History’s first mention of a race of warrior women is found in Homer’s ILIAD, an account of the Trojan War, probably written in the 8th or 7th century B.C.. Homer’s Amazons, a race of fierce women who mated with vanquished male foes and kept only the female children they bore, were believed to occupy the area around the Black Sea.

The first record of the Amazons in Greek literature can be found in Homer ’s Iliad, in which the female warriors are called ἀντιάνειραι, “equal to men”. note The sequel to the Iliad, the (lost) Aethiopis by Arctinus of Miletus, begins with the arrival of the Amazon queen Penthesileia, “a daughter of Ares and of Thracian race” according to Proclus’ summary, who is a valiant fighter but is killed by Achilles.