====== Aethiopis ======
is a set of five lost poems. Fragments have been recovered and it is thought to be the complete story of the Trojan War. The Amazon Queen, [[Penthesilea]], daughter of Ares and Ortrera, is sent to fight alongside the Trojans against the Greeks. She brings a band or unit of Amazon warriors with her. During a battle with Achilles, Penthesilea is killed. 

The fall of Penthesilea is a pretty glorious death. Like Achilles, she is also bi-existential, half-mortal/half-god. The idea being that it would take someone like Achilles to kill her. Achilles is later accused of being in love with Penthesilea. Some scholars read this as an insult, positing the idea that Penthesilea was not an attractive woman to fall in love with. Others have noted that the two stare into each others eyes when she dies, which is likely a dramatic device meant to put the question of whether or not he loved Penthesilea is left to the imagination of the audience. This is a good example of dramatic irony and pathos, as the audience is moved to believe the possibility exists, even if the character Achilles himself does not see it. When he is derided about this, he kills several people. Ultimately he attacks the Trojans and pushes them back, but as Achilles enters the gates of Troy, Paris shoots him down.

While Penthesilea ultimately dies in this set of poems, it is one of the few examples we have of an Amazon that rivals the likes of Achilles or Hercules.    


Source Material from [[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/epic-cycle/aethiopis/]]

[[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/epic-cycle/aethiopis/|Wiki Link]]

THE AETHIOPIS
FRAGMENT 1 - SYNOPSIS
Proclus, Chrestomathia, ii:
The Cypria, described in the preceding book, has its sequel in the Iliad of Homer, which is followed in turn by the five books of the Aethiopis, the work of Arctinus of Miletus. Their contents are as follows. The Amazon Penthesileia, the daughter of Ares and of Thracian race, comes to aid the Trojans, and after showing great prowess, is killed by Achilles and buried by the Trojans. Achilles then slays Thersites for abusing and reviling him for his supposed love for Penthesileia. As a result a dispute arises amongst the Achaeans over the killing of Thersites, and Achilles sails to Lesbos and after sacrificing to Apollo, Artemis, and Leto, is purified by Odysseus from bloodshed. Then Memnon, the son of Eos, wearing armour made by Hephaestus, comes to help the Trojans, and Thetis tells her son about Memnon. A battle takes place in which Antilochus is slain by Memnon and Memnon by Achilles. Eos then obtains of Zeus and bestows upon her son immortality; but Achilles routs the Trojans, and, rushing into the city with them, is killed by Paris and Apollo. A great struggle for the body then follows, Aias taking up the body and carrying it to the ships, while Odysseus drives off the Trojans behind. The Achaeans then bury Antilochus and lay out the body of Achilles, while Thetis, arriving with the Muses and her sisters, bewails her son, whom she afterwards catches away from the pyre and transports to the White Island. After this, the Achaeans pile him a cairn and hold games in his honour. Lastly a dispute arises between Odysseus and Aias over the arms of Achilles.

FRAGMENT 2 - PENTHESILEA
Scholiast on Homer, Il. xxiv. 804:
Some read: "Thus they performed the burial of Hector. Then came the Amazon, the daughter of great-souled Ares the slayer of men."

FRAGMENT 3 - AJAX
Scholiast on Pindar, Isth. iii. 53:
The author of the Aethiopis says that Aias killed himself about dawn.

Source: Theoi Classical Texts Library. "Epic Cycles, Fragments," Trans. Evelyn White, //Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica//, H.G.Loeb Classical Library Volume 57, 1914. [[https://www.theoi.com/Text/EpicCycle.html|Link]]