| Penthesilea | |
|---|---|
| Member of theAmazons | |
 Penthesilea (1862), by Gabriel-Vital Dubray (1813–1892). East façade of theCour Carrée in the Louvre palace, Paris. | |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Ares andOtrera |
| Siblings | Hippolyta,Antiope,Melanippe |
Penthesilea (Greek:Πενθεσίλεια,romanized: Penthesíleia) was anAmazonian queen inGreek mythology, the daughter ofAres andOtrera and the sister ofHippolyta,Antiope, andMelanippe. She assistedTroy in theTrojan War, during which she was killed byAchilles orNeoptolemus. The asteroid271 Penthesilea, discovered in 1887, was named in her honor.[1]
| Trojan War |
|---|
 |
Trojans and allies |
In the five book epicAethiopis, which was part of theEpic Cycle (or Cycle of Troy) on theTrojan War, the coming to Troy of Penthesilea andMemnon was described in detail.[2] TheAethiopis was published in the 8th century BC and is attributed toArctinus of Miletus. The main character of the epic isAchilles, who fights Penthesilea and Memnon before he is himself killed. AlthoughAethiopis has been lost, the Epic Cycle has been adapted and recycled in different periods of the classical age. The tradition of retelling the epic fall of Troy is indebted to Homer'sIliad andOdyssey, which were grounded inoral storytelling and were only written down when theGreek alphabet was adopted inancient Greece.[3]
In theAethiopis Penthesilea is aThracianwoman warrior. She was anAmazon and daughter ofAres, who comes to help the Trojans. She arrived with twelve other Amazon warriors. After a day of distinguishing herself on the battlefield, Penthesilea confronts Achilles and a fight ensues. Achilles kills her, andThersites taunts Achilles by accusing him of having fallen in love with Penthesilea. Thersites is killed by Achilles after he punches Thersites so hard he dies, he then travels to the island ofLesbos to be purified before returning to Troy and fighting Memnon.[4]
According to Homer, the Trojan kingPriam had fought the Amazons in his youth on theSangarius River inPhrygia, some 350 miles east of Troy. Later writers of the antiquity located Amazons geographically inAnatolia and started an epic tradition where Greek heroes, such asHeracles andTheseus, fought an Amazon warrior of distinction.[5] TheAethiopis version of the Penthesilea legend has become known as the Homeric tradition.[6]
Different traditions of the Penthesilea legend appear to have existed at the time theEpic Cycle was published. One myth states that it was Neoptolemus who killed Penthesilea, instead of Achilles. In a lost poem ofStesichorus, believed to have been published in the 7th or 6th century, Penthesilea rather than Achilles had killedHector.[6]
In the Pseudo-ApollodorusEpitome of the Bibliotheke[7] she is said to have been killed by Achilles, "who fell in love with the Amazon after her death and slew Thersites for jeering at him".
In the 3rd century BC,Lycophron went against the grain of the Homeric tradition. The poet had been born inEuboea, the site of a shrine to wounded Amazons who had fought in a mythic Battle for Athens. Lycophron tells the story of the young AmazonClete, Penthesilea's attendant, who had been left behind inPontus. Clete sets out with a company of Amazons to search for Penthesilea when she does not return from theTrojan War. The ship with Amazons is swept off course and after a shipwreck on the toe ofItaly inBruttium, Clete becomes the queen of the Amazons that settle there.[8]
InVirgil'sAeneid, written between 29 and 19 BC,[9] the Trojan army falls back when Achilles advances. Achilles drags the greatest Trojan warrior,Hector, around the city walls and sells his dead body to kingPriam for gold. Penthesilea is cast as a tragic Amazon queen who came too late in vain to help the beleaguered city. WhenAeneas sees the panel of Penthesilea in the Juno temple ofCarthage,[10] he knows that the defeat of Penthesilea andMemnon presage a chain of events that would culminate in the sacking of the city. Penthesilea's fate also foreshadows that ofCamilla, which is described in detail by Virgil later in the epic.[11] According to Virgil, Penthesilea led an army of Amazons and is abellatrix (Latin for "female warrior") who dared to fight men (audetque viris concurrere virgo).[12]
Virgil based his narrative inHomer'sIliad, while relying on theEpic Cycle for his portrayal of Penthesilea.[13] Virgil also reworked oral legends into an epic on the foundation of Rome. InAeneid theRomans descended from the heroAeneas and Trojan refugees who sailed toItaly after theTrojan War. This interweaving of the Penthesilea legend with the founding legend of Rome can be traced toLycophron.[14]
