 The characterization of Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream (as well as that of Theseus), like many other mytho-historical characters found in Shakespeare's plays, is based on ancient biographical accounts found in Plutarch's work "Parallel Lives".In "The Life of Theseus", according to Plutarch, it was Hippolyta who concluded a four month long war between Athens and the Amazons with a peace treaty, resulting in the marriage between Theseus and Hippolyta.The dramatic representation of Hippolyta and Theseus in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", however, is entirely a product of the playwright's imagination.