Tithonus
heroTrojan prince beloved by Eos who was granted immortality but not eternal youth, aging endlessly into a withered husk.
The Myth
He is the most horrifying cautionary tale in all of Greek myth — eternal life without eternal youth. Eos loved Tithonus and asked Zeus to make him immortal, but forgot to ask for eternal youth. He aged and shriveled until he could no longer move, endlessly babbling in a locked room. Some say Eos finally turned him into a cicada out of pity. His son Memnon would later die at Troy, killed by Achilles. The myth haunted every subsequent Greek story about divine gifts — Aphrodite herself cited Tithonus when refusing to make Anchises immortal.
Parents
Children
Memnon, Emathion
Symbols
Fun Fact
Tennyson's Tithonus (1860) is considered one of the finest dramatic monologues in English.
Explore Further
Laomedon
heroKing of Troy who cheated both Apollo and Poseidon of their wages and set the pattern of Trojan...
Memnon
heroEthiopian king and son of Eos who brought a vast army to Troy, killed Antilochus, and was slain by...
Eos
godThe rosy-fingered goddess of the dawn who rose each morning to open the gates of heaven for her...
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...
Aphrodite
godGoddess of love and beauty, born from the sea foam. Aphrodite's power to inspire desire was so...
Trojan Horse
conceptThe hollow wooden horse used by the Greeks to infiltrate and destroy Troy. Devised by Odysseus, it...
Trojan War
conceptThe Trojan War was the central event of Greek mythology — a ten-year siege of Troy by a Greek...
Troy
placeThe legendary city in Asia Minor besieged by the Greeks for ten years in the Trojan War. Troy's...
Troy (Hisarlik)
placeHisarlik in Turkey is the archaeological site identified as Homer's Troy — multiple cities layered...
Zeus
godSupreme ruler of the Olympian gods and lord of the sky. Zeus overthrew his father Kronos and...
Zeus (King)
godZeus was the king of the Olympian gods, ruler of the sky, wielder of the thunderbolt — the supreme...
Zeus Xenios
godAn epithet of Zeus as guardian of guests and the sacred law of hospitality (xenia), whose violation...