Troy fell on hard times after Hector's death. She did not have a more powerful defender. The Trojans did not dare to go beyond the walls to fight the Greeks in the open field. There was no 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. Then unexpectedly help came to the Trojans. From distant Pontus, brave Amazon warriors came on fast horses to help Troy and their queen Penthesilia. Penthesilia wanted to atone for her guilt by fighting the Greeks, since she accidentally killed her sister while hunting. The mighty daughter of Ares boasted that she would defeat all the glorious heroes of Greece, drive them away from Troy and burn their ships. The Trojans greeted the Amazons with great rejoicing. Priam accepted Penthesilia as his own daughter and arranged a sumptuous feast in her honor.
The next day, the Amazons, brilliantly armed, marched at the head of 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 and her Amazons rushed through the ranks of the Greeks. One by one she killed the heroes. The Greeks wavered and began to retreat. Penthesilia pushed them back to the ships. The final victory of the Amazons was already close. Suddenly Achilles and Ajax Telamonides came to the aid of the Greeks. They did not participate in the battle. Prostrate on the ground, they both lay at the burial mound of Patroclus, sad about the loss of their friend. Hearing the sound of battle, the heroes quickly armed themselves and, like two formidable lions, rushed into battle. The Amazons and Trojans could not resist them. Penthesilia saw the mighty Achilles and bravely opposed him. She threw a spear at Achilles, but it shattered into pieces, hitting the shield of the son of 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. Penthesilius felt the mortal wound. Gathering her last strength, she wanted to draw her sword, but the mighty Achilles pierced her with a spear along with her horse. The horse crashed to the ground, and Penthesilia lay prostrate near him. Achilles took off her helmet and stopped, amazed by the extraordinary beauty of the daughter of the god of war Ares. The deceased Penthesilia was as beautiful as the goddess Artemis. Achilles stands over the body of the beautiful Penthesilia, whom he killed, and feels how love for the murdered woman takes possession of him. When Achilles stood over Penthesilia, immersed in sadness, Thersites approached him and began to scold the hero, as he had done before. Mocking Achilles' sadness, Thersites pierced the eyes of the beautiful Penthesilia with a spear. Achilles flared up with terrible anger. He swung and hit Thersites with such force in the face that he killed him on the spot. Diomedes was inflamed with anger at Achilles for killing his relative. The Greeks managed to forcefully reconcile the two heroes.
Achilles quietly picked up Penthesilia, whom he had killed, and carried him out of the battle. Then the Greeks handed over the corpses of Penthesilia and twelve killed Amazons, along with their weapons, to the Trojans, and they staged a magnificent funeral, burning the corpses at the stake.
Achilles went to the island of Lesbos. There he made rich sacrifices to the god Apollo and the goddess Artemis and their mother Latona, begging them to cleanse him from the filth of the blood of Thersites shed by him. By order of Apollo, the cunning Odysseus cleansed Achilles.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru