Amazons

It appears obvious that Amazons were women who did not fit into the patriarchal Athenian establishment's Rules For Women. They rejected typical marriage roles - some sources say they simply were uninterested in male marriage partners, others suggest that the women did marry men who stayed at home to take care of the children and perform other "feminine" tasks while the women participated in public life as warriors and leaders. 
Amazons show up in myth principally as warriors, and were said to have conquered many nations and be fierce fighters. As Sue Blundell says, "Whatever the reason for this, we can be sure that it had nothing to do with heartwarming messages about the empowerment of women." Yes, of course that's depressing, but it is undeniably true. Amazons almost certainly true. Amazons exist through Athenian myth, and in those stories they never, ever win against Greece."the Amazons were everything that an Athenian woman ought not to be, and ultimately they failed. There can be little doubt that ... one of myth's functions was the provision of a negative role model."(LINK)