Children of Tithonus

Memnon grew up to become king of the Ethiopians.

He dwelled in Africa until the start of the Trojan War, when he promptly answered the call to assist his father’s kinsmen. His uncle, King Priam, received him with great honors, and listened attentively as Memnon recounted a series of vivid stories about life in Ethiopia. Only a day after his arrival, however, Memnon grew tired of reminiscence, became impatient for action, and led his troops into the field. He slew Antilochus, son of Nestor, and the Greek forces broke up in disarray until their champion, Achilles, entered the fray and faced Memnon in single combat. The battle between the two men was long and hard, but eventually the Greek prevailed and Memnon was killed. The Trojans fled the scene. Eos, who had looked on helplessly from the heavens as her son was slain, then sent winds to carry his body to the banks of the Esepus River in Paphlagonia, an ancient region of northern Anatolia (part of modern Turkey). In the evening the goddess traveled there and mourned her son. In another version of the story, Memnon’s body was wafted back to Ethiopia, where mourners raised his tomb in the grove of the nymphs near a stream. Zeus then turned the sparks and

Right: This engraving by French artist Bernard Picart (1673—1733) depicts Tithonus turning into a cicada. His lover, Eos, looks on helplessly—she condemned him to eternal life.

Cinders of Memnon’s funeral pyre into birds. The creatures divided into two flocks that fought each other for the pile of ashes until they fell into the flames and were burned as sacrificial victims. Every year thereafter, on the anniversary of Memnon’s death, other flocks of birds returned to the scene and fought to their deaths.

Eos was inconsolable over the loss of her son. Her endless tears could be seen early in the morning in the form of dewdrops on the grass. At a certain location on the banks of the Nile River in Egypt stood a great statue of Memnon. According to legend, when the first rays of the rising sun fell on this effigy, it emitted a mournful sound like the snapping of a harp string.

Emathion, the other son ofTithonus and Eos, became king of Arabia. He was killed by Heracles during the hero’s 11th labor, the recovery of the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Emathion’s offspring became rulers of Macedon, so he was thus one of the mythical ancestors of Alexander the Great (356—323 BCE).