The Amazon Queen Penthesilea from antiquity to modernity: a classical reception study

This thesis is a reception-based study of the character of the Amazon Queen, Penthesilea, examining her portrayal in ancient, premodern, early modern and modern art and literature. The reception traditions I explore are: antiquity (Greece and Rome) from the sixth century BC to the fifth century AD; Medieval and early modern literature and art; German Romantic drama and modern operatic receptions. This is designed to allow me to explore a diverse range of reception texts and to consider the influence of genre and historical context on Penthesilea’s portrayal. By implementing two complementary theoretical frameworks – Classical Reception Studies and Feminist Theory – I aim to shed light on the cultural environments which produced the received artefacts, by considering how and why specific elements of the ancient Penthesilea story are adapted in the premodern, early modern and modern reception texts, as well as how each text exists within the wider socio-cultural paradigms inherent in the reception traditions. In doing so, I challenge the dominant scholarly consensus that ancient Amazons were subaltern figures eliciting contempt and derision on account of their inversion of Greek societal values. My research builds upon the work of scholars who provide a more nuanced interpretation of the Amazons, as I explore Penthesilea’s portrayal as a heroic and sympathetic figure across various historical epochs.