Memnon

Memnon, king of the Ethiopians and conqueror of the East. 3130: Engraving by Bernard Picart, 1673-1733. Brazen-crested Memnon, a comely man according to Odysseus, is the King of the Ethiopians who came with a great force to help Troy against the Achaean invaders, and was killed by Achilles. Son of the immortal old man Tithonus 1, they say, was snatched away by Eos (Dawn) for love, brought by the goddess to that Ethiopia which is not in Africa but in the east, and there he founded the city of Susa. Tithonus 1 was made immortal when Eos asked Zeus that Tithonus 1 should be deathless and live eternally. However, she forgot to ask youth for him, and for that reason he suffers the full weight of Old Age, babbling endlessly and having no strength in his limbs. But before that, Tithonus 1 and Eos lived rapturously as lovers do, and they had children: Emathion 1 and Memnon. His brother killed by Heracles 1 Emathion 1 became king of the Ethiopians, and is remembered for having attacked Heracles 1 when the latter, having slain Busiris 2 (the Egyptian king who used to sacrifice strangers), sailed up the river Nile. Memnon in the East But Memnon himself was, as Tithonus 1, related to the East, and he is said to have built a palace of many colored and shining white stones bound with gold in the city of Ecbatana. For Memnon, starting from Ethiopia, overrun Egypt and conquered the East as far as the city of Susa, which he surrounded by walls. So Memnon, although being king of the Ethiopians, came to Troy, not from what today is called Africa, but from Susa, not far away from the river Tigris, in the land that later became Persia. And when he made his march to the west, he subdued all the peoples that lived between Susa and Troy. Memnon's arrival When Hector 1, the pillar of Troy, was killed by Achilles, there was not much hope left for the Trojans, except that provided by Memnon, who wearing an armour made by Hephaestus, arrived from the east with a huge host to help the city. Memnon is said to have killed the Pylians Ereuthus and Pheron, who followed Nestor to the Trojan War, and also Nestor's son Antilochus, who died for his father's sake. For the horse kept Nestor's chariot from moving, since it had been wounded by Paris, when Memnon approached. Then Nestor shouted to his son Antilochus, who came to his rescue, and saved his father's life at the price of his own. For, as some say, Memnon slew him, although there are those who say that Antilochus was killed by Hector 1. Achilles kills Memnon Eos carrying her dead son. R1-1265: Eos with the corpse of Memnon. Eos mit der Leiche Memnons (nach Wiener Vorlegeblätter Taf. VIII. Roscher, 1884. Nestor, who saw his son perish, asked Achilles to rescue his son's body and armour. That is why Memnon and Achilles fought against each other in single combat, and although Memnon wounded Achilles in the arm, he himself lost his life when Achilles plunged his sword beneath his breast-bone. But some say that it was Achilles' spear that killed Memnon. Soldiers turn into birds In any case, some have told that when Memnon died, the whole Ethiopian army vanished with his king, the soldiers turning into birds. Now, some may feel tempted to reason that this is just a way of expressing the idea of the Ethiopian army escaping or being disbanded. And they may also feel that if the army was dispersed it would be better just to say so instead of making up capricious tales, which are most implausible. But, whatever they may feel, the Achaeans and Trojans were most amazed when they watched the Ethiopian army fly away. For current things amaze nobody, but extraordinary and impossible things do. And that was a great marvel, unlikely to happen in our time, as no one has ever since claimed to have witnessed anything of the sort. Eos begs Zeus for her son Anyway, the death of this magnificent king caused great grief to his mother, and because of her pain the colours of the morning skies grew dull, and the heavens were overcast with clouds. And Eos came to Zeus and asked him to grant Memnon special honours as consolation for his death. Accordingly, the smoke of Memnon's funeral pyre turn into birds, some of which killed each other over the flames. These birds, which are called Memnonides, used to return on stated days every year to Memnon's grave, in a hill above the outlet of the Aesepus River, which flows from the mountains of Ida in the Troad, and sprinkle it with the water of the river from their wet wings. But others say that Memnon was buried in Paltus, which is on the coast of Syria in front of the island of Cyprus. Eos herself never ceased to lament the death of her handsome son, who was also a magnificent king. For the dew, they say, is the tears shed by the goddess for the death of Memnon. And yet it has also been told that Zeus bestowed immortality upon Memnon at Eos' request. An Ethiopian. 9905: Busto de etíope. Anónimo italiano, siglo XVII. Museo Nacional del Prado. Statue Such is the story of Memnon. But others have said that this son of Eos neither went to Troy nor died there, but that he died in Ethiopia after ruling the country for five generations. That may seem a long time. However, the Ethiopians, being the longest lived men on earth, deplored his death as premature, mourning him as a youth. They also tell that a wonderful statue of a young and still unbearded Memnon had been made out of black stone, and turned towards the sunrise. The sitting figure was represented in the very act of rising up, with the lips as about to speak. They affirm that the lips spoke when the sun's rays fell upon them at dawn, and that the eyes of the statue seemed to stand out and gleam against the light.

