In Book 7 of Vergil 's Aeneid, the maiden warrior Camilla leads her people to join the forces of Turnus, who prepares for battle against his fated adversary, the Trojan Aeneas. Camilla occupies a place of no little significance in the catalogue of Turnus ' allies: she appears last, a position usually reserved in epic for a warrior of great merit and reputation. She is not, however, the traditional epic hero, as her gender sets her apart. Unlike other women in the Aeneid, she rejects the appropriate roles and actions of women, behaves more like a man, and presents to the readers a paradox. Upon first meeting Camilla, the reader is struck by an incongruity: she is both experienced warrior and female. Among mortal female characters in the