Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/336

* MEMMINGEN. 302 MEMNONITJM. stock. The town is first mentioned in 1010 and became a free city of the Empire in 1281). It was a member of the Schmalkaldic League; it became Bavarian in 1802. ro|)uhtion, in 1900, 10,809. KEMMINGER, nicni'min-jer. C'hri.stoi'IIEu Oi'.sTAVi s (1S03-88). An American political leader, Secretary of the Treasury in the Govern- nient of the Confederate States, lie was born in Wiirttemberg, Gesinany. l)ut was brought at an oarly age to Soiitli Carolina by his molher, who <lied not long after their arrival. He was for a time in an orphan asylum in Cliarleston. and was then adopted by Thomas Hcnnctt, afterwards Governor. Jlemminger graduated from South Carolina College in 1820, studied law, and prac- ticed in Charleston. He was an opponent of Cal- houn, and in 1832 wrote the Book of yiilUfica- lion, a satire in biblical style upon that leader's favorite doctrine. He was for many years a mem- ber of the suite Legislature, and for nearly twenty years was the head of the finance com- mittee. In January, 18(iO. he was sent as a special conunissioner to Virginia in order to induce that State to enter a scheme for obtaining redress of Southern grievances. Some months later he was one of the leaders in the convention which declared that the connection of Sovith Carolina with the United States was dissolved. Upon the formation of the Confederacy, he was made Secretary of the Treasury, which office lie held until .June, 18G4, when he resigned. lie was respcm-.ilile for the disastrous financial policy of the Confederate Government. For an account of liis administration, consult Schwab, The Confed- erate iitales of America, IHHl-Go: A Financial ami Industrial History of the South Durinri the Civil War {New York, 1901). MEMTSrON (Lat., from Gk. W/ivuv). Tn Greek hgiTnl. a son of Tithonus and Eos (the dawn). King of the Ethiopians, who led an army to aid Priam. King of Troy. Clad in armor made by Ilepha*stus (or Vulcan), he made great slaughter among the (Jreeks, and finally killed Antilochus. who was defending his father. Nestor. Over the body of Antilochus be met .cliilles and fell before him. His mother obtained from Zeus his immortality, and his body, or. in another story, his ashes were carried to his native coun- try. The river Paphlagonius was said to flow blood yearly on the anniversary of his death. His comrades were clianged to birds, and it was said they returned yearly from the south and fought around the funeral mound erected for their leader nt Troy. In the earlier writers Memnon leads bis forces from the extreme East, or Assyria; later the native land was sought in Syria, and not earlier than the end of the fifth century ii.r. was it liK'alized in Kg>pt and .Ethiopia. 'Memnonia were said to exist at Susa in Persia, and at -Miydos and Thelies in Eg>-pt. Indeed, in Ploleniaic times the west bank of the Nile at Thebes was the Memnonium. as the ea.st wa? Piospidis. Near by are two colossal statues of King. ienhotep III. of the K]igliteentli Dynasty, the southern one of which was said to give forth a sound when struck by the rays of the rising sun. a sound probably due to the sudden expansion of the sandstone conglomerate from which the statue is hewn. Strabn (c.20 n.c.) does not mention the name of Memnon in ilescribing this phenomenon, but early in the first century of our era the story gained currency that the statue represented Memnon, who thus greeted his mother iu the morning. Erom the time of the Flavian emperors to that of Septimius Severus, the world seems to have been fond of visiting this place, and the sides of the figure are covered with names and verses referring to the legend. Among the visitors were Hadrian and his wife, Sabina, in A.n. 130. At some time before Strabo's visit, the upper part of the statue had been overthrown by an earthquake (popular tradition said by Cam- byses), and when it was rebuilt by Severus the .sounds ceased. In art the combat of Memnon and Achilles in presence of Eos and Thetis, and the removal of the body of JMeinnon by his mother or by sleep and death, were favorite subjects with the Attic vase painters. Consult: .lacobs, Vebcr die driiber dcs Memnon (I8;50) ; Thirlwall, in /'/ii7o- loffical Museum (Cambridge, 1832) ; Letronne, '"La statue vocale de Jlemnon," in Mentoires de VInstitut lOjijal de France (Paris, 1833); Cur- zon, in Edinburfili Review (1880). MEMNO'NIUM (Lat., from Gk. Meuvdviov). The name a]>plied in Ptolemaic times to an Egj'ptian temple about S-> miles from the Nile, near Abydos. The geographer Stralio (c.30 B.C.) mentions it with admiration and compares it with the celebrated Labyrinth (q.v.). In 18o9 Maricttc, with tlio financial aid of the Egyptian Government, cleared away the sand ami rubbish which covered the building and made it accessible to visitors and students. The temple, begun by Seti I., and completed by his son, Rameses II., was dedicated to the gods of Abydos anil to the manes of Seti and of his predecessors on the throne of Egypt. Among the numerous reliefs that adorn its walls are some of the finest s])ecimens of Eg-])tian s<'ulpture. A wing run- ning at right angles to the rear of the main building, which abuts upon a rocky hill, gives the ground plan of the structure the form of the letter L. Of the two courts which gave entrance to the temple, the first with its pylon and walls is completely destroyed, and only a portion of the wall of the second court remains. At the upper cnil of this court is a portico with twelve sculptured columns; its rear wall was originally pierced by seven doors, corn'siionding to the seven chajiels within the temple, but six of these doors were walled up by Kameses 11., and only the central door was left open. Upon the wall is an inscription of Rameses, in ninety-five vertical lines, describing the completion and dedication of the building. The central door gives entraiiCB to a wide hall, its roof supported by twenty-four columns, and from the rear of this hall seven doors lead to a second hall contnining thirty-six columns arranged in three parallel rows. The last row stands upon a raised platform, and its twelve columns have been left without capitals in order to bring their tops on a level with the tops of the other two rows. Roth halls are richly adorned with reliefs representing Seti and Rameses paying worship to various divinities; The raised platform at the back of the second liall forms a sort of poilico, and upon this open seven chapels devoted respectively to the deities Horns. Isis. Osiris,. mmon. llarmachis. and Ptah, and to King Seti himself. The chapel of .Vninion occupies the centre. A door at the back of the chapel of Osiris gives access to a covered portico supported by ten columns, having on the right three additional chapels dedicated to Horu%