         The earliest portrayal of Amazons in art is around the eighth or seventh century, but the representations peak from around the first half of the sixth century to the late fifth and early fourth century in Attica.
          Who were these legendary ladies?  Were they superhero vixens or tough androgenous monsters?  Did they ever actually live and breath or are they just the subject of Athenian nationalist propaganda?  Maybe the fables are just that, merely bedtime stories and should be taken at face value.  The historians all tell differing discordant stories.
         Despite the many contradictions present in the literature and art regarding the Amazons, several basic principles run throughout all.  The Amazons were some variation of warrior women most commonly living in the Eurasian steppes- around the area of the Black or Caspian Seas, although there are several references to tribes of Libyan Amazons.  Whether or not they lived in the presence of men was debatable, but in their societies, they were definitely the dominating societal figures, politically and militarily.   Their existence is remarkable in Ancient Athens because they were the opposition in any documented conflict.
         This website, although attempting to include a broad spectrum of information,  explores Amazon myth and representation mainly in Athens around the time of the Persian Wars.