Penthesileia
Penthesileia (pen-tha-sill-AY-ah) was the Queen of the Amazons, a group of warriors who were all women and girls. Her story is set a little before the time of the Trojan War, in the Late Bronze Age.
According to the myth, Penthesileia and the Amazons lived to the north of Greece, around the Black Sea. When the Greek hero Achilles was fighting the Trojan War, Penthesileia went to fight with the Trojans. Achilles and Penthesileia were fighting each other hand to hand, when their eyes met and suddenly they fell deeply in love.
Unfortunately, just at that moment Achilles' sword went right through Penthesileia and killed her. He was very upset by this tragedy.
To find out more about Penthesileia, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:
Pandora, by Robert Burleigh (2002). For kids, with lovely illustrations.
Keep a Lid on It, Pandora! (Myth-O-Mania), by Kate McMullan (2003). A funnier version, full of puns and rhymes.
D'aulaire's Book of Greek Myths, by Edgar and Ingri D'Aulaire.
Pandora's Box: A Three-Dimensional Celebration of the Mythology of Ancient Greece, by Sara Maitland and Christos Kondeatis (1995). Not really about Pandora specifically, but a complex of stories, games, and puzzles about Greek mythology. People love it!
Theogony and Works and Days by Hesiod, with a translation and introduction by M. L. West (reprinted 1999). This is the original Greek text that tells the story of Pandora.
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