Starting from the premise that mythology and legend
preserve at least a nucleus of historical fact, Bachofen
argued that women were dominant in many ancient
societies. His work was based on a comprehensive survey
of references in the ancient sources to Amazonian and
other societies with matrilineal customs—societies in
which descent and property rights are traced through the
female line. Some support for his theory can be found in
evidence such as that drawn from Herodotus, the Greek
"historian" of the fifth century B. C. Nonetheless, this
assumption that the first recorders of ancient myths have
preserved facts is problematic. Ancient Greek
descriptions of those societies were meant not so much to
represent observed historical fact—real Amazonian
societies—but rather to offer "moral lessons" on the
supposed outcome of women‘s rule in their own society.
The Amazons were often characterized, for example, as
the equivalents of giants and centaurs, enemies to be slain
by Greek heroes; thus, their customs were presented not
as those of a respectable society, but as the very antitheses
of ordinary Greek practices.