This myth is probably one of the oldest examples of brodudes, in this case Hellanicus of Lesbos, inventing reasons why women can’t do stuff men can without really thinking it through. Hellanicus also, in grand brodude tradition, tried to make amazons sound horrible but made them sound cool as fuck.
300 years later, other brodudes like Diodorus Siculus were writing fan fic to explain how it worked rather than just picking up a bow and trying some archery for themselves. The history that people cite to claim women were never warriors, is full of this kind of nonsense.
Ultimately though, the history and warfare is the history of innovation in the fields of harming others and avoiding harm. Just as boobplate was never really a thing, because it didn’t help anyone - warriors always found gain advantages over their opponents without self-mutilation or otherwise handicapping themselves.
Many of these innovations were things as simple was “wear a breastplate”, “use a bow”, “use a longer spear”, “use fire” and “set traps”. War is rarely about being fair to your opponent.
Also, a lot of assumptions people make about combat, just aren’t so, particularly when it comes to women in combat.
ALT
