Penthesilea

Overview

Penthesilea is the Amazon queen who comes to aid Troy after Hector's death and fights Achilles during the final stages of the Trojan War.

Generation

Trojan War

Symbols

Spear, shield, Amazon armour

Notes

Penthesilea is an Amazon queen who enters the Trojan War after the death of Hector.

She comes to Troy as an ally of the Trojans and leads Amazon warriors into battle against the Greeks.

Her arrival gives the Trojans another formidable champion at a point when the city's position is becoming increasingly desperate.

Penthesilea is ultimately killed by Achilles.

Later literary and artistic traditions greatly develop the encounter between Achilles and Penthesilea, including the famous motif that Achilles recognises or falls in love with her beauty only after delivering the fatal blow.

That romantic element is not equally prominent in every surviving tradition and should not be treated as the only form of the story.

Penthesilea's importance comes from the way she extends the Trojan War beyond the events narrated in the Iliad and introduces the Amazons directly into the final stages of Troy's defence.