Memnon, King of Aethiopia

Memnon, King of Aethiopia
Birthdate:	circa -1260
Birthplace:	Ethiopia
Death:	-1183 (72-81)
Immediate Family:	Son of Tithonos of Troy and Eos Dawn - Aurora Father of Trór / Thor, king of Thrace Brother of Emathion of Troy Half brother of Stilbon; Phaethon; Phainon; Euros - - Vulturnus Anemoi Venti; Boreas - - Aquilon Anemoi Venti and 8 others
Occupation:	King of Troy, Kung, King of Troja

Managed by:	Henn Sarv
Last Updated:	April 28, 2022

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Immediate Family

Trór / Thor, king of Thrace

son
Eos Dawn - Aurora

mother
Tithonos of Troy

father
Emathion of Troy

brother
Astraeus

stepfather
Stilbon

half brother
Phaethon

half brother
Phainon

half brother
Euros - - Vulturnus Anemoi Venti

half brother
Boreas - - Aquilon Anemoi Venti

half brother
Zéphyrus - - Favonius Anemoi Venti

half brother
Notos - - Auster Anemoi Venti

half brother

About Memnon, King of Aethiopia

In Greek mythology, Memnon (Greek: Mέμνων) was an Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. As a warrior he was considered to be almost Achilles' equal in skill. At the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and was killed by Achilles in retribution for killing Antilochus. 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 her immortality.

Memnon's death is related at length in the lost epic Aethiopis, 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.

Memnon, son of Tithonis, married Troana Ilium.

http://www.geocities.com/familyretzlaff/denmark.html

The Upsala Codex, a parchment document from about 1330, is one of the most important manuscripts of the Prose Edda, or so-called "Younger Edda", which was written by Snorri Sturluson around 1220 CE. It has four sections.

Mennón is mentioned in the Prose Edda as follows:

Near the center of the world where what we call Turkey lies, was built the most famous of all palaces and halls - Troy by name. That town was built on a much larger scale than others then in existence and in many ways with greater skill, so lavishly was it equipped. There were twelve kingdoms with one over-king, and each kingdom contained many peoples. In the citadel were twelve chieftains and these excelled other men then living in every human fashion.

One of the kings was called Múnón or Mennón. He married a daughter of the chief king Priam who was called Tróáin, and they had a son named Trór - we call him Thór.

http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/prologue.html

The Trojans received new reinforcement from the Ethiopians or Assyrians. They were led by a prince, named Memnon, son of Tithonus and Eos, the goddess of dawn. Tithonus was Priam's brother. Memnon killed many Greeks, causing the Achaeans to retreat.

In the confusion of the retreat, the aged Nestor was surrounded by enemies, among them was Memnon. Antilochus tried to save his father, but he was killed. Nestor was grief-stricken over his son's death, and tried to confront the Ethiopian prince. Memnon, however, saw no honour in such combat against an old man, so he refused to fight with Nestor. Nestor lamented that he no longer has the strength of his youth.

Nestor called upon Achilles to avenge Antiochus. Thetis, gifted with the oracle, had warned her son that he would die not long after Memnon. Heedless of his mother's warning Achilles killed Memnon, thereby avenging Antilochus.

With Memnon's death, the Trojans lost heart, and fled back towards the city's walls, with Achilles in close pursuit. Achilles was at the Scaean Gate, when an arrow from Paris, guided by the archer god Apollo, pierced his heel. His heel was the only spot on his body that was vulnerable to weapon (hence the "Achilles' heel").

There was fierce fighting over Achilles' body. In the fighting, Telamonian Ajax killed Glaucus (Glaucos), the last leader of the Lycians. While Ajax carried Achilles' body back to camp, Odysseus kept the Trojans back.

There is another variation as to how Achilles died. Achilles had seen Polyxena, daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Achilles fell in love with her. Achilles secretly went to her home to ask for her hand in marriage. Polyxena's brothers, Paris and Deíphobus, awaiting his arrival, ambushed and slew him. The later classical authors had shown a less heroic ending for Achilles, but it would explain the earlier texts, why the ghost of Achilles wants to have the Greeks sacrifice Polyxena to him, after the Fall of Troy.

