Battle with the Amazons. Penthesilia.
After the death of Hector, Troy fell on hard times. She had no whiter powerful protector. The Trojans did not dare to go beyond the walls to fight the Greeks in the open field. There was no such hero in Troy who could measure his strength in a duel with Achilles. It seemed that the last days of the great city were approaching.
Suddenly help came to the Trojans. From distant Pontus, brave Amazon warriors came to the aid of Troy with their queen Penfesilia on fast horses. Penthesilia wanted to atone for her guilt by fighting the Greeks, as she accidentally killed her sister while hunting. The mighty daughter of Ares boasted that she would slay all the glorious heroes of Greece, drive them out of Troy and burn their ships. The Trojans greeted the Amazons with great rejoicing. Priam adopted Penthesilia as his own daughter and held a sumptuous feast in her honor.
The next day, the Amazons, in brilliant weapons, led the Trojan army against the Greeks. Raising his hands to the sky, Priam prayed to the gods to grant them victory. But the gods did not heed him. A bloody battle began. Like a stormy whirlwind, Penthesilia rushed through the ranks of the Greeks with her Amazons. One by one she slew the heroes. The Greeks trembled and began to retreat. Penthesilia pushed them back to the very ships. The final victory of the Amazons was close. Suddenly, Achilles and Ajax Telamonides came to the aid of the Greeks. They did not participate in the battle. Spread out on the ground, they both lay near the grave mound Patrokl, mourning the loss of a friend. Hearing the noise of the battle, the heroes quickly armed themselves and, like two formidable lions, rushed into battle. The Amazons and Trojans could not resist them.
Penthecilia saw the mighty Achilles and bravely opposed him. She threw a spear at Achilles, but it shattered into pieces, hitting the shield of her son Peleus. The queen of the Amazons launched another spear at Achilles, but again did not wound Achilles. In terrible anger, Achilles rushed at her and struck her in the chest. Felt the mortal wound of Penfesilia. Gathering her last strength, she wanted to draw her sword, but the mighty Achilles pierced her with a spear along with his horse. The horse crashed to the ground, and Penthesilia lay prostrate beside him.
Achilles took off her helmet and stopped, struck by the extraordinary beauty of the daughter of the god of war Ares. Beautiful, like the goddess Artemis, was the deceased Penthesilia. Achilles stands over the body of the beautiful Penfesilia, who was slain by him, and feels how love for the murdered one takes possession of him. When, immersed in sadness, Achilles stood over Penthesilia, Thersit approached him and began to scold the hero, as he had done before. Mocking the sadness of Achilles, Thersites pierced the eyes of the beautiful Penthecilia with a spear. Achilles flared up with terrible anger. He swung and struck Thersites with such force in the face that he killed him on the spot. Diomedes was angry with Achilles for killing his relative. The Greeks managed to forcefully reconcile the two heroes.
Achilles quietly lifted Penthesilia he had killed, and I carried it out of the battle. Then the Greeks gave the corpses of Penthesilia and twelve killed Amazons, along with their weapons, to the Trojans, and they arranged a magnificent funeral, setting the corpses to be burned at the stake.
Achilles went to the island of Lesvos. There he made rich sacrifices to the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis and their mother Latone, begging them to purify him from the filth of the blood of Thersites shed by him. At the command of Apollo, the cunning Odysseus.
cleansed Achilles