D. von Bother in his book Amazons in Greek Art provides a detailed catalogue of every known occurrence of Amazons in art. In her article Ancient Amazons - Heroes, Outsiders or Women?, Lorna Hardwick summarizes the art produced in the Attic Black Figure and Attic Red Figure periods. She claims that the Attic Black Figure portrayals focus primarily on battle scenes and usually have the Heracles legend as subject matter. The Amazons are dressed in battle garb and if a social setting is depicted, the Amazons are shown in the same occupations as male warriors (pg. 29). The art in the Red Figure period, according to Hardwick also concentrates on battle scenes and is marked by portrayals of the abduction of Antiope (see the
history section for more details about this myth).
Although the Amazons were rumored to have sacrificed one of their breasts, according to Kleinbaum in her book The War Against the Amazons, there is no artistic evidence during the Hellenistic period which supports this myth. She claims that this belief originated only in Hellenistic and Roman literature (p. 16). However, Amazons are frequently portrayed as riding into battle with one breast completely exposed.
Basically, there is artistic evidence of the Amazon's existence that support the myth. Does the art originate from actual events or does the myth originate from the art...