When the funeral was held in the Greek camp, Thetis came with her sisters, the Nereids, mourning over the death of her son. A funeral pyre was lit, cremating his body. His ashes were placed in the same urn, as to that of his beloved friend, Patroclus. Arrangements were made for the funeral games to be held after the funeral.

After the funeral, it was decided that the Achilles' armour, made by the god Hephaestus, should be awarded to the best warrior. Ajax and Odysseus both contest for the armour. The Greek leaders awarded the armour to Odysseus.

Furious with the decisions of the judges, Ajax decided to kill Odysseus that night. His plan was thwarted, when he was driven mad by Athena, Odysseus' protector. Ajax started killing herd of sheep, imagining that he was killing the Greek leaders who awarded the armour to Odysseus. Ajax slaughtered a large ram, thinking that it was Odysseus. Returning to sanity, Ajax was mortified by what he done, and in his despair, Ajax killed himself with the sword that Hector had given him.

According to the play written by Sophocles, Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaüs (Menelaus), wanted to expose Ajax's body to the dogs and vultures, refusing to allow the body to be buried.

Ajax's half-brother, Teucer, bitterly accused them of sacrilege for not respecting one of their fallen leaders. Bloodshed was prevented between Teucer and the Atreidae (Agamemnon and Menelaüs), only through the intervention of Odysseus. Odysseus argued in favour of burying Ajax in full honour, because he believed that Ajax's bravery had earned that respect. Odysseus also told them that he would like to be given decent burial if he was killed.

Agamemnon and Menelaüs had no choice but to respect Odysseus' decision. Odysseus told Teucer that he would not have contested Ajax, if he had realised how much Ajax wanted Achilles' armour.

According to one story, the armour was buried with Ajax, but the more common version, say that Odysseus gave the armour to Achilles' son, Neoptolemus.

http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/trojanwar.html#Achilles

MEMNON

MEMNWN

A son of Tithonus and Eos, and brother of Emathion. In the Odyssey and Hesiod he is described as the handsome son of Eos, who assisted Priam with his Ethiopians against the Greeks. He slew Antilochus, the son of Nestor, at Troy. (Hes. Theog. 984, &c.; Hom. Od. iv. 188, xi. 522; Apollod. iii. 12. § 4.) Some writers called his mother a Cissian woman (Kissia), from the Persian province of Cissia. (Strab. p. 728 ; Herod. v. 49, 52.) As Eos is sometimes identical with Hemera, Memnon's mother is also called Hemera. [See EOS.] Homer makes only passing allusions to Memnon, and he is essentially a postomeric hero. According to these later traditions, he was a prince of the Ethiopians, and accordingly black (Ov. Amor. i. 8. 4, Epist. ex Pont. iii. 3. 96; Paus. x. 31. § 2); he came to the assistance of his uncle Priam, for Tithonus and Priam were step-brothers, being both sons of Laomedon by different mothers. (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 18.) Respecting his expedition to Troy there are different legends. According to some Memnon the Ethiopian first went to Egypt, thence to Susa, and thence to Troy. (Pats. i. 42. § 2.) At Susa, which had been founded by Tithonus, Memnon built the acropolis which was called after him the Memnonium. (Herod. v. 53, vii. 151; Strab. p. 728; Paus. iv. 31. § 5.) According to some Tithonus was the governor of a Persian province. and the favourite of Teutamnus; and Memnon obtained the command of a large host of Ethiopians and Susans to succor Priam. (Diod. ii. 22, iv. 75; Paus. x. 31. § 2.) A third tradition states that Tithonus sent his son to Priam, because Priam had made him a present of a golden vine. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 493.) Dictys Cretensis (iv. 4) makes Memnon lead an army of Ethiopians and Indians from the heights of Mount Caucasus to Troy. In the fight against the Greeks he was slain by Achilles. The principal points connected with his exploits at Troy are, his victory over Antilochus, his contest with Achilles, and lastly, his death and the removal of his body by his mother. With regard to the first, we are told that Antilochus, the dearest friend of Achilles after the fall of Patroclus, hastened to the assistance of his father, Nestor, who was hard pressed by Paris. Memnon attacked Antilochus, and slew him. (Pind. Pyth. vi. 30, &c.) According to others, Memnon was fighting with Ajax; and before his Ethiopians could come to his assistance, Achilles came up, and killed Memnon (Dict. Cret. iv. 6); the same accounts represent Antilochus as having been conquered by Hector. (Ov. Heroid. i. 15; Hygin. Fab. 113.) According to the common account, however, Achilles avenged the death of Antilochus upon Memnon, of whose fate Achilles had been informed by his mother, Thetis. While both were fighting Zeus weighed the fate of the two heroes, and the scale containing that of Memnon sank. (Pind. Ol. ii. 148, Nem. iii. 110, vi. 83; Quint. Smyrn. ii. 224, &c.; Philostr. Icon. ii. 7; Plut. De And. Poit. 2.) According to Diodorus (ii. 22) Memnon was not killed in an open contest, but fell into an ambush in which the Thessalians lay in wait for him. Eos prayed to Zeus to grant her son immortality, and removed his body from the field of battle. She wept for him every morning; and the dew-drops which appear in the morning are the tears of Eos. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 493; Ov. Met. xiii. 622.)

