Memnon

views updated May 17 2018

Memnon a mythical king of the Ethiopians, son of Aurora and Tithonus, who fought for the Trojans at the siege of Troy and was killed by Achilles. He was associated by the ancients with various eastern lands, and in the 17th century Memnonian was used to mean ‘oriental, Persian’, as in Milton's Paradise Lost Susa is described as the ‘Memnonian Palace’ of Xerxes.

In the ancient world a colossus of Amenophis III at Thebes in Egypt was believed by the Greeks to be a statue of Memnon; it was said to give forth a musical sound when touched by the dawn.