Family

Parentage
	Tithonus 1 & Eos
Tithonus 1 is son of King Laomedon 1 of Troy, son of Ilus 2, the founder of Troy, son of Tros 1, after whom the Trojans were called, son of Erichthonius 1, son of Dardanus 1, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra 3. Eos is Dawn.

Related sections	Memnon in GROUPS: TROJAN LEADERS
Sources Abbreviations	AETH.1; Apd.3.12.4-5; Apd.Ep.5.3; Dio.4.47.3, 4.75.4; Hes.The.984; Hom.Od.11.522; Hyg.Fab.112, 223; Ov.Fast.4.714; Ov.Met.13.579; Pau.10.31.7; Phil.VA.6.4; Pin.Isth.8.54; Pin.Pyth.6.32; QS.2.100ff., 2.494, 2.540ff.; Strab.15.3.2; Try.31.

 

Blacks in Antiquity

Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience

Frank M. Snowden

The Africans who came to ancient Greece and Italy participated in an important chapter of classical history. Although evidence indicated that the alien dark- and black-skinned people were of varied tribal and geographic origins, the Greeks and Romans classified many of them as Ethiopians. In an effort to determine the role of black people in ancient civilization, Mr. Snowden examines a broad span of Greco-Roman experience--from the Homeric era to the age of Justinian--focusing his attention on the Ethiopians as they were known to the Greeks and Romans. The author dispels unwarranted generalizations about the Ethiopians, contending that classical references to them were neither glorifications of a mysterious people nor caricatures of rare creatures.

Mr. Snowden has probed literary, epigraphical, papyrological, numismatic, and archaeological sources and has considered modern anthropological and sociological findings on pertinent racial and intercultural problems. He has drawn directly upon the widely scattered literary evidence of classical and early Christian writers and has synthesized extensive and diverse material. Along with invaluable reference notes, Mr. Snowden has included over 140 illustrations which depict the Negro as the Greeks and Romans conceived of him in mythology and religion and observed him in a number of occupations--as servant, diplomat, warrior, athlete, and performer, among others.

Presenting an exceptionally comprehensive historical description of the first major encounter of Europeans with dark and black Africans, Mr. Snowden found that the black man in a predominantly white society was neither romanticized nor scorned--that the Ethiopian in classical antiquity was considered by pagan and Christian without prejudice.

         

        

Frank M. Snowden Jr., is Professor of Classics, Howard University.

Travelling back in time to ancient Ethiopia

 

 

By Barry Malone, Reuters

 

 

 

 

 

 

People pray around Saint George, one of the 11 rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, September 16, 2007, an ancient site that draws tens of thousands of foreign tourists every year. According to legend, angels helped King Lalibela build the churches in the 11th and 12th century after he received an order by God to create a new Jerusalem in Ethiopia.

Photograph by: Radu Sigheti, Reuters

MEQUAT MARIAM, Ethiopia - A giant eagle glides gracefully over a remote mountaintop in northern Ethiopia as a barefoot man draped in goatskin watches.

"It's a big bird that makes a peaceful sound," he says in the local Amharic language to two foreigners who have approached the cliff edge. "Where is your country?"

Until a few years ago, most people who live in these small villages surrounded by dramatic scenery and rock-hewn churches had never even seen anyone from outside Ethiopia.

But now tourists are beginning to come and communities are changing.

"We've helped the people set up hosting facilities -- a place where tourists can sleep and stay," says Mark Chapman of Tesfa, a charity that brings tourists to these areas but encourages locals to manage the business and earn money from the visitors.

"They look after the tourists, then the tourists trek from one place to another, each village providing a service, with a donkey to carry luggage and a guide to come along."

Ethiopia boasts eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites but decades of hunger, conflict and political instability have kept its palaces, obelisks and castles off the beaten track for even the most intrepid visitors to Africa.

Tourism represents just 2.5 percent of the Horn of Africa nation's gross national product -- something the government of this desperately poor country is trying to change.

