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==Bellerophon and the Amazons==
Bellerophon was regarded as the greatest hero before Hercules. He was a renowned slayer of monsters and he killed the Chimera and he captured the winged horse Pegasus. In one myth he is ordered by a King of Lycia to attack the Amazons. The ruler believed that Bellerophon would be killed by the fierce women warriors. However, to the amazement of the king, he managed to defeat an army of Amazonians. Bellerophon also killed the Queen of the Amazons in a personal duel and eventually, overthrew the Lycian king.
==Hercules and his fourth laborthe Amazons==Perhaps the best-known Greek hero was Hercules, renowned for this super-strength. He was driven mad by the Queen of the Gods, who hated him. In his insanity, Hercules killed his wife and child. To atone for his crimes, he asked an oracle what should he do? He was told to follow the instructions of a King Eurystheus, who set him twelve labors. One labor or task was to seize the girdle of the Amazonian queen Hippolyta. In some versions of the myth, Hercules is accompanied by Theseus, the great Athenian hero. Hercules managed to persuade the Amazonian to give him the girdle, which had been given to her, by her father Ares. However, Hera took the form of the queen and initiated a war between Hercules and the Amazons. The female warriors. were defeated and their queen killed. Hercules then obtained the girdle. There is no one version of the myth, and the role of Theseus in it, but there is agreement that it led to a war between the Athenians and the Amazonians.
==The Battle of Athens==
In many myths, the Amazons invaded Athens. Most myths believe that this they invaded Attica because Theseus had abandoned his Amazonian wife Antiope, whom he had abducted during the war between Hercules and the Amazons<ref> Blok, J. The early Amazons: modern and ancient perspectives on a persistent myth (The Netherlands, Brill, 1994), p 113</ref>. The female warriors attacked the Athenians to free Antiope. In the battle, the Athenians, who were all males emerged triumphant and totally vanquished the Amazons. This battle was celebrated in a great many artworks and they are known as the Amazonomachy. Indeed, there were once many scenes from this battle between the Athenians and the Amazons on the friezes that adorned the Parthenon and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus <ref>Carpenter, T.H. Art and Myth in Ancient Greece (London, Thames & Hudson, 1991), p 89</ref>. It was widely believed that the nation of female warriors was permanently weakened and was no longer a threat after their defeat by Theseus and the Athenians.