In his universal historyBibliotheca historica,Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC celebrated Penthesilea as the last Amazon to win renown for valour in war. Diodorus wrote that after theTrojan War the Amazons diminished and tales of their former glory began to be considered mere legends.[15]
In the 4th century AD, the imperial Greek poetQuintus Smyrnaeus made Penthesilea the subject of the first book inPosthomerica. In this epic, Smyrnaeus tries to finishHomer by telling the colourful story of how the city of Troy fell.[16] This work explains how Penthesilea came to be at Troy: Penthesilea had killed Hippolyta with a spear when they were hunting deer; this accident caused Penthesilea so much grief that she wished only to die, but, as a warrior and an Amazon, she had to do so honorably and in battle. She therefore was easily convinced to join in the Trojan War. Smyrnaeus also describes in gory detail how the army of Amazons surprises the Greek army and the slaughter that commenced. The Amazon Klonie, after slaying her first opponent, is in turn killed. Penthesilea mows through the Greek lines, killing eight warriors, and cuts the arm off the Greek warrior who had killed Klonie. Penthesilea's Amazon comradesBremusa,Evandre andThermodosa fight valiantly alongside her but are slain, and so areDerinoe, Alkibie and Derimachea. Penthesilea slays more Greeks withaxe andspear. From the towers the Trojan women watch and Penthesilea inspires the youngHippodamia, who urges the Trojan women to join the battle.[17] Antimachus' daughter Tisiphone gives an inspirational speech: "not in strength are we inferior to men; the same our eyes, our limbs the same; one common light we see, one air we breathe; nor different is the food we eat. What then denied to us hath heaven on man bestowed? O let us hasten to the glorious war!"[18][19]
At theTemple of Apollo Epicurius, built in the mid- to late-5th century BC, scenes from theTrojan War are preserved in theBassae Frieze, a high relief marble sculpture in 23 panels. Here the Greek army is charged by the Amazons, who gain the upper hand, and at the height of the battle Achilles slays Penthesilea on a slab known as BM 537. Achilles and Penthesilea are flanked by a Greek soldier and an Amazon. Penthesilea is identified as a queen by a crown. Penthesilea, shown on the ground just before being struck, and Achilles are exchanging a gaze.[20] The final slab of the series on the Amazons depicts a truce between the Greek army and the Amazons at the end of the battle.[21]
According toPausanias, the throne of Zeus at Olympia bore a painting byPanaenus of the dying Penthesilea being supported by Achilles. Pausanias wrote "And, at the extremity of the painting, is Penthesilea breathing her last, and Achilles supporting her".[22] The motif of Achilles supporting a dying or dead Penthesilea has been preserved at theTemple of Aphrodisias and was reinterpreted in sculptures and mosaics inancient Rome.[23]
Ablack-figure vase from about 510–500 BC shows Achilles carrying Penthesilea from the battlefield.[23]
The subject of Penthesilea was treated so regularly by the so-calledPenthesilea Painter, who was active between 470 and 450 BC, thatAdolf Furtwängler dubbed him "The Penthesilea Painter". A considerable corpus for this innovative and prolific painter, whose work bridged theSevere style and Classicism and must have had a workshop of his own, was rapidly assembled[24] in part byJ.D. Beazley.
Awhite-groundalabastron from the 6th century BCE depicts Penthesilea as being courted by a female Thracian hunter. It appears to be a reversal of a common malecourtship scene inAthenian art, where a suitor gifts a token of affection – typically arabbit – to his beloved.[25]
InMedieval Europe, the Penthesilea legend was developed and recycled, with Achilles fading into the background. In illuminations that illustrated manuscripts, Penthesilea was cast as medieval warrior queen. A tradition developed where Penthesilea entered the Trojan War because of her reverence for the Trojan hero Hector. Penthesilea appears in theRoman de Troie (1160) byBenoît de Sainte-Maure as a chivalric heroine, and through this became part of the medieval genreroman antique, which recycled Greek and Roman myths in achivalric romance context.