Philostratus (Her. iii. 4) distinguishes between a Trojan and an Ethiopian Memnon, and believes that the former, who was very young and did not distinguish himself till after the death of Hector, slew Antilochus; and he adds, that Achilles, after having avenged his friend, burnt the armour and head of Memnon on the funeral pile of Antilochus. Some say that the Ethiopian warriors burned the body of Memnon, and carried the ashes to Tithonus (Diod. 1. c.); or that those who had gone to Troy under his general, Phallas, received his ashes near Paphos, in Cyprus, and gave them to Memnon's sister, Himera, who was searching after his body, and buried them in Palliochis (an unknown place), whereiepon she disappeared. (Dict. Cret. vi. 10.) Tombs of Memnon were shown in several places, as at Ptolemais in Syria, on the Hellespont, on a hill near the mouth of the river Aesepus, near Paltou in Syria, in Ethiopia and other places. (Strab. pp. 587, 728.) His armour was said to have been made for him by Hephaestus, at the request of his mother; and his sword was shown in the temple of Asclepius, at Nicomedeia. (Paus. iii. 3. § 6.) His companions, who indulged in excessive wailings at his death, were changed by the gods into birds, called Memnonides, and some of them died of grief. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 755.) According to Ovid (Met. xiii. 57G, &c.), Eos implored Zeus to confer an honour on her son, to console her for his loss. He accordingly caused a number of birds, divided into two swarms, to fight in the air over the funeral sacrifice until a portion of them fell down upon the ashes of the hero, and thus formed a funeral sacrifice for him. According to a story current on the Hellespont, the Memnonides every year visited the tomb of Memnon, cleared the ground round about, and moistened it with their wings, which they wetted in the waters of the river Aesepus. (Paus. x. 31. § 2; comp. Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 7.)

