Greek theater tends to follow a simple evolution beginning with the gods in Greek mythology in Eumenides (472 BCE), gods and mortals in Medea (431 BCE), Oedipus Rex (429 BCE), Herakles (416 BCE), to eventually plays solely about mortals in plays like Lysistrata or Thesmophoriazusae (411 BCE). It seems only natural that playwrights such as Aristophanes and Sophocles would start to tackle the more controversial aspects of society, such as sex and politics, in both comedies and tragedies.
The relevance to female archetypes in Greek mythology lies in the fact that the female characters tend to come out of the theater moreso than the mythology. By and large Amazons don't really appear in the mythology at all, and much of what we do know about them comes from Homer's Illiad and various iterations of Hercules, and several lost plays and poems such as Aethiopis.
Penthesilea is the Queen of the Amazons, and appears in numerous plays and poems. Her sisters,Hippolyta, Antiope, and Melanippe are the daughters of Ares and Otrera, the original godly Queen of the Amazons in Greek mythology. Penthesilea is the only one of the four that doesn't get abducted or has to kowtow to the men. In the Illiad she is killed by Achilles, though.
These Amazons are portrayed as strong warriors, but more in the trope of soldiers. There are few named characters, and most of them supporting roles in the plays. Nonetheless, these are the adaptations the Greek playwrights were coming up with regarding female warrior archetypes. While many of them are still relegated to following the male champions or whatnot, they are still noted as being the children of gods, in particular Ares, whose children always command respect as warriors.
Greek society was heavily patriarchal and hierarchical. Entire sections of cities were off-limits to women with large phalli denoting these areas of government. Even in a seemingly female driven play like Lysistrata, the phallus is on full display. Beyond the obvious Freudianisms here, visually the phallus indicates the realm of men and in their stories it often dominates the stage (not to mention most actors were male in the 400s). Unfortunately, this tends to put the Amazon in the place of “other” as a standout in the ranks of the soldiers.
Visually, the phallus is replaced by the breast in most artistic representations of
