In Greek mythology, Memnon was a king of Aethiopia, son of the Trojan prince Tithonus and Eos, goddess of the dawn. In the Trojan War he brought a great eastern army to Troy's defense, killed Nestor's son Antilochus, and was himself slain by Achilles in a duel that echoes Achilles's vengeance for Patroclus. Zeus granted him immortality at Eos's plea; his death was narrated in the lost epic Aethiopis and retold by Quintus of Smyrna and others. Classical travelers later linked his name to the singing Colossi of Memnon in Egypt.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Memnon (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Parentage and arrival at Troy
Hesiod names Memnon, bronzed-armed king of the Aethiopians, as son of Eos and Tithonus; Quintus of Smyrna has him say he was raised by the Hesperides on the coast of Oceanus. Dictys Cretensis describes him arriving with a vast army of Indians and Aethiopians that surpassed even Priam's hopes. Homer mentions him only in passing in the Odyssey; the full narrative belonged to the Epic Cycle poem Aethiopis, attributed to Arctinus of Miletus.
In Virgil's Aeneid he leads eastern battle-lines — "the arms of black Memnon" — to aid Troy. Hephaestus is said to have forged his armor, as for other great heroes; Venus later recalls that Vulcan had not refused the tears of Tithonus's bride when she begged arms for Aeneas.
II.Combat with Achilles
In Quintus's Posthomerica, Memnon arrives after Priam and his court debate whether he will come at all. His host is innumerable; at a banquet he modestly warns against boasting before battle. Zeus binds the other Olympians not to interfere. Memnon kills Antilochus after Antilochus has slain Memnon's comrade Aesop; when aged Nestor seeks revenge, Memnon refuses to fight so old a man — a gesture that marks him as Achilles's moral peer.
Nestor then begs Achilles to avenge his son. The two clash in divine armor made by Hephaestus. Zeus favors both, making them tireless so the whole field can watch; Achilles finally drives his spear through Memnon's chest, and the Aethiopian army flees. The duel deliberately echoes Achilles's killing of Hector for Patroclus.
III.Death, mourning, and immortality
After Memnon falls, Eos mourns so fiercely that she dims the light of Helios and begs Nyx to come early so she may reclaim her son's body. Zeus is moved by her tears and grants Memnon immortality. In some accounts the gods form a river from his blood that annually reeks of flesh; Aethiopians who stay to bury him become the birds called Memnonides, which tend his tomb.
Eos is allowed to see and caress him briefly each dawn when she opens heaven's doors for Helios — a few moments only. Strabo records a tradition, from Simonides' dithyramb Memnon, that he was buried near Paltus in Syria on the river Badas. Philostratus's Imagines describes paintings of the army laying out their chief and of Eos lifting the fallen son.
IV.Aethiopia, Susa, and the Colossi
Greek and Roman writers place Memnon as king of the Aethiopians — peoples imagined as dark-skinned and living far to the south — sometimes specifying those who border Egypt. Herodotus calls Susa "the city of Memnon" and discusses statues some identify with him; the Suda claims that though he led Ethiopians at Troy he was himself from Susa. Classical authors thus fused Asian and African geographies around one hero.
The twin statues of Amenhotep III at Luxor, known as the Colossi of Memnon, were identified with the mythical king from at least the first century. After an earthquake in 27 BCE the northern colossus began to emit a dawn sound that travelers heard as Memnon greeting his mother Eos; Hadrian and Sabina waited days to hear it in 130 CE. Pausanias describes the seated statue that sounded at sunrise like a broken lyre string, though Thebans named other native kings instead.