At a comparatively late period, when the Greeks became acquainted with Egypt, and the colossal statue in the neighbourhood of Thebes, the stone of which, when reached by the rays of the rising sun, gave forth a sound resembling that of a breaking chord, they looked upon that statue as representing the son of Eos, or confounded it with their own Helios, although they well knew that the Egyptians did not call the statue Memnon, but Amenophis. (Paus. i. 42. § 2; comp. Callistrat. Stut.i. 9.) This colossal figure, made of black stone, in a sitting posture, with its feet close together, and the hands leaning on its seat, was broken in the middle, so that the upper part had fallen down; but it was afterwards restored. (Paus.l. c.; Strab. p. 816; Philostr. Her.iii. 4, Icon.i. 7, Vit. Apollon. vi. 4; Lucian, Tox. 27; Tacit. Ann. ii. 61; Juven. xv. 5.) Several very ingenious conjectures have been propounded respecting the alleged meaning of the so-called statue of Memnon; and some have asserted that it served for astronomical purposes, and others that it had reference to the mystic worship of the sun and light, though there can be little doubt that the statue represented nothing else than the Egyptian king Amenophis. (Creuzer, Symbolik,p. 149, &c.; Jablonski, De Memnone;and the various works on Egyptian antiquities.)

The fight of Memnon with Achilles was often represented by Greek artists, as for example, on the chest of Cypselus (Paus. v. 19. § 1), on the throne of Apollo, at Amyclae (iii. 18. § 7), in a large group at Olympia, the work of Lycius, which had been dedicated there by the inhabitants of Apollonia (v. 22. § 2), in the Lesche at Delphi, by Polygnotus (x. 31. § 2).

http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/M/Memnon.html

Memnon

Memnon, king of the Ethiopians and conqueror of the East.

3130: Engraving by Bernard Picart, 1673-1733.

Brazen-crested Memnon, a comely man according to Odysseus, is the King of the Ethiopians who came with a great force to help Troy against the Achaean invaders, and was killed by Achilles.

Son of the immortal old man

Tithonus 1, they say, was snatched away by Eos (Dawn) for love, brought by the goddess to that Ethiopia which is not in Africa but in the east, and there he founded the city of Susa. Tithonus 1 was made immortal when Eos asked Zeus that Tithonus 1 should be deathless and live eternally. However, she forgot to ask youth for him, and for that reason he suffers the full weight of Old Age, babbling endlessly and having no strength in his limbs. But before that, Tithonus 1 and Eos lived rapturously as lovers do, and they had children: Emathion 1 and Memnon.

His brother killed by Heracles 1

Emathion 1 became king of the Ethiopians, and is remembered for having attacked Heracles 1 when the latter, having slain Busiris 2 (the Egyptian king who used to sacrifice strangers), sailed up the river Nile.

Memnon in the East

But Memnon himself was, as Tithonus 1, related to the East, and he is said to have built a palace of many colored and shining white stones bound with gold in the city of Ecbatana. For Memnon, starting from Ethiopia, overrun Egypt and conquered the East as far as the city of Susa, which he surrounded by walls. So Memnon, although being king of the Ethiopians, came to Troy, not from what today is called Africa, but from Susa, not far away from the river Tigris, in the land that later became Persia. And when he made his march to the west, he subdued all the peoples that lived between Susa and Troy.

Memnon's arrival

When Hector 1, the pillar of Troy, was killed by Achilles, there was not much hope left for the Trojans, except that provided by Memnon, who wearing an armour made by Hephaestus, arrived from the east with a huge host to help the city. Memnon is said to have killed the Pylians Ereuthus and Pheron, who followed Nestor to the Trojan War, and also Nestor's son Antilochus, who died for his father's sake. For the horse kept Nestor's chariot from moving, since it had been wounded by Paris, when Memnon approached. Then Nestor shouted to his son Antilochus, who came to his rescue, and saved his father's life at the price of his own. For, as some say, Memnon slew him, although there are those who say that Antilochus was killed by Hector 1.

Achilles kills Memnon

Eos carrying her dead son.

R1-1265: Eos with the corpse of Memnon. Eos mit der Leiche Memnons (nach Wiener Vorlegeblätter Taf. VIII. Roscher, 1884.

Nestor, who saw his son perish, asked Achilles to rescue his son's body and armour. That is why Memnon and Achilles fought against each other in single combat, and although Memnon wounded Achilles in the arm, he himself lost his life when Achilles plunged his sword beneath his breast-bone. But some say that it was Achilles' spear that killed Memnon.

