Center for Hellenic Studies - Proclus' Summary of the Aithiopis lyrics

Proclus' Summary of the Aithiopis, attributed to Arctinus of Miletus [The Aithiopis, in five scrolls, follows the Iliad.] [1] The Amazon Penthesileia, daughter of Ares and Thracian by birth, comes to Troy as an ally of the Trojans. In the middle of her aristeia, Achilles k**s her and the Trojans arrange for her funeral. Thersites, reviling and reproaching Achilles by saying that he loved Penthesileia, is k**ed by Achilles. [5] From this a quarrel arises among the Achaeans about Thersites' murder. After this, Achilles sails to Lesbos, sacrifices to Apollo, Artemis, and Leto and is purified of the murder by Odysseus. Now Memnon, son of Eos [Dawn], who owns armor made by Hephaistos, comes to the aid of the Trojans. Thetis tells her son about the outcome of events concerning Memnon. [10] When a battle occurs, Antilokhos is k**ed by Memnon but then Achilles k**s Memnon. At this, Eos asks from Zeus the dispensation of immortality for him [Memnon], and it is granted. But Achilles, while routing the Trojans and rushing into the citadel, is k**ed by Paris and Apollo. When a heated battle starts over the corpse, [15] Aias [Ajax] picks it up and carries it off to the ships while Odysseus fights off the Trojans. Then they hold funeral rites for Antilokhos and lay out Achilles' corpse; Thetis comes with the Muses and her sisters and makes a lament [thrēnos] for her son. [20] After that, Thetis snatches him off the pyre and carries him over to the island Leuke. But the Achaeans heap up his burial mound and hold funeral games and a quarrel breaks out between Odysseus and Aias [Ajax] over the armor of Achilles.