Penthesilea

• a queen of the Amazons, who fought before Troy against the Greeks, and was slain by Achilles, Verg. A. 1, 491 Serv.; cf. Prop. 3, 11 (4, 10), 14; Just. 2, 4.

(Πενθεσίλεια). A celebrated queen of the Amazons, daughter of Ares, who came to the aid of Priam in the last year of the Trojan War, and was slain by Achilles after having displayed great acts of valour. Achilles, after he had slain Penthesilea, admiring the prowess which she had exhibited, and struck by the beauty of the corpse, wished the Greeks to erect a tomb to her. Thersites (q.v.) thereupon both ridiculed the grief which the hero testified at her fall and indulged in other remarks so grossly offensive that Achilles slew him on the spot. Diomedes, the relative of Thersites, in revenge for his death, dragged the dead body of the Amazon out of the camp, and threw it into the Scamander. Other accounts say that Achilles buried it on the banks of the Xanthus (Tzetz. ad Lyc.997).

• daughter of Ares and Otrere, kills Hippolyte and is purified by Priam: Apollod. E.4.7
• killed by Achilles: Apollod. E.4.7
• painting at Olympia: Paus. 5.11.6
• Penthesilea painted by Polygnotus at Delphi: Paus. 10.31.8