Soldiers turn into birds

In any case, some have told that when Memnon died, the whole Ethiopian army vanished with his king, the soldiers turning into birds. Now, some may feel tempted to reason that this is just a way of expressing the idea of the Ethiopian army escaping or being disbanded. And they may also feel that if the army was dispersed it would be better just to say so instead of making up capricious tales, which are most implausible. But, whatever they may feel, the Achaeans and Trojans were most amazed when they watched the Ethiopian army fly away. For current things amaze nobody, but extraordinary and impossible things do. And that was a great marvel, unlikely to happen in our time, as no one has ever since claimed to have witnessed anything of the sort.

Eos begs Zeus for her son

Anyway, the death of this magnificent king caused great grief to his mother, and because of her pain the colours of the morning skies grew dull, and the heavens were overcast with clouds. And Eos came to Zeus and asked him to grant Memnon special honours as consolation for his death. Accordingly, the smoke of Memnon's funeral pyre turn into birds, some of which killed each other over the flames. These birds, which are called Memnonides, used to return on stated days every year to Memnon's grave, in a hill above the outlet of the Aesepus River, which flows from the mountains of Ida in the Troad, and sprinkle it with the water of the river from their wet wings. But others say that Memnon was buried in Paltus, which is on the coast of Syria in front of the island of Cyprus. Eos herself never ceased to lament the death of her handsome son, who was also a magnificent king. For the dew, they say, is the tears shed by the goddess for the death of Memnon. And yet it has also been told that Zeus bestowed immortality upon Memnon at Eos' request.

http://www.maicar.com/GML/Memnon.html

Name: Memnon OF TRACE

Prefix: King

Given Name: Memnon

Surname: of Trace

Sex: M 1 2

Death: 1183 BC

Father: Tithonus OF TROY

Marriage 1 Troan

Married:

Children

Thor (Tror) OF THRACE

Sources:

Abbrev: Stevens (1998) Tithonus

Title: The line of Tithonus. In Descent from Adam.

Author: Stevens, Luke

Publication: Webpage: <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2444/Tithonus.htm>12/4/1998.

Abbrev: Edda

Title: The prose Edda, tales from norse mythology.

Author: Sturlasson, Snorri (Translation and introduction by A. G. Brodeur)

Publication: Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1916 (republ. 2006)

Page: p. 6

Thrakien (latin Thracia, grekiska Θρᾴκη, Thrákē, bulgariska Trakija, turkiska Trakya) är en historisk och geografisk region på sydöstra Balkanhalvön mellan Svarta havet, Egeiska havet och Marmarasjön. Det historiska området Thrakien är beläget i nuvarande nordöstra Grekland, södra Bulgarien, östra Serbien och den europeiska delen av Turkiet.

Östra Makedonien och Thrakien är sedan 1987 det officiella namnet på en region i nordöstra Grekland.

Historia  [redigera]

I äldsta tid kallade allt land norr om Grekland och Egeiska havet för Thrakien av de greker som koloniserade kusten från 600-talet före Kristus. Landet fick sitt namn efter den indoeuropeiska folkgrupp, thrakerna, som då bebodde landet. Viktiga inslag i deras kultur var dyrkan av Dionysos och vissa slag av religiös skaldekonst, vari de till och med varit grekernas läromästare.

De östra delarna av landet underkuvades av perserna i samband med Dareios I:s fälttåg mot skyterna 512 f Kr.

Vid mitten av 400-talet f.Kr. var många av de trakiska stammarna samlade till ett mäktigt rike under de odrysiska kungarna Teres, Sitalkes och Seuthes men snart splittrades det odrysiska riket i flera smärre, som till stora delar erövrades av Filip II av Makedonien 343 f Kr. Efter Alexander den stores död upprättade Lysimachos för en tid ett eget rike i Trakien med Lysimacheia som huvudstad.

