Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1042

Rh 1028 MEMNON. 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. (Find. Pi/th. 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 (Diet. 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 fcale containing that of Memnon sank. (Find. 01. ii. i^,Nem. iii. 110, vi. 83; Quint. Smyrn. ii. 224, «&c. ; Fhilostr. Icon. ii. 7 ; Flut. De Aud. Pott. 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 immor- tality, 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 bedy of Memnon, and carried the ashes toTithonus (Diod. I. c.) ; or that those who had gone to Troy under his general, Fhallas, 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 Falliochis (an unknown place), whereupon she disappeared. (Diet. Cret. vi. 1 0.) 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 Palton in Syria, in Etliiopia and other places. (Strab. pp. 587, 728.) His armour was said to have been made for him hy Hephaestus, at the request of his mother ; and his sword was shown in the temple of Asclepius, at Nicomedeia. (Fans, 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. 576, &c.), Eos im- plored 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 Memnon- ides 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 Thebe^f the stone of wJiioh, whea reached by the rays of the rising MEMNON. sun, gave forth a sound resembling that of a break- ing chord, they looked upon that statue as repre- senting 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 ; oomp. Callistrat. Stat. 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. I.C.; Strab. p. 816; Fhilostr. 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 re- specting 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, Symholik, 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 oi Apollonia (v. 22. § 2), in the Lesche at Delphi, by Polygnotus (x. 31. § 2 ; comp. Millingen, Monum. Inedit. 1, 4, 5, 40). [L. S.] MEMNON (Mejui/wj/), historical. 1. A distin- guished Greek, a native of Rhodes. The date ol his birth is not accurately known, but Demosthenes (c. Aristocr, p. 672) speaks of him as a young man in B. c. 352. His sister was the wife of Artabazus, satrap of Lower Phrygia, and he joined the latter in his revolt against Dcireius Ochus. When fortune de- serted the insurgents they fled to the court of Philip, Mentor, the brother of Memnon [Mentor], being high in favour with Dareius on account of his ser- vices in Egypt, interceded on behalf of Artabazus and Memnon, who were pardoned and again received into favour. On the death of Mentor, Memnon, who possessed great military skill and experience, succeeded him in his authority, which extended over all the western coast of Asia Minor (about B. c. 336). When Alexander invaded Asia, Memnon, with the satraps Spithridates and Arsites, collected an army, with which they encamped on the banks of the Granieus. Memnon, thinking their forces insufficient to oppose Alexander, recommended that they should retire and lay waste the country behind them ; but his advice was overruled. After the defeat of the Persian troops, Memnon sent his wife and children to Dareius as tokens and pledges of his fidelity. As he had hoped, he was invested by the king with the supreme command in the west of Asia, He defended Halicarnassus against Alex- ander with great skill and bravery, until it was no longer possible to hold out. Having set fire to the place, he and Orontobates made their escape, and crossed over to Cos. Memnon now formed tlie de- sign of carrying the war into Greece, and attacking Macedonia. Dareius had furnished him with large supplies of money. He collected a large force of mercenaries, and a fleet of 300 ships. At the head of this force he attacked and took Chios, and thence proceeded to Lesbos. Here he captured several