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Memnon

 
Dictionary: Mem·non
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(mĕm'nŏn') pronunciation
n. Greek Mythology
An Ethiopian king killed by Achilles and made immortal by Zeus.


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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Memnon
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In Greek mythology, a king of the Ethiopians. The son of Tithonus (of the Trojan royal house) and Eos (Dawn), he fought bravely for his uncle Priam against the Greeks, and was slain by Achilles. Moved by the tears of Eos, Zeus granted him immortality. His companions, changed into birds, came every year to fight and lament over his grave. In Egypt his name was connected with the colossal stone statues of Amenhotep III near Thebes; the harplike sounds these statues emitted when touched by the rays of the rising sun were believed to be the voice of Memnon responding to the greeting of his mother, Eos.

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Classical Literature Companion: Memnon
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Memnon, in Greek myth, son of Tithonus and Eos (Dawn), king of the Ethiopians and brother of Emathion, king of Egypt; he fought on the Trojan side at the siege of Troy. Memnon killed Antilochus and was later killed by Achilles. His story was related in the Aethiopis (by Arctinus), a poem of the Epic Cycle, according to which Zeus made him immortal. His final battle and his body carried away by his mother are favourite subjects for vase-painters. A tradition arose that a colossal statue of Memnon which stood before a temple in Egyptian Thebes used to sing at dawn when struck by the sun (but the statue is engraved with the name of an Egyptian king).

French Literature Companion: Memnon
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Memnon (1749). Short philosophic tale by Voltaire, mocking the desire to be perfectly wise; also the original title of Zadig.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Memnon
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Memnon (mĕm'nŏn), in Greek mythology, king of Ethiopia, son of Tithonus and Eos. In the Trojan War he fought against the Greeks, and after he had killed Antilochus, he himself was killed by Achilles. Eos obtained immortality from Zeus for her son. Memnon was supposed to have lived in Egypt, and the Greeks gave his name to the great statue of Amenhotep III at Thebes. This statue was said to make a musical sound at daybreak, at which time Memnon greeted his mother, goddess of dawn.

 
 
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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
French Literature Companion. The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. Copyright © 1995, 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more