Memnon
Ethiopian king and son of Eos who brought a vast army to Troy, killed Antilochus, and was slain by Achilles.
The Legend of Memnon
His mother Eos still weeps for him every morning — the dew is her tears. Memnon arrived at Troy leading an army from Ethiopia and immediately killed Antilochus, son of Nestor, making him a direct threat to Achilles. Zeus weighed their fates on golden scales before their duel, and Memnon's side sank. After Achilles killed him, Eos begged Zeus to grant her son immortality. The Colossus of Memnon in Thebes (Egypt) was said to sing at dawn — Greeks believed it was Memnon greeting his mother. His story was told in the lost Aethiopis, one of the great missing epics.
Parents
Eos, Tithonus
Symbols
Fun Fact
The singing Colossus of Memnon in Egypt produced sounds at dawn due to thermal expansion of cracked stone.
Explore Further
Sarpédon
🗡 heroSon of Zeus who died at Troy
Sarpedon was a son of Zeus and the greatest Lycian warrior at Troy — his death forced Zeus to confront the limits of even divine power.
Sarpedon
🗡 heroNone recorded
Lycian prince and ally of Troy in the Trojan War, son of Zeus
Eurypylus of Mysia
🗡 herowar
Son of Telephus who led a Mysian army to Troy as the last major reinforcement and was killed by Neoptolemus.
Idomeneus of Crete
🗡 herowar
King of Crete and grandson of Minos who led eighty ships to Troy and made a rash vow to Poseidon on the voyage home.
Antilochus
🗡 herowar
Son of Nestor, youngest Greek commander at Troy, beloved companion of Achilles who died protecting his father.
Neoptolemus
🗡 heroSon of Achilles
Neoptolemus was Achilles' fierce son, brought to Troy because a prophecy declared the city could not fall without him.
Promachus
🗡 heroEpigoni, Vengeance, Thebes
Son of Parthenopaeus and member of the Epigoni who succeeded in sacking Thebes where his father had failed.
Laertes
🗡 heroKingship, Old Age, Restoration
Father of Odysseus and aging king of Ithaca who returned to farming during his son's long absence.
Menelaus
🗡 heroKing of Sparta, husband of Helen
Menelaus was the king of Sparta whose stolen wife Helen was the cause of the Trojan War — yet he survived the war, the return, and old age, a rare happy ending among Greek heroes.
Priam
🗡 heroKing of Troy
Priam was the aged king of Troy, father of fifty sons including Hector and Paris, whose night journey to beg Achilles for Hector's body is the Iliad's most moving scene.
Althaea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Calydon and mother of Meleager who killed her own son by burning the magical brand that the Fates had tied to his life at birth
Antilochus
🗡 heroThe young warrior who died saving Nestor
The son of Nestor who died at Troy protecting his elderly father from Memnon — a sacrifice that moved Achilles to avenge him.