The saga of the ninth labor began not with a monster to be slain, but with a request born of royal desire. Admete, the daughter of King Eurystheus of Mycenae, had long heard tales of the legendary Amazons, a tribe of fierce warrior women who lived on the edge of the known world. Specifically, she coveted the girdle of Hippolyta, the Amazon queen. This girdle—a belt or zoster worn across the chest or waist—was a gift from Ares, the god of war, symbolizing Hippolyta's right to rule and her unparalleled skill in combat. To satisfy his daughter's whim and to once again place Heracles in mortal peril, Eurystheus commanded the hero to travel to the distant city of Themiscyra and bring the girdle back to Greece.
Heracles knew that such a journey could not be undertaken alone. He gathered a crew of noble volunteers, including Theseus of Athens and Telamon of Salamis, and set sail on a single ship. They navigated the Aegean, passed through the Hellespont, and entered the treacherous waters of the Euxine Sea, known today as the Black Sea. Their destination was the mouth of the Thermodon River, where the Amazons had built their capital, Themiscyra. The journey was long, taking them past the lands of many strange tribes, but eventually, the rugged peaks of the Pontic Mountains gave way to the fertile plains where the warrior queens reigned supreme.
Upon arriving at the harbor of Themiscyra, Heracles did not immediately attack. He anchored his ship and waited. To his surprise, Queen Hippolyta herself came down to the shore to meet the strangers. She was a figure of immense dignity and strength, clad in armor that shimmered like the surface of the river. Heracles explained his mission with honesty, telling her of his labors and the demand made by Eurystheus. Hippolyta, impressed by the hero's reputation and his straightforwardness, showed no hostility. She recognized the divine blood in Heracles and agreed that such a belt was a fitting prize for a man of his stature. She promised to give him the girdle as a gift of friendship, a gesture that would have ended the labor without a single drop of blood being shed.
However, the goddess Hera, who had never ceased her campaign to destroy Heracles, watched these proceedings with fury. She could not allow him to succeed so easily. Disguising herself as one of the Amazon warriors, Hera moved among the ranks of the women, whispering poisonous lies. She claimed that the Greeks were not there for a belt, but were planning to kidnap Queen Hippolyta and carry her away as a slave. The Amazons, fierce and protective of their queen, were easily incited to action. They donned their bronze breastplates, seized their crescent shields, and mounted their war-horses, charging toward the Greek ship in a whirlwind of dust and steel.
When Heracles saw the mass of armed women galloping toward him, he believed he had been betrayed. He assumed Hippolyta's kindness had been a ruse to lure him into an ambush while his guard was down. In the heat of the moment, surrounded by the sudden clamor of war, Heracles drew his sword. The battle that followed was one of the most tragic in the hero's history. The Amazons fought with a ferocity that rivaled any army of men. Among them was Aella, named for the whirlwind, who was the first to engage Heracles; she was swift, but she could not withstand the hero's strength. Then came Philippis, and Prothoe, and seven others who had never lost a duel, but they all fell before the son of Zeus.
In the chaos, Heracles came face to face with Hippolyta. Thinking her responsible for the treachery, he struck her down. It was only as the queen lay dying that the misunderstanding became clear, but by then, it was too late. Heracles took the girdle from her lifeless body, his heart heavy with the weight of a victory that felt like a defeat. His companions, including Theseus, managed to capture other high-ranking Amazons during the fray, such as Antiope, whom Theseus would later take back to Athens. The Greeks fought their way back to their ship and pushed off from the shores of Themiscyra, leaving behind a city in mourning and a river stained red.
The journey home was not without its own trials. As they sailed past the city of Troy, Heracles observed a grim sight: the daughter of King Laomedon, Hesione, was chained to a rock by the sea, left as a sacrifice to a monstrous sea creature sent by Poseidon. Heracles, seeking perhaps to find some redemption for the blood shed at Themiscyra, made a pact with Laomedon. He agreed to kill the monster in exchange for the divine horses that Zeus had once given to the king's grandfather. Heracles leaped into the throat of the beast, hacking at its vitals from the inside for three days before emerging victorious. However, when the time came to collect his reward, Laomedon proved to be a man of broken oaths and refused to hand over the horses. Heracles departed Troy in anger, vowing to return one day and level the city to the ground—a promise he would eventually keep.