Researcher Adrienne Mayo's book, "The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World", claims that the real-life female Amazons fought battles alongside men and matched them in strength and skill, Prensa Latina News Agency reported.

Mayo's research found that these women often wore the same clothes as their male counterparts, smoked pot, covered their skin with tattoos, rode horses and cut off their breasts to fight better, they even mutilated or killed their male children and were depicted with great respect and admiration.

Mayo's investigation gathered all ancient Greek and Latin references to the Amazons and "war-like barbarian" women and found that they were usually found in nomadic tribes that roamed an area known as Scythia in Sarmatia that is now occupied by modern Ukraine.

She points to "battle-scarred skeletons of women that were buried with their weapons and horses" and Scythian mummies that had tattoos such as the ones that Amazon women were depicted to have in ancient Greek art.

Homer and Herodotus referred to Hippolyta, Antiope and Penthesilea who were huntresses and rivals of men. They battled with Hercules and fought alongside the Trojans.

In her book, she says Amazons are among the most popular subjects in vase paintings of myths. Artistic Greek objects of all sorts, crafted for men, women, boys and girls, underscored that admiration for the Amazons transcended gender and age groups.(KH)