The Amazons Were Real—Here’s Everything We Know About History’s Fiercest Women

Like every self-respecting woman, I was obsessed with Wonder Woman when it came out in 2017. Not just with Diana and her glossy girlboss energy, but with the majestic, warrior women of Themyscira—the Amazons. They were the embodiment of virtue, the pursuit of the good, female strength, endurance, and elegance. My favorite thing about them: They have a clear enemy and it is not a particular villain, but evil itself. The Greek stories and the Marvel Studios adaptation in Wonder Women felt like a fever dream—but guess what? They were neither mythological nor a Hollywood dream. They are as real as you and I. That’s right. Real-life Amazons existed, and we now have the science to prove it. For decades, there’s been theories about female warriors in the Ancient world and recent archaeological discoveries, DNA testing, and re-evaluations of burial sites have revealed that these theories are real. Female warriors lived, fought, and thrived across the Eurasian steppes. These weren’t just outliers or exceptions—they were part of a proud warrior-nomadic culture. And in many ways, they’re even more inspiring than the legends. The Burials That Changed Everything Between 2019 and 2022, a series of excavations in southern Russia uncovered something that would turn classical history on its head. Warrior burials appeared to be filled with female bodies. These bodies had war wounds and had weapons laying next to them. There was no doubt that these were ancient female warriors and further examination even revealed that these women’s bodies showed evidence of extensive horseback riding. This discovery led to the re-examination of multiple warrior burial sites, previously assumed to belong to men, and after some DNA-testing, which was not available when first excavated decades ago, they were confirmed to be (drum roll!) women warriors. These burials included bows, spears, riding gear, and ornate jewelry—often all buried with the same individual. One warrior was even found with her legs in a horseback-riding position , confirming that she had spent most of her life in the saddle. “These weren’t anomalies,” says archaeologist Valerii Guliaev, lead author of the Scythian Amazons study . “This wasn’t ceremonial. These women were trained warriors, active participants in battle and the defense of their communities.” Their skeletons showed injuries consistent with battle—arrow wounds, healed fractures, and signs of intense horseback riding. It was clear: these women weren’t just holding swords for decoration. They knew how to use them. Who Were the Real Amazons? The Scythians were a nomadic people who lived in what is now southern Russia, Ukraine, and parts of Central Asia between the 9th century BC and the 1st century AD. They were master horse riders, expert archers, and highly mobile—a perfect recipe for a formidable warrior society. Enter Herodotus, the Greek historian known as the “ Father of History. ” Writing in the 5th century BC, he relayed tales of a neighboring tribe of warrior women who fought, hunted, and rode as fiercely as any man. His accounts of these battles‑hardened women—whom he called Amazons —captured the Greek imagination and set the stage for centuries of legend and lore. In fact, the Scythians are believed to be the real-life inspiration for the Amazons described by the ancient Greeks. According to Herodotus, the Amazons were a fierce race of female warriors who lived on the edges of the known world (known to the Greeks). They clashed with Greek heroes like Achilles and Theseus, often portrayed as both deadly and desirable. These women didn’t reject femininity in order to wield power. For centuries, these stories were dismissed as myth and legend—a combination of fantasy, exoticism, and patriarchal projection. But now, we know the Greeks likely did encounter female warriors—they just didn’t understand them. We can’t really blame them for this. The Scythian female warriors were not the kind to chit-chat, carry diplomatic negotiations with their neighbors, or even write about themselves; so both the Greeks and us have only what our eyes have been able to grasp about them to draw a full picture. The Amazons were clearly quite captivating creatures for modern and ancient times alike, and the combination of this intrigue and the struggle to comprehend them is what likely resulted on the Amazons becoming mythological creatures comparable to centaurs, sirens, and the minotaur; only that now we can claim with certainty that the Amazons as the Greek described them are an exaggerated and romanticized version of the real Scythian female warriors. “The Greeks couldn’t fathom women fighting, so they turned them into mythology,” explains historian Adrienne Mayor, author of The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World . “But the Scythians didn’t just tolerate female warriors—they honored them.” Feminine and Fierce: