Editing Penthesilea (section)

==== Virgil ====
In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'',  written between 29 and 19 BC,<ref>{{cite book |last=Magill |first=Frank N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7NVFUi7G6TEC&q=29-19+BC |title=The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography, Volume 1 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2003 |isbn=1135457409 |page=226}}</ref> 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 king [[Priam]] for gold. Penthesilea is cast as a tragic Amazon queen who came too late in vain to help the beleaguered city. When [[Aeneas]] sees the panel of Penthesilea in the Juno temple of [[Carthage]],<ref>{{cite book |author=A. M. Keith |title=Engendering Rome: Women in Latin Epic |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521556217 |page=68}}</ref> he knows that the defeat of Penthesilea and [[Memnon (mythology)|Memnon]] presage a chain of events that would culminate in the sacking of the city. Penthesilea's fate also foreshadows that of [[Camilla (mythology)|Camilla]], which is described in detail by Virgil later in the epic.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lee Fratantuono |title=Madness Unchained: A Reading of Virgil's Aeneid |date=2007 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=9780739122426 |pages=18–19}}</ref> According to Virgil, Penthesilea led an army of Amazons and is a ''bellatrix'' (Latin for "female warrior") who dared to fight men (''audetque viris concurrere virgo'').<ref>{{cite book |author=A. M. Keith |title=Engendering Rome: Women in Latin Epic |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521556217 |page=66}}</ref>

Virgil based his narrative in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', while relying on the [[Epic Cycle]] for his portrayal of Penthesilea.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lee Fratantuono |title=Madness Unchained: A Reading of Virgil's Aeneid |date=2007 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=9780739122426 |page=270}}</ref> Virgil also reworked oral legends into an epic on the foundation of Rome. In ''Aeneid'' the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] descended from the hero [[Aeneas]] and Trojan refugees who sailed to [[Italy]] after the [[Trojan War]]. This interweaving of the Penthesilea legend with the founding legend of Rome can be traced to [[Lycophron]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Adrienne Mayor |title=The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9781400865130 |page=303}}</ref>