"There is a very important community tourism experience in Ethiopia under Tesfa," Tourism Minister Mohamoud Dirir told Reuters. "That experience would bring income to marginalised communities, where an appreciative, responsible tourist could live with the communities. It is an open-ended opportunity."

A straw-and-mud hut stands at the edge of a vast meadow where cattle graze and farmers thresh grain much as they have for thousands of years. But learning to grind grain -- while a horse and a cow watch from the corner of the room -- is German tourist Susanne Wolfgarten.

"The special thing is you really meet the people in a natural setting," said Susanne.

"We had lots of interesting and funny meetings along the way. People were coming from church, farmers were working, women were outside washing clothes."

Susanne and her guide leave the house and walk through a field of corn by a cliff edge as boy shepherds stop shouting at each other across the valleys to greet her in English.

"To some extent it's a throwback to our own history in Europe in the middle ages with fields of wheat and barley growing," said Chapman. "So I think one thing that fascinates people is this throwback to historical -- even biblical -- images."

The guides who walk with the visitors introduce them to communities, explain the way of life and help to search out wildlife such as baboons and the rare Ethiopian wolf.

"The work makes me healthy and I meet different people from different countries," said Addisu Abebaw, a former soldier now working as one of the guides. "I get different knowledge from different countries. I can't describe how much I love it."

Chapman says part of the reason Tesfa was set up was to ensure that local communities were not exploited by the arrival of the tourists -- something that worries some charities.

"There is a need for alternative incomes here," he said. "Farm sizes are getting smaller, farmers are ploughing less and they can't get enough food to feed their families for a year. Tourism is an obvious idea when you're in a very beautiful area."

Yeshiye Getu, who cooks for Tesfa, says that since the tourists started to come she has been able to pay for the education of her two daughters and buy them shoes.

"I can say that life has changed," she said. "It is good now."

Her daughters approach two Irish doctors and begin to laugh.

"There's no TV out here," says Chapman, smiling as the children practice their few English words. "So I think to some extent the tourists have become the entertainment."

 

Are ancient egyptians Ethiopians? In: Ancient History [Edit categories]

[Source: wiki.answers.com

Yes

The oldest Egyptians were Ethiopian people. They inhabited the upper Nile region all the way to Ethiopia, for many centuries. They were the first and second kingdom of Egyptians and were the builders of the Sphinx, and the smaller pyramids in Egypt. (The Great Pyramid was built much later, but in the same manner that the smaller ones were built.) Smaller pyramids can also be found today, in Ethiopia.

Ethiopians left Egypt, after being invaded by Arabs, and other Middle Eastern tribes. (These Arabs and Middle Eastern people make up the Egyptian people that we see today. ) After the invasion, Ethiopians concentrated more heavily in Ethiopia. However, they still had business transactions with the newer Egyptian population, and with people in various parts of the Middle East, India, and other parts of North Africa.

If any one doubts that ancient Egyptians were in fact Ethiopians, all one needs to do is look at the drawn pictures of the Egyptians on the walls of tombs, papyrus scrolls, etc. See the large dark eyes, straight noses, brown complexions (copper, bronze, chocolate skin tones), long wavy or straight hair, long limbs, long necks. These are all traditional Ethiopian features, that are seen in ancient Ethiopian art as well.

However, the belief that ancient Egyptians were Ethiopians is debated. But one thing for certain is that both Ancient Egyptians and ancient Ethiopians shared a common ancestor. This ancestor is Ham (Noah's son in the Bible)! Ham is believed by many cultures (African, Asian, and European) to be the father of all African peoples! Meaning that it could have been possible that the ancient Egyptians and Ethiopians could have looked similar because they were part of the same family. Ethiopians were descended from Ham, their branch was called Cush.

The Cushitic tribe consists of the Ethiopians, Somalis, Eritreans, Dravidians, Sumerians, Babylonians, and Nubians. All of these people have firmly established ancient histories !

The Egyptians were descendants of Ham, branch Mizraim, who were also related to the Philistines, and Khemets.

Other Ham descendants (people of African origin ) include the Libyans, Tunisians, and Phoenicians, and Canaanites (now beleived by some Biblical scholars to have been established in Central Africa and West Africa).

Long story short, it is a strong possibility that Ancient Egyptians could have been Ethiopian. But if they were not then, then at the very least the ancient Egyptians were cousins of the Ethiopians. The modern day Egyptians of Arab descent are not descendants of Ham and are not related to either the Ethiopians of today or the ancient Egyptians.