The Aethiopis: Achilles' Final Battles in the Lost Epic Cycle Sequel

The Aethiopis, an 8th-century BC epic attributed to the poet Arctinus of Miletus, survives only in fragments but recounts the final battles and death of Achilles after the events of the Iliad. The poem opens with the arrival of the Amazons led by Queen Penthesilea, whom Achilles kills but then falls in love with as she dies. He murders the Greek soldier Thersites for mocking him and sails to Lesbos to be purified by Odysseus. Next, Memnon, king of Aethiopia and son of the goddess Eos, arrives to aid Troy. Achilles and Memnon duel; Zeus weighs their fates, and Achilles kills Memnon, who is granted immortality by Zeus at Eos's request. Achilles then drives the Trojans back to their walls but is killed by Paris with Apollo's help. The Greeks hold a funeral for Achilles and Antilochus; Thetis snatches Achilles' body to the White Island in the Black Sea. A dispute over Achilles' armor between Odysseus and Ajax results in Odysseus winning, leading to Ajax's suicide (possibly in the Little Iliad). The poem ends with funeral games. The Aethiopis is part of the Epic Cycle, which includes the Cypria, Iliou Persis, Nostoi, and others, all now mostly lost. The poem was five books long, written in dactylic hexameter, and is considered the tragic middle chapter of Achilles' story, comparable to Episode Three of Star Wars.