Memnon is a prominent heroic figure. In Ancient Greek: Μέμνων means 'resolute'.[1] The Roman's named him son of Aurora/(Dawn). The Etruscans called the two Thesan and Memnun. Memnon was Mythical, semi-divine, and Eithiopian (Αἰθίοψ).Memnon was a king of Aethiopia and son of Tithonus and Eos. Being the son of Tithonus he was a descendant of Tros, and nephew of King Priam of Troy.
Being the son of Eos further associates Memnon with the sun, being the grandson of Helios.[2] As a warrior he was considered to be Achilles' equal in skill. During the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and killed Antilochus, Nestor's son, during a fierce battle. Nestor challenged Memnon to a fight, but Memnon refused, being there was little honor in killing the aged man. Nestor then pleaded with Achilles to avenge his son's death. Despite warnings that soon after Memnon fell so too would Achilles, the two men fought. Memnon drew blood from Achilles, but Achilles drove his spear through Memnon's chest, sending the Aethiopian army running. The death of Memnon echoes that of Hector, another defender of Troy whom Achilles also killed out of revenge for a fallen comrade, Patroclus.
After Memnon's death, Zeus was moved by Eos' tears and granted him immortality. Memnon's death is related at length in the lost epic Aethiopis,[3] likely composed after The Iliad, circa the 7th century BC. Quintus of Smyrna records Memnon's death in Posthomerica. His death is also described in Philostratus' Imagines.
Dictys Cretensis, author of a pseudo-chronicle of the Trojan War, writes that "Memnon, the son of Tithonus and Aurora, arrived with a large army of Indians and Aethiopians, a truly remarkable army which consisted of thousands and thousands of men with various kinds of arms, and surpassed the hopes and prayers even of Priam."[4] [5]
Topos Text has catalogued 116 extant references to Memnon, the mythical Aethiopian King, son of Tithonus[6]
digilibLT has catalogued 28 occurrences of Memnon and two occurrences of Aethiopis of in 16 late Latin texts (Latin texts from the second to the seventh century CE)
According to the Posthomerica, Memnon leading his army of Aethiopians, arrives at Troy in the immediate aftermath of an argument between Polydamas, Helen, and Priam that centres on whether or not the Aethiopian King will show up at all. Memnon's army is described as being too big to be counted and his arrival starts a huge banquet in his honour. As per usual the two leaders (Memnon and, in this case, Priam) end the dinner by exchanging glorious war stories, and Memnon's tales lead Priam to declare that the Aethiopian King will be Troy's saviour. Despite this, Memnon is very humble and warns that his strength will, he hopes, be seen in battle, although he believes it is unwise to boast at dinner.Before the next day's battle, so great is the divine love towards Memnon that Zeus makes all the other Olympians promise not to interfere in the fighting. In battle, Memnon kills Nestor's son, Antilochos, after Antilochos has killed Memnon's dear comrade, Aesop. Seeking vengeance and despite his age, Nestor tries to fight Memnon but the Aethiopian warrior insists it would not be just to fight such an old man, and respects Nestor so much that he refuses to fight. In this way, Memnon is seen as very similar to Achilles – both of them have strong sets of values that are looked upon favourably by the warrior culture of the time.
When Memnon reaches the Greek ships, Nestor begs Achilles to fight him and avenge Antilochos, leading to the two men clashing while both wearing divine armor made by Hephaestus, making another parallel between the two warriors.
In Vergil's Aeneid: Memnon has led his troppes from Aithopia to aid the Trojans:
Eoasque acies et nigri Memnonis arma: Eastern battle arrays (the strategic arrangement of fighters in a battle) and weapon of Memnon
The mythological tradition has Hephaistos crafting Memnon's armor just as he crafted for other famed heroes.
Venus implores Vulcan for Aeneas: "Therefore I come at last with lowly suit before a godhead I adore, and pray for gift of arms,—a mother for her son. You were not unrelenting to the tears of Nereus' daughter or Tithonus' bride." This event described in the Aeneid mirror's a similar scene in Homer's Iliad (Hom. Il. 18.558-709).[7]
(The Judgement of Zeus) The weighing of souls was Zeus' method of deciding which of two confronted heroes would die in combat. Zeus accomplishes this with this golden scales in (ll. 8.81-87), in Vergil's Aeneid.[8]
Between Achilles and Memnon, Zeus favors both of them and makes each man tireless and huge so that the whole battlefield can watch them clash as demigods. Eventually, Achilles stabs Memnon through the heart, causing his entire army to flee in terror.
In honour of Memnon, the gods collect all the drops of blood that fall from him and use them to form a huge river that on every anniversary of his death will bear the stench of human flesh. The Aethiopians that stayed close to Memnon in order to bury their leader are turned into birds (which we now call Memnonides)[9] and they stay by his tomb so as to remove dust that gathers on it.
