The Amazons

This word is probably derived from the Iranian ethnonym *ha-mazan-, originally meaning "warriors". A connected word is probably the Hesychius of Alexandria ("hamazakaran: 'to make war' (Persian)", containing the Indo-Iranian root kar- "make" also in kar-ma).

Hippocrates describe them as: "They have no right breasts...for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm."

Both Herodotus' and Hippocrates' accounts inform us the Sarmatians took interest in turning their women into strong-armed huntresses and fighters. Archaeological evidence seems to confirm the existence of Amazon Women-Warriors, as Sarmatian women's active role in military operation and social life. Burial of armed Sarmatian women comprise large percent of the military burial in the group occupy the central position and appear to be the richest. According to Herodotus, the Sarmatians fought with the Scythians against Darius the Great in the 5th century B.C.