Thank you and thanks for your questions. Here's what I found about the origin of the Amazons but I don't know that we'll ever know the truth for sure.
"In the 20th century, one school of thought claimed that the real Amazons were probably beardless “bow-toting Mongoloids” mistaken for women by the Greeks. Another insisted that they were simply a propaganda tool used by the Athenians during times of political stress. The only theorists who remained relatively unfazed by the debates swirling through academia were the Freudians, for whom the idea of the Amazons was far more interesting in the abstract than in a pottery fragment or arrowhead. The Amazonian myths appeared to hold the key to the innermost neuroses of the Athenian male. All those women sitting astride their horses, for example—surely the animal was nothing but a phallus substitute. As for their violent death in tale after tale, this was obviously an expression of unresolved sexual conflict."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/amazon-women-there-any-truth-behind-myth-180950188/
Here's something that I wrote a while back about how to have a more partnership-oriented culture.
"Partnership-oriented organizations have trust and reciprocity-based cooperation; achievement-based (rather than conflict-based) competition; and use conflict as a tool to arrive at solutions, rather than a zero-sum win at all costs mentality. “Leadership is based on power to (woman or man who nurtures and supports productivity and creativity) AND/OR power with (encourages and participates in teamwork).”
Business is one of the main forefronts for partnership-oriented shifts in our culture today because it leads to greater agility and responsiveness, which in turn, contributes to the bottom line."
The bottom of that article has a link to another one on a similar topic as well as a list of books. Riane Eisler's organization, The Center For Partnership Systems is another good resource.
