Otrera

Otrera was born north of modern-day Greece, parentage unknown. She was originally a housewife during the Bronze age in an arranged marriage. She was treated horribly by her husband and decided to train herself in secret and learn how to defend herself with a sword and a bow and arrow. Once confident in her abilities, she began to teach the housewives in her town to fight. Otrera taught the other women the hunting skills of Artemis, but they also prayed to Ares for strength.[8] One day, Otrera and her women rebelled and took over the entire town and eventually the surrounding towns. Otrera and her women would march into neighboring towns, liberate the women, and then slaughter and enslave the men. Otrera fled the country with her people and founded the capital city Sinope, where she trained her armies and gathered recruits while gradually expanding her territory. Otrera and her people became known as the Amazons. This name possibly derives from the Greek word amazos, which means without a breast due to the rumor that the Amazons would remove their right breasts so they could more effectively fire an arrow or throw a spear. Another theory about the origin of their name is that the word Amazon derives from the Persian word "Ha'mazan", or "Warrior Women"[9]

Otrera attracted the attention of the god Ares through acts of war and praise for the god. Ares came down from Olympus and told Otrera to build him a temple surrounding a big rock that he made fall from the sky. Ares told Otrera to bring her Amazons to the temple every year and sacrifice their most important animals, and in return he would continue to bless them in battle.[10][11]

Ares continued to love Otrera, and she was known as the bride of Ares. Ares and Otrera would later have two daughters, Hippolyta and Penthesilelia, who would also later on become Amazon queens.

Otrera built the temple for Ares, but she did not want to upset the god Artemis, from whom she had also received blessings, so Otrera decided to build another temple dedicated to Artemis in the city of Ephesus, close enough so that the Greeks could visit. The temple was built on a high hill so that it could be seen from all over. A festival was held every year at this temple, and the Amazons would spend the whole day celebrating and perform war dances through the streets. The people would sacrifice jewelry to Artemis by draping it over her statue. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt twice and became one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.[12][13]

Dionysus, the god of wine, was traveling through the mortal world with his followers known as the maenads. While on his way to invade India, he came upon the land of the Amazons. Upon meeting the Amazon scouts, he decided to add them to his group of followers. Otrera heard of his presence and despised the thought of her troops joining his forces, and so she ordered an attack against him. In this battle, Dionysus defeated the Amazons, since he was a god. The remaining Amazons fled to the Temple of Artemis.[14][15]

• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. "Hippolyta"
• Hyginus, Fabulae 225
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Otre'ra" , "Hippo'lyte"