Eos, the goddess of the dawn, begs Zeus to return her son; the king of the gods doesn't bring Memnon back to life, but he grants his mother a grace, that she will be able to see him alive and to caress him with his rosy fingers every day, when she opens the doors of heaven so as her brother Helios can begin his journey. That will last just a few moments.[10]
Memnon Pieta: Lourvre G115 (Vase) Eos lifts up the body of her son Memnon. "Kalos" is his inscription. Interior from an Attic red-figure cup, ca. 490–480 BC. From Capua, Italy. Signed by Douris (painter) .
Inscriptions on the left: ΕΕΝΕΜΕΚΝΕRINE (meaning unclear), HERMOΓΕΝΕS KALOS (“Hermogenes kalos” - “Hermogenes is beautiful”). Inscriptions on the right: HEOS (“Eos”), ΔΟRIS EΓRAΦSEN (“Doris Egraphsen” - Do(u)ris painted it). MEMNON (“Memnon”), KALIAΔES EΠOIESEN (“Kaliades epoiesen” - Kaliades made it).
In respect to an ancient understanding mythical Memnon King of the Ethiopians (alternative spellings Aethiopians/Aithiopians) Merriam Webster defines the term as: "a member of any of the mythical or actual peoples usually described by the ancient Greeks as dark-skinned and living far to the south." This information concurs with the same information at Etymonline's entries reference the Greek αἴθω.[11] [12] Roman writers and later classical Greek writers such as Diodorus Siculus (2.22.1) state Memnon is from Ethiopia and precisely king of "the Ethiopians who border upon Egypt".
One of the "cyclic poets", Arctinus composed the epics Aethiopis and Sack of Troy, which were contributions to the Trojan War cycle, The original historical work by Arctinus of Miletus only survives in fragments. Much of what is known about Memnon comes from post-Homeric Greek and Roman writers. Homer includes a passing mention to Memnon in the Odyssey.[13]
Herodotus called Susa "the city of Memnon,"[14] Herodotus describes two tall statues with Egyptian and Aethiopian dress that some, he says, identify as Memnon; he disagrees, having previously stated that he believes it to be Sesostris.[15] One of the statues was on the road from Smyrna to Sardis. Herodotus described a carved figure matching this description near the old road from Smyrna to Sardis.
Philostratus The Elder of Lemnos in his work Imagines describes art which depicts Memnon:1.1.7. MEMNON: This is the army of Memnon; their arms have been laid aside, and they are laying out the body of their chief for mourning; he has been struck in the breast, I think, by the ashen spear. For when I find a broad plain and tents and an entrenched camp and a city fenced in with walls, I feel sure that these are Ethiopians and that this city is Troy and that it is Memnon, the son of Eos, who is being mourned. When he came to the defence of Troy, the son of Peleus, they say, slew him, mighty though he was and likely to be no whit inferior to his opponent. Notice to what huge length he lies on the ground, and how long is the crop of curls, which he grew, no doubt, that he might dedicate them to the Nile; for while the mouth of the Nile belongs to Egypt, the sources of it belong to Ethiopia. See his form, how strong it is, even though the light has gone from his eyes; see his downy beard, how it matches his age with that of his youthful slayer. You would not say that Memnon's skin is really black, for the black of it shows a trace of ruddiness.2.7.2 Now such is the scene in Homer, but the events depicted by the painter are as follows: Memnon coming from Ethiopia slays Antilochus who had thrown himself in front of this father, and he seems to strike terror among the Achaeans — for before Memnon's time black men were but a subject for story...
Memnon, stands, terrible to look upon, in the army of the Ethiopians, holding a spear and wearing a lion's skin and sneering at Achilles.