In late medieval Europe the legend was further popularised inChristine de Pizan'sThe Book of the City of Ladies (1405) andJohn Lydgate'sTroy Book (1420). Penthesilea and Hector became romantic heroes. Penthesilea came to Troy because she had fallen in love with the virtuousknight Hector from afar.[26] Hector and Penthesilea were portrayed as personifications of the ideals ofchivalry. When kneeling before Hector's corpse, Penthesilea promises to avenge his death. Penthesilea fights at the side of the Trojan army, killing many Greek soldiers, but is slain by Achilles' son. In this tradition of the legend, her body is taken to the Thermodon for burial. Along theTerme River, various temple burial sites attest to the heroic status Penthesilea had as Amazon queen in the Middle Ages.[27]
InJohn Gower'sConfessio Amanatis she travels to Troy from Pafagoine. She is slain byPirrus the son of Achilles. Philemenis returned her body for burial. He was rewarded with three fair maidens per year.[26]: iv:2177
Biographical lists of strong women were published, some included Penthesilea. The 1405Chronicle (known asHaagse handschrift) by the herald Baviere included Penthesilea and the two AmazonsSemiramis andTomyris among the strong women. A Netherlandish list of 101 strong women published between 1465 and 1480 included Penthesilea. This list of 101 women circulated at the court ofMary of Burgundy and was read by members of the Brussels administration.Philippe Bouton in 1480 published aMiroir des dames, which included Penthesilea.[28]
Between 1361 and 1362 the ItalianGiovanni Boccaccio wrote the first collection of biographies in Western literature that was devoted to famous women. TheDe Mulieribus Claris was published in Latin and dedicated toAndrea Acciaioli, the Countess ofAltavilla.[29] According to Boccaccio, Penthesilea succeeded the Amazon queensAntiope andOrithyia. She was in strength and skill superior to previous queens. According to Boccaccio, Penthesilea entered the Trojan War against the Greeks to impress Hector. But Penthesilea and her Amazon troops were slain at the end of a hard-fought battle with the Greeks.[30] After recounting Penthesilea's accomplishments inDe Mulieribus Claris Boccaccio wrote that "if we remember that practical experience can change natural dispositions" the legends of the Amazons become plausible. He wrote that "through practice, Penthesilea and women like her became much more manly in arms than those born male" who had been weakened through idleness and love of pleasure. The notion that upbringing and training were central to gender differences was discussed byAgostino Strozzi andMario Equicola in 16th century Italy.[31]
The treatment of Penthesilea that has received most critical attention since the early twentieth century is the dramaPenthesilea byHeinrich von Kleist, who cast its "precipitously violent tempo"[32] in the form of twenty-four consecutive scenes without formal breaks intoacts. In Kleist'sPenthesilea, however, Achilles is slain by Penthesilea. When she realizes that she and her pack of dogs have mangled the object of their desire, she dies herself through "a crushing feeling".
The Swiss composerOthmar Schoeck wrote a 90-minute one-act opera,Penthesilea (Dresden, 1927) based on Kleist's drama. The French composerPascal Dusapin's opera based on Kleist's work premiered in 2015 at La Monnaie in Brussels under the baton ofLudovic Morlot.[33]
Austrian composerHugo Wolf (1860-1903) wrote asymphonic poem on the legend entitledPenthesilea (1883–85).[34]
In Edward Bellamy's 1888 bookLooking Backward, the main character (Julian West) is transported in time from 1887 (discovery date of theasteroid Penthesilea) to 2000. There, in the year 2000, the main character reads a book by one of the 20th century's most famous writers by the fictional name of Berrian. The title of this book is "Penthesilia" [sic] and it is a romance that supposedly exposes the true power and fullest extent of love.
InRobert Graves' short poem "Penthesileia", Achilles becomes infatuated with Penthesilia immediately after killing her, and then slaysThersites for his mockery of Achilles' behavior.[35][36] The last verse is open to interpretation, some have interpreted it that Penthelisea's ghost thanks Thersites for standing up for her honour, but it has been suggested that she thanks Achilles for killing Thersites.[37]
InJudy Grahn's epic long poem in the form of a playThe Queen of Swords,[38] Penthesilea, a long-dead wounded Amazon, rises from the floor of an underground Lesbian bar where the middle class woman, Helen, is being schooled in remembering her powerful past and in reconnecting with women. Pen (as she is called in the text) asks Helen to touch her so she can live on earth again, and, reluctantly, Helen does this.[39]Lesbian editor and publisher ofSinister Wisdom Julie Enszer states, "In this book, Helen appears again this time as a wife who goes on a “transformative journey.” The poem features an Amazon Chorus and Pen, the Amazon queen in a lesbian bar. Here Pen describes herself:
Penthesilea, Amazon Queen, who went once
to war to save Queen Helen (that was you).
“Able to make men mourn” my name signifies,
supreme Amazon speeding to the neediness of Troy,
leader of twelve good warrior maidens,
battle-scarred
and with fierce reputation. We were the last
hope that queenly Troy could keep intact
the power of women and the greatest beauty in the world.[40]
| Preceded by | Queen of theAmazons | Succeeded by |