Redefining the Warrior Woman What makes these discoveries even more fascinating is that these women didn’t reject femininity in order to wield power. In fact, archaeological evidence shows the opposite: many of the warrior graves unearthed by researchers included items traditionally associated with female beauty and domestic life—bronze mirrors, cosmetics containers, intricately beaded garments, and ornate gold jewelry—laid to rest beside swords, bows, and quivers of arrows. These weren't symbols of contradiction, but of completeness. These women were both warriors and women in full. They were allowed to be strong and beautiful. Unlike some narratives that often suggest strength must come at the cost of softness, these women didn’t masculinize themselves to fight. They didn’t strip away their identity to fit a mold—they expanded it. Their presence says something radical even today: femininity is not fragile. Femininity can be fierce. Most striking of all is that these women weren’t thrust into combat merely out of desperation or due to a lack of men. The burial sites reveal something much more profound—these were not token fighters or accidental soldiers. They were respected members of Scythian society, likely trained from a young age. Their warrior status was not symbolic or exceptional; it was normalized. And the full military honors they received in death—alongside their weapons and feminine adornments—prove that strength and womanhood were not at odds. They were one and the same. Why It Took So Long to Believe For centuries, archaeologists made a simple assumption: if a grave had weapons, it belonged to a man. But now, thanks to advances in DNA testing and forensic anthropology, those assumptions are being shattered. While it is true that in settlement-based cultures women typically managed domestic affairs and left warfare to men, nomadic groups—nearly all of which maintained a strong warrior culture—operated differently. Two good examples of these female-only battalions are: The Vikings, who had the shield-maidens who were also once considered myth and are now confirmed to be real. There’s also the Dahomey Amazons who inspired the 2022 film: The Woman King , and were located in West Africa, currently in the country of Benin. A broader analysis of over 1,000 Scythian burials revealed that nearly 37% of graves containing weapons actually belonged to women. That’s not a quirky exception—that’s a cultural norm. Visiting the Real Amazon Homeland Many of the most important Scythian burial sites are located in southern Russia and Ukraine, particularly around the Don and Volga Rivers. While some sites are still being excavated, others have been turned into museums or open-air historical parks. So if you’d like to step in the land where these women fought and get a better idea of what their world was like, here's where you can go: The Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg, Russia ): Features a stunning collection of Scythian gold, weapons, and burial artifacts. Rostov-on-Don Archaeological Museum (Russia) : Close to key excavation sites and known for displaying female warrior remains. Ukrainian National Museum of History (Kyiv): Offers interactive exhibitions on Scythian culture and nomadic life. If you can’t make the trip, many museums now offer virtual exhibits—like this Met Museum brief presentation on the Greeks vs. The Amazons , or there is this TedTalk and this longer lecture by Dr. Adrianne Mayor, one of the leading scholars on the topic. And if you still have some intellectual curiosity left, there’s also this National Geographic podcast on the topic. Closing Thoughts This discovery isn’t just a win for history and Wonder Woman nerds (though yes, we are thrilled). It’s a cultural reset. A moment to reframe what life has been like for women of different time periods and cultures. The Amazons weren’t fantasy. They were real. Nonetheless, many aspects of their story remain unknown and the fictional depictions will continue to fill those gaps inaccurately but always interestingly. Like the myth that these women would cut off one or both breasts for the sake of archery. This is so far proven to be untrue, but I think it also reminds us that the Amazons will now continue to live a double life: one of facts based on the new discoveries and one of myths based on the Greek’s stories. Ultimately, the Amazons’ long‑buried arrows point to something larger than a single chapter in steppe history; they pierce into a deeper truth—women have never been one-sided. For too long, women have individually and collectively been labeled as nurturer or fighter, gentle or strong. Even our current rom-coms like Legally Blonde fight against this by proving that a woman can wear excessive pink and still be intelligent. These Scythian graves further prove that women aren’t either‑or. They show that a woman can cradle a mirror and draw a bow, braid her hair and brandish a spear—without it being a contradiction.