281 f Kr ockuperade keltiska styrkor Thrakien och grundlade det mäktiga riket Tylis i regionen, men redan 212 f Kr återtog thrakiska dynastier makten. Från ca 15 f Kr stod dessa under romersk överhöghet, och från 46 e Kr var Thrakien uppdelat i de romerska provinserna Moesia och Thracia. Efter riksdelningen 395 tillhörde Thrakien Bysantinska riket.

Thrakien erövrades delvis av bulgarer under 600-talet och av turkarna under 1300-talet.

Geografi  [redigera]

Bland de många bergskedjor, vilka fyller större delen av landet, är de förnämsta Haimos (Haemus, Balkan) och det därifrån mot söder och sydöst utgrenade Rhodope. På gränsen mot Makedonien låg det i forntiden för sina rika guld- och silvergruvor berömda berget Pangaios. Huvudfloder är Hebros (nu Maritsa) och Nestos (nu Mesta eller Karasu), under en tid gränsflod mot Makedonien.

Thrakien ansågs av grekerna i det hela vara ett ofruktbart land med kallt och strävt klimat. Av skalderna betecknades det som nordanvindens hemland. Detta gäller dock ej om den södra kuststräckan, varest grekerna redan tidigt med förkärlek slog sig ned och grundlade många kolonier, såsom Abdera, Dikaia, Mesambria och Ainos vid Egeiska havet, Perinthos och Selymbria vid Propontis, Bysantion vid Bosporen. Till Thrakien räknades även den mellan Melasviken och Hellesponten mot sydväst utskjutande, 75 km långa och i medeltal 15 km breda landtunga, som fordom kallades Thrakiska Chersonesus (nu Gallipoli). I det inre landet låg städerna Filippopolis och Hadrianopolis vid floden Hebros och Lysimacheia vid ingången till Chersonesus.

Gudinnan Eos flörtiga personlighet fick Afrodite att anklaga henne för nymfomani. Hennes misstag var att fatta tycke för Ares och straffet blev att hon var tvungen att nöja sig med Tithonus, en vanlig dödlig. De fick två barn tillsammans, Memnon som dödades i det trojanska kriget av Akilles och Emathion som dödades av Herakles. Eos bad Zeus göra hennes nya man odödlig men hon glömde att be om sin mans eviga ungdom, så han blev bara äldre och äldre, dock fattade de andra gudarna empati för Eos och gjorde Tithonus till en cikada. Så medan Eos gråter finns det aldrig brist på morgondagg.

Den romerska motsvarigheten till Eos är Aurora.

Brazen-crested Memnon, a comely man according to Odysseus, is the King of the Ethiopians who came with a great force to help Troy against the Achaean invaders, and was killed by Achilles.

Son of the immortal old man

Tithonus 1, they say, was snatched away by Eos (Dawn) for love, brought by the goddess to that Ethiopia which is not in Africa but in the east, and there he founded the city of Susa. Tithonus 1 was made immortal when Eos asked Zeus that Tithonus 1 should be deathless and live eternally. However, she forgot to ask youth for him, and for that reason he suffers the full weight of Old Age, babbling endlessly and having no strength in his limbs. But before that, Tithonus 1 and Eos lived rapturously as lovers do, and they had children: Emathion 1 and Memnon.

Memnon in the East

But Memnon himself was, as Tithonus 1, related to the East, and he is said to have built a palace of many colored and shining white stones bound with gold in the city of Ecbatana. For Memnon, starting from Ethiopia, overrun Egypt and conquered the East as far as the city of Susa, which he surrounded by walls.

Conquered many in his way to Troy

So Memnon, although being king of the Ethiopians, came to Troy, not from what today is called Africa, but from Susa, not far away from the river Tigris, in the land that later became Persia. And when he made his march to the west, he subdued all the peoples that lived between Susa and Troy.

Memnon's arrival

When Hector 1, the pillar of Troy, was killed by Achilles, there was not much hope left for the Trojans, except that provided by Memnon, who wearing an armour made by Hephaestus, arrived from the east with a huge host to help the city.

