Story #2: [Courage] Penthesilea, the legendary Amazonian Warrior Queen

There is a female character that is often overlooked when people think about the Trojan war from Homer’s famous poem in Iliad. Today I want to talk about Penthesilea, the fascinating and beautiful warrior queen of the Amazons, the most overlooked woman in the Iliad.

There are a many books and movies made about Helen of Troy, the woman with the face that “launched a thousand ships”. Or about the magic of Circe, the powerful enchantress who turned men into herds of cows and sheep and trapped them on her island. Even my favourite character in the Greek tale, Cassandra, the doomed prophetess of Apollo, has captured the attention of generations of storytellers.

But today the story I want to tell is about Penthesilea and her story from Aethiopis.

Penthesilea was a beautiful Amazon queen who fought against the Greeks in the battle of Troy. The story goes that she had led her warriors into battle in actual hope of dying honourably in the battle after accidently killing her sister in a hunting incident. She literally came to battle to die.

But she was such a brilliant warrior, she almost won the war against the Greeks until Achilles appeared on the field. Achilles engaged her in a one-on-one battle until the very last, he realised that he had fallen in love with her and recognised her as his equal — just as he delivered a final blow to her chest, which tragically killed her instantly.

In the era that the Iliad and Odyssey was written, it was very rare for a woman to be considered as an equal to men, particularly on the topic of warfare. I always think of this tale as the first story of female empowerment.