She wore her father Ares' zoster, the Greek word found in the Iliad and elsewhere meaning "war belt".

[6][7] In the myth of Heracles, Hippolyta's belt (ζωστὴρ Ἱππολύτης, zōstḗr Hippolytēs) was the object of his ninth labour.

Despite her courage, she fell to Heracles, who, clad in the invulnerable skin of the Nemean lion, defeated her and the other Amazons.

Some stories paint Theseus in a more favorable light, saying that Hippolyta was dead before he and Phaedra were wed, and this battle did not occur.

Further complicating the narratives, several ancient writers say the Amazon in question was not Hippolyta at all, but her sister Antiope, Melanippe, or Glauce.

The character Hippolyta appears in The Two Noble Kinsmen, a play co-written by Shakespeare and John Fletcher.