Antiope and Theseus

Heracles was accompanied on this labor by the Athenian hero Theseus, who carried off the Amazon princess Antiope. Most Greek sources described Antiope as a sister of Hippolyte and Melanippe — although one writer called her the daughter of Hippolyte—and mention that she ruled the Amazons with her two sisters. In one version of the story, Theseus abducted her forcibly, while another version says that Heracles gave her to his friend as a gift. Theseus returned with the woman to Athens, which led to an invasion of the city by the Amazons. Yet by the time the female warriors reached Athens, Antiope had fallen in love with Theseus and given birth to a son by him called Hippolytus. The Amazons besieged Athens for three months but were eventually defeated. Some accounts relate how Antiope, while fighting alongside Theseus, was killed by the

Left: Discovered in Italy, this Greek amphora from the sixth century BCE depicts Achilles using his spear to kill Penthesileia, queen of the Amazons. The artwork is attributed to Exekias, considered the most accomplished amphora painter in the ancient world.

Above: This first - or second-century-BCE carved ivory scabbard tip has an image of a battle between the Greeks and the Amazons.

Camilla, an Italian Amazon

Virgil's Aeneid, the Roman poet's account of the V voyages of the Trojan refugee and founder of Rome, Aeneas, includes a description of a woman who looked and acted very much like an Amazon. According to Virgil, when Aeneas and his men finally arrived in Italy, they were challenged to battle by a local king, Turnus, whose advances toward Lavinia, the daughter of another king, had been rejected in favor of Aeneas. The virgin warrior Camilla joined forces with Turnus against Aeneas. Virgil related how Camilla was brought up in the wild by her father, Metabus, exiled king of the Volsci tribe. Metabus had taught his daughter how to hunt and fight and dedicated her to Diana, goddess of hunting. In battle against Aeneas, Camilla led a band of female warriors and rode with one breast exposed. She killed many men before dying herself, pierced by a spear belonging to an Etruscan named Arruns. After her death, Diana sent down the nymph Opis to kill Arruns and reclaim Camilla's body.

Amazon Molpadia. In other accounts, Antiope survived the battle only to feel betrayed when Theseus later married Phaedra, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. Flanked by other Amazons, Antiope attempted to thwart the couple’s wedding celebrations but was killed by either Theseus or one of his men, or accidentally at the hands of another Amazon.