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Where was Theseus’s captive bride, Antiope.? Most ancient accounts say that Antiope fought bravely at Theseus’s side. Some vase paintings appear to depict this. A vase attributed to the Geneva Painter, for example, shows seventeen combatants, five Greeks versus twelve Amazons. One side shows Theseus in the midst of battle, and on the other side “An-tiope” rushes to the aid of a Greek warrior threatened by an Amazon ready to thrust a spear. On the other hand, at least six vases illustrate an alternative version of the myth, in which Antiope/Hippolyte fought with the Amazons against Theseus. In the main myth, when the tide turned against the Amazons, it was Antiope who arranged a truce. The Amazons agreed to a treaty of withdrawal at a spot north of the Areopagus that became known as the Horcomosium (“Oath Shrine”). Both sides retrieved their dead. The tombs of Athens’s war heroes were said to be along both sides of the road leading to Piraeus, near the ancient shrine of the mythic hero Chalcodon. This area actually contains Dark

Age burials from 1050-900 BC (below), which the Athenians recognized as extremely ancient.9

The Amazons buried their dead around the Amazoneum, their camp. Several Attic vase paintings show Amazons carrying fallen companions; some may allude to the aftermath of the battle. A possible illustration of an Amazon burial appears on a vase painting depicting a “pensive-looking Amazon” leading her horse away from “a shaft or stele. . . perhaps the tomb of an Amazon.”10

According to Plutarch’s sources, Antiope secretly arranged to transport some wounded Amazons to Chalcis, western Euboea. Some of them were nursed back to health, while others died and were buried there. Like the supposed heroes’ graves on the road to Piraeus (above), the “Amazon” graves at Chalcis may have been Mycenaean tombs, perceived as extremely ancient by the classical Greeks. In antiquity, Chalcis honored these fallen Amazons with an Amazoneum shrine and cult like that of Athens. Were there perhaps political advantages to the city’s participation in Athens’s great legend.? We know that Chalcis had been forcibly allied with Athens and then became part of the Delian League to counter Persia.11

Antiope distinguished herself in battle and died fighting heroically. One tradition claims that Antiope was accidentally killed, while fighting beside Theseus, by a javelin thrown by the Amazon Molpadia. Mol-padia was aiming at Theseus; there are hints that Antiope died shielding her husband. Molpadia was then slain by Theseus. By some accounts Antiope’s tomb was marked by a single column or stele near the prehistoric Sanctuary of Mother Earth (Gaia) and the Palladium by the Ito-nian Gate. Molpadia was buried beside her. Some scholars have suggested that Molpadia was one of the figures in the scene on Athena’s great shield. It is likely that Antiope’s role in defending Athens was featured in the public wall paintings.12