Editing Amazon (section)

==Myth/Origin==
Amazons originated as a race of warrior-women from Ancient Greek/Roman myths. Though they only appear in a handful of stories, most notably those of Heracles (Hercules to the Disney fans in the room), Theseus (the smart guy who isn't Odysseus), and the Iliad (Trojan War), they have stuck in the imagination of nerds everywhere due to the ''strange and wholly inexplicable'' fondness writers have for aggressive, take-charge women who can kick major ass.

IRL, they're believed to have been inspired by Grecian encounters with the Scythians (although there are other cultural candidates such as Minoans), nomadic tribes of horseback archers (one of the first groups of humans to use mounted warfare; some have suspicions that women logically may have rode horses into battle first since the most ancient horses were too small for full-grown men to ride on) that originated in the Middle East and expanded their reach into southern and central Asia (their trade route connecting China and India to Egypt and Greece can fairly be called the proto-Silk Road) before being repelled and eventually becoming part of the early Slavic culture.

The Scythians often included female archers and even full-fledged warriors in their ranks, something highly exotic to the very patriarchal Greeks and Romans who [[Blood Ravens|shamelessly stole most of the Grecian culture for themselves in later years.]] While Amazon female warriors appear to be mixed with males based on archeological finds (females with battle damage to their bones, buried with weapons and armor alongside warrior males as equals) the Greeks and Romans just focused on the women, dropping men from the myth.

According to the Greeks, Amazons supposedly cut one breast off to remove the obstacle hindering archery (something that breasts don't really do unless one is particularly heavily-endowed...and they'd have frequently died of infection doing this due to their lack of germ theory) with the queen Penthesilea removing both, although there isn't much evidence for this practice. They had sex with the men of their closest neighbor, the Gargareans, to keep their numbers up; any boys born from this were either killed at birth or send back to the fathers.

Greek Amazons featured first into the story of Theseus, where he marries their queen and the daughter of Ares, Hippolyta. Unfortunately, this pisses off the rest of the Amazons for some reason; in other versions she is raped or abducted instead, or Theseus takes a second wife, or he kills her and marries her sister Antiope. Regardless of the version, the Amazons wage war on the Greeks in revenge for whatever slight.

In the second myth Heracles, tasked with obtaining the girdle (belt) given by Ares to his daughter and their queen Hippolyta. Either she willingly visits his boat or he abducts her; either way he gets the girdle. From there, either Hera decides to be her usual bitchy self and goads them into attacking Heracles by tricking them into thinking she was abducted (in the former), or the Amazons launch a rescue mission. Shit promptly hits the fan: either Hippolyta's sister Penthesilea kills her by mistake, Heracles kills her in revenge then bails with the girdle, or he abducts her and gives her to Theseus, causing the events of the first myth. In short, Hera's a bitchy shithead that unironically should not have been worshipped, and deserves to be cucked.

In their final appearance, Penthesilea (now their queen) leads the Amazons in defense of Troy from the united Greeks. Exactly why she does this varies from version to version - in some she does so to [[Slayer|seek death out of shame at killing Hippolyta (either attempting to save her from Heracles or in a hunting accident)]], with other versions saying she simply intended to prove Amazon supremacy.

During the siege of Troy, Penthesilea led twelve of her companions against Achilles, Greek mythology's resident nigh-invulnerable badass and all-round legendary warrior; after fucking up numerous Greek soldiers and maybe dueling one of the two Ajaxes present, she faced off against Achilles himself. Depending on who you ask, they went full [[Love Can Bloom]] mid-battle or just afterwards; either way, their battle ended with her biting it at Achilles hands. What happened to the other Amazons is unknown.

Greek Amazons are only mentioned a few other times, generally in the context of waging war on the Greeks but the stories unfortunately are not elaborated on. Cults to Amazon leaders, gathering at Amazon tombs converted into temples, are also recorded.

It should be noted that the ancient Greeks were, as a rule, really fucking misogynistic. As in the unabashedly patriarchal Romans thought that the Greeks were sexist assholes. It's been argued by some classicists that the Amazons represented a villain which were an antithesis of Greek society.