Some killed by Memnon

Memnon is said to have killed the Pylians Ereuthus and Pheron, who followed Nestor to the Trojan War, and also Nestor's son Antilochus, who died for his father's sake. For the horse kept Nestor's chariot from moving, since it had been wounded by Paris, when Memnon approached. Then Nestor shouted to his son Antilochus, who came to his rescue, and saved his father's life at the price of his own. For, as some say, Memnon slew him, although there are those who say that Antilochus was killed by Hector 1.

Achilles kills Memnon

Nestor, who saw his son perish, asked Achilles to rescue his son's body and armour. That is why Memnon and Achilles fought against each other in single combat, and although Memnon wounded Achilles in the arm, he himself lost his life when Achilles plunged his sword beneath his breast-bone. But some say that it was Achilles' spear that killed Memnon.

Soldiers turn into birds

In any case, some have told that when Memnon died, the whole Ethiopian army vanished with his king, the soldiers turning into birds.

Now, some may feel tempted to reason that this is just a way of expressing the idea of the Ethiopian army escaping or being disbanded. And they may also feel that if the army was dispersed it would be better just to say so instead of making up capricious tales, which are most implausible. But, whatever they may feel, the Achaeans and Trojans were most amazed when they watched the Ethiopian army fly away. For current things amaze nobody, but extraordinary and impossible things do. And that was a great marvel, unlikely to happen in our time, as no one has ever since claimed to have witnessed anything of the sort.

Eos begs Zeus for her son

Anyway, the death of this magnificent king caused great grief to his mother, and because of her pain the colours of the morning skies grew dull, and the heavens were overcast with clouds. And Eos came to Zeus and asked him to grant Memnon special honours as consolation for his death.

Special honours for Memnon

Accordingly, the smoke of Memnon's funeral pyre turn into birds, some of which killed each other over the flames. These birds, which are called Memnonides, used to return on stated days every year to Memnon's grave, in a hill above the outlet of the Aesepus River, which flows from the mountains of Ida in the Troad, and sprinkle it with the water of the river from their wet wings. But others say that Memnon was buried in Paltus, which is on the coast of Syria in front of the island of Cyprus.

The tears of Dawn

Eos herself never ceased to lament the death of her handsome son, who was also a magnificent king. For the dew, they say, is the tears shed by the goddess for the death of Memnon. And yet it has also been told that Zeus bestowed immortality upon Memnon at Eos' request.

Statue

Such is the story of Memnon. But others have said that this son of Eos neither went to Troy nor died there, but that he died in Ethiopia after ruling the country for five generations. That may seem a long time. However, the Ethiopians, being the longest lived men on earth, deplored his death as premature, mourning him as a youth.

They also tell that a wonderful statue of a young and still unbearded Memnon had been made out of black stone, and turned towards the sunrise. The sitting figure was represented in the very act of rising up, with the lips as about to speak. They affirm that the lips spoke when the sun's rays fell upon them at dawn, and that the eyes of the statue seemed to stand out and gleam against the light.

In Greek mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. At the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and was killed by Achilles in retribution for killing Antilochus. 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, composed after The Iliad circa the 7th century BC. Quintus of Smyrna records Memnon's death in Posthomerica.

[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memnon_(mythology)]

In Greek mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. At the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and was killed by Achilles in retribution for killing Antilochus. 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, composed after The Iliad circa the 7th century BC. Quintus of Smyrna records Memnon's death in Posthomerica.

[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memnon_(mythology)]

B: 1300BC or 1250BC

D: 1183BC or 1200BC or 1138BC

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Memnon.html

Memnon (Munon) of TROY

King of ETHIOPIA

Born: ? Died: abt. 1183 BC

In Greek mythology, Memnon (Greek: Mέμνων) was an Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. As a warrior he was considered to be almost Achilles' equal in skill. At the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense and was killed by Achilles in retribution for killing Antilochus. 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 her immortality.

Memnon's death is related at length in the lost epic Aethiopis, 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.

King of ETHIOPIA

Gen 87: