ET CETERA ANTIQUA

📝 Classical Civilisation essay, Year 11. Mark: 14/15. Teacher feedback: “Very good. A few small things that weren’t quite 100% factually accurate stop this getting full marks.”

Penthesilea’s reasons for going to battle are more tragic than Camilla’s. After having accidentally killed her sister Hippolyta whilst out hunting, Penthesilea decided to go to Troy to die a noble death in battle to compensate for killing her. However, Virgil states that Camilla, ‘live, content with Diana alone, cherished her love of her weapons and her maidenhood’. This suggests that Camilla lived her life as she wanted, not marrying and devoting her life to Diana, despite the ‘many Etruscan mothers’ who wanted to marry her to their sons. This suggests that Camilla went to battle because she wanted to, and not to repay for her actions like Penthesilea. This shows that, in regards to their motivations for going to battle, Penthesilea’s story is more tragic than Camilla’s as she felt she had to go to battle at Troy and die. Camilla also goes to war to defend Italy from the Trojans.

Furthermore, Penthesilea’s story during the battle is more tragic than Camilla’s. Virgil describes Camilla’s aristeia as she kills countless Trojans: Tereus, Harpalycus, Demophoon, Chromis, as well as stating ‘as many spears the girl sent spinning from her hands, so many Trojan warriors fell’, emphasising how fearsome Camilla was during the battle. However, the Bassae frieze depicts the Amazons as being defeated, suggesting that they (and therefore Penthesilea) did not get the chance to kill as many Greeks as Camilla did Trojans. This is further accentuated by the depiction of Penthesilea about to be killed by Achilles, showing that Penthesilea was not as successful as Camilla. This shows that, during the battle, Penthesilea’s story is more tragic than Camilla’s, as she is not depicted as being as successful as Camilla, but instead is only shown as she is about to be killed.

However, Camilla’s death is more tragic than Penthesilea’s. Pseudo-Apollodorus describes Penthesilea being killed by Achilles, showing that she did get her wish of a glorious death in battle. In addition, as Virgil explains, being killed by a great warrior makes a death more glorious, and as Achilles is described as the most greatest of all the Greek warriors, this shows that Penthesilea’s death was very noble and honourable. However, when Virgil describes Camilla being distracted by Chloreus’ beautiful armour, driven by her ‘feminine desire’ for spoils of war, which eventually led to her being killed by Arruns. This could suggest that Camilla’s distraction was not her fault as it was in her nature as a woman to be drawn to beautiful things, thus making her death more tragic. In addition, Arruns only kills Camilla with the help of Apollo, showing that Camilla’s death is more tragic as even the gods were against her and she had no hope of surviving. This shows that, in regards to their deaths, Camilla’s story is more tragic as Penthesilea went into battle with the hope of dying a noble death, but Camilla had no hope of surviving.

In conclusion, while Camilla’s death is more tragic than Penthesilea’s, overall Penthesilea’s story is more tragic, as she decided to go to battle to die, while Camilla had some choice. Moreover, Penthesilea’s successes during the battle are not depicted, while Camilla’s aristeia is described in great detail, showing that Penthesilea’s story is more tragic as she gets no recognition for any successes she had, but is only remembered for being killed by Achilles.