As Herr Bachofen was doubtless unaware of the fact that the human animal is a descendant from creatures lower in the scale of life, the idea of connecting his history with theirs had probably by him never been thought of; therefore, judging primitive society, not by the instincts and the natural laws governing them which mankind had inherited from their progenitors, but, on the contrary, measuring them by the standards of later ages when the grosser or disruptive elements had gained dominion over the finer or constructive qualities in human nature, he was unable to discern any way in which the conditions of female supremacy everywhere indicated in the traditions and mythologies of antiquity could have originated, except in an uprising of women, and a resort to arms for the protection of their womanly dignity. In referring to the military exploits of the women of Lycia, and, in fact, of various portions of Africa and Asia, at a comparatively late stage in human history, Bachofen says that the importance of Amazonianism as opposed to Hetairism for the elevation of the feminine sex, and through them of mankind, cannot be doubted. There seems to be considerable evidence going to prove that there have been times in the past history of the race in which women were brave in war and valiant in defending their rights. Indeed, the accounts given of the struggles of the Amazons in maintaining their independence against surrounding nations—notably, the Greeks—are tolerably well authenticated.[142] [142] Concerning one of the encounters of this warlike people, the following has been recounted by Plutarch (_Theseus_): “And it appears to have been no slight or womanish enterprise; for they could not have encamped in the town, or joined battle on the ground about the Pynx and the Museum, or fallen in so intrepid a manner upon the city of Athens, unless they had first reduced the country round about. It is difficult, indeed, to believe (though Hellanicus has related it) that they crossed the Cimmerian Bosphorus upon the ice; but that they encamped almost in the heart of the city is confirmed by the names of places, and by the tombs of those that fell.” Although the fact seems to be well substantiated that in certain portions of the earth, and at various periods in the history of the race, women have maintained their independence and protected their interests by force of arms, it seems quite as certain that actual warfare carried on by them has been confined to peoples among which male supremacy had but recently been gained, and among which a resort to arms represented the last act of desperation to which they were driven to maintain their dignity and honour. We have reason to believe, however, that even these cases have been exceptional; at least, from the facts at hand, we have no reason for thinking that at any stage in the history of women’s career, armed resistance to masculine authority has been uniform or protracted among them.