According to ancient Greek poets, Memnon's father Tithonus was snatched away from Troy by the goddess of dawn Eos and was taken to the ends of the earth on the coast of Oceanus.[16] According to Hesiod Eos bore to Tithonus bronzed armed Memnon, the King of the Aethiopians and lordly Emathion.[17] Zephyrus, god of the west wind, like Memnon was also the first-born son of Eos by another father Astraeus, making him the half-brother of Memnon. According to Quintus Smyrnaeus, Memnon said himself that he was raised by the Hesperides on the coast of Oceanus.[18]
According to Scholar Dean, Memnon, had a double or fused identity in classical antiquity. Considered both "Asian and African" for Greek and Roman writers because of his parentage and because of the geographical indeterminacy of Aithiopia and of India. Memnon was definitely black-skinned for Roman writers.[19]
Memnon Pieta When Memnon died, Eos mourned greatly over the death of her son,[20] and made the light of her brother, Helios (Sun), to fade, and begged Nyx (Night), to come out earlier, so she could be able to freely steal her son's body undetected by the armies of the Greeks and the Trojans.[21] After his death, Eos, perhaps with the help of Hypnos and Thanatos, the gods of sleep and death respectively, transported the slain Memnon's dead body back to Aethiopia,[22] and also asked Zeus to make Memnon immortal, a wish he granted.[23]
The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone 3,400 year old twin statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, located in Luxor, Egypt. Greeks and Romans visitors associated them with mythical Memnon since at least the first century-calling a portrait-colossus of that pharaoh "Memnon." This identification was based, argued by R. Drew Griffith on the fact that the statue faces sunrise on the winter solstice and so was linked to the dawn.[24]
According to Pliny the Elder and others, one statue made a sound at morning time.[25]
Pausanias also describes how he marveled at a colossal statue in Egypt, having been told that Memnon began his travels in Africa:
In Egyptian Thebes, on crossing the Nile to the so-called Pipes, I saw a statue, still sitting, which gave out a sound. The many call it Memnon, who they say from Aethiopia overran Egypt and as far as Susa. The Thebans, however, say that it is a statue, not of Memnon, but of a native named Phamenoph, and I have heard some say that it is Sesostris. This statue was broken in two by Cambyses, and at the present day from head to middle it is thrown down; but the rest is seated, and every day at the rising of the sun it makes a noise, and the sound one could best liken to that of a harp or lyre when a string has been broken.[26]
Historian M. Bernal's claim that the Greeks based Memnon on Ammenemes of Egypt.[27] An Egyptian origin for Memnon appears likely from Zeus' weighing of his fate against Achilles' in the lost epic Aethiopis. There is a similar motif in the early spell of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Like Memnon, Amenhotep formed military pacts with eastern kings, was son of a solar deity, and was exceptionally handsome.
Following an earthquake in 27 b.c. the northernmost of the colossi collapsed, and, at sunrise, began to produce an eerie musical sound that early Greek travelers interpreted as the mythical half-mortal Memnon calling out to his mother Eos, goddess of the dawn. Visitors came from far and wide to hear the song, including the Roman Emperor Hadrian and the Empress Sabine, who had to wait several days before the statue called out to them in a.d. 130.[28] The bust was restored in the Roman period and mounted on huge sandstone blocks. According to legend, Septimius Severus (r. 193-211 CE), seeking to repair the colossus, inadvertently silenced it forever.
December of 2021 Sega released Epic Hero Pack for A Total War Saga: Troy "introducing" two Epic Heroes from the Iliad ‒ Rhesus, the Thracian King, and Memnon, King of Aethiopia. The Rhesus and Memnon FAQ describe the game and the heroes in detail.August–September 2024: The J Paul Getty and the Classical Theatre of Harlem presents Memnon in a world premiere for the 18th annual Villa Outdoor Classical Theater production. Memnon, directed by Carl Cofield, was written by Will Power,Choreographed by Tiffany Rea-Fisher and is Co-Produced by the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Bringing Memnon to the stage is introduced as "A name you won't soon forget."[29] On October 24, 2022, the Classical Theatre of Harlem also performed a virtual rendition of Memnon as part of the Getty Villa Museum’s Theater Lab program.[30]
Discussing the 2022 theatre lab production Cofield elucidates:
One of my favorite things to do in the theater is investigate classical stories and mythology in our current time. Memnon has somehow flown under the radar, and it’s a crime that this story has been buried for so long. It is an ancient artifact, a treasure, that we have been sitting on this whole time…It fits right into our global reckoning of where we are right now in relation to art, race, and equity, and must be a part of the conversation about how myths shape our collective narratives. Theatrical interpretations of classic, real-world stories is one of the foremost examples of edu-tainment, and I look forward to uncovering and adding the story of Memnon to the mythology canon—the pantheon of epic stories—where it deserves to be.”[31]
As clarified by the scholarship of Miranda Lovett, M.A. Classical Archaeology, the understanding of Αἰθιοπῆες (which includes Memnon) continues to change.[32] As Ms. Lovett points out, what the Greeks thought of those that they called the Aithiopians was not straightforward. Ms. Lovett's study on one work of art has implications for a thoughtful understanding of 21st century scholarship and the Memnon tradition.
"Depictions of Africans in Greek pottery have long been studied by archaeologists and historians, but interpretations about why the Greeks chose these subjects continue to change. Even when dismissing the blatant racism of early scholarship, modern scholars struggle to present these subjects without using inappropriate or outdated terminology or reducing Africans to mere slaves. As stewards of antiquity, academics and museum professionals alike are responsible for providing interpretations that make sense within the context of antiquity and within modernity. Focusing on a single object in the Getty Villa collection, an Athenian wine pitcher, a lecture and a paper discusses what is known about the Greek context of this vessel, issues of terminology, and the role modern museums play in presenting racialized subjects."[33] [34] [35]