| Race
of warrior women in Greek mythology that lived in
Scythia, near the Black Sea, or in Pontus, in Asia Minor
(present-day Turkey). The Amazons were reputed to cut off
or burn off their right breast to facilitate the use of
the javelin and bow, their principle weapons, and they
did most of their fighting on horseback. They also
carried with them a crescent-shaped shield, and they
worshipped Artemis, the virgin goddess of the hunt. To
reproduce they took men deemed suitable from neighboring
societies and mated with them in the forest. Female
offspring were raised to be warriors while males were
killed, blinded, or crippled. In the instances where the
lives of the male offspring were spared, they would be
used by the Amazons as a source of male seed for the
future. The Amazons would also take male prisoners-of-war
as sex slaves, killing them when their purposefulness
expired or keeping them alive as a future source of male
seed. |