Memnon

Memnon was the son of Tithonus and the goddess Eos (Dawn) and king of the Ethiopians, who came to Troy to help Priam after the death of Hector. He killed Nestor's son Antilochus and was then killed by Achilles. Hesiod calls him “brazen-crested Memnon, king of the Ethiopians” (Theogony 984–985), and Homer already uses him as the measure of beauty: Odysseus says that Eurypylus was the handsomest man he had ever seen, after godlike Memnon (Odyssey 11.522).

Family

Hesiod says that Eos bore Memnon and his brother Emathion to Tithonus (Theogony 984–985). Homer calls the slayer of Antilochus “the splendid son of shining Eos” (Odyssey 4.187–188). Tithonus was a son of Laomedon and so a brother of Priam (Iliad 20.237), which made Memnon Priam's nephew. In Quintus of Smyrna's poem Memnon says that he was raised far away by the Hesperides beside the river of Ocean.

His homeland is placed differently. Hesiod and the epic tradition make him an Ethiopian. Strabo reports that Susa in Persia was said to have been founded by Tithonus, father of Memnon, and that its citadel was called the Memnonium (Geography 15.3.2). Pausanias, describing the painting by Polygnotus at Delphi, adds that Memnon came to Troy not from Ethiopia but from Susa and the river Choaspes, having subdued the peoples between (Description of Greece 10.31.7).

Memnon at Troy

The story belongs to the epic Aethiopis, which told what happened after the Iliad. In Proclus' summary of it, Memnon, the son of Eos, comes to help the Trojans wearing armour made by Hephaestus, and Thetis tells Achilles about him. In the battle Antilochus is killed by Memnon, and Memnon by Achilles. Eos then asks Zeus for immortality for her son and obtains it for him.

Quintus of Smyrna tells the story at length in the second book of his Posthomerica. The Trojans debate whether to wait for Memnon; Polydamas warns that he may bring only more suffering, and advises giving Helen back. Memnon arrives with a great army of Ethiopians. Priam welcomes him, and at the banquet gives him a golden cup that Hephaestus had made for Zeus. Memnon answers that he will not boast in the hall: battle will show whether he is brave.

The Death of Antilochus

Memnon first kills several Greeks and then comes against Antilochus, the son of Nestor. Antilochus hurls a stone that rings off his helmet, and Memnon thrusts his spear into his chest. Nestor, in grief, calls for help and would have rushed at the killer, but Memnon tells him it would be shameful to fight a man so old and bids him withdraw. Nestor then appeals to Achilles to save the body and armour of his son. Homer himself mentions only that the “splendid son of Eos” killed Antilochus (Odyssey 4.187–188), and Pindar says that Antilochus died saving his father when Nestor's chariot was stopped by a horse struck by one of Paris' arrows and Memnon attacked with his spear (Pythian 6.28–42).

The Fight with Achilles

Achilles meets Memnon in the battle. In Quintus the two trade boasts about their divine mothers, Eos and Thetis, and fight on equal terms until the Fates are sent by Zeus to stand beside them, one dark beside Memnon and one bright beside Achilles. Then Achilles drives his sword under Memnon's breastbone and kills him. The Ethiopians flee.

After Memnon's Death

Eos veils the earth in cloud and sends the Winds to carry her son's body away from the plain of Troy. In Quintus the blood that falls from his wounds is turned by the gods into a river, the Paphlagoneion, which runs with blood once a year on the day Memnon died, and gives off a foul smell like a festering wound. The Dawn comes down with the Hours to mourn him and threatens to leave the world in darkness.

The Ethiopians bury their king, and Eos turns them into birds. They are called Memnons and fly each year around his tomb, scattering dust on the grave and fighting one another in his honour. Ovid tells a similar story, in which Aurora begs Jupiter to honour her dead son and the sparks from the funeral pyre become the birds (Metamorphoses 13.576–622). Strabo reports that according to the poet Simonides Memnon was buried near Paltus in Syria, by the river Badas (Geography 15.3.2).

The Statue at Thebes in Egypt

Memnon's name was also given to monuments in Egypt. Pausanias saw a seated statue at Egyptian Thebes that made a sound each morning at sunrise, like a broken lyre string. Most people called it Memnon, who was said to have come from Ethiopia and overrun Egypt as far as Susa, but the Thebans said it showed a local man named Phamenoph (Description of Greece 1.42.3). Strabo describes two colossal stones near the Memnonium at Thebes, one of them broken, from which a noise like a blow was said to come once a day, and he heard it himself in the company of Aelius Gallus (Geography 17.1.46).

Memnon Sources

Homer, Iliad 20.237; Odyssey 4.187–188, 11.522; Hesiod, Theogony 984–985; Proclus' summary of the Aethiopis (Epic Cycle); Pindar, Pythian 6.28–42; Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica 2; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.576–622; Strabo, Geography 15.3.2 and 17.1.46; Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.42.3 and 10.31.7.

See Also: Eos, Trojan War, Helen, Priam, Zeus, Achilles, Nestor, Hephaestus, Tithonus