Did Africans Participate in the Trojan War?

A famous warrior from the legends of the Trojan War is Memnon, king of the Ethiopians. Many people today see him as a clear example of an African king participating in the Trojan War. However, the situation with Memnon is not as straightforward. Does the evidence really suggest that he came from Africa, or did he come from elsewhere?

Two groups of Ethiopians

At first sight, this might seem like an unusual controversy. After all, the legends clearly present Memnon as the king of the Ethiopians. Since Ethiopians were Africans, surely this means that Africans, under the leadership of Memnon, participated in the Trojan War.

In reality, the situation is complicated by the fact that ancient Greek records actually refer to two distinct groups of Ethiopians. There are the Ethiopians of Africa but also the Ethiopians of the east. Many records refer to these eastern Ethiopians, but one example is Herodotus‘ description of the army of King Xerxes the Great. He wrote:

“Ethiopians above Egypt and the Arabians had Arsames for commander, and the Ethiopians of the east​ (for there were two kinds of them in the army) served with the Indians.”

As we can see from this quotation, the Greeks knew of two distinct group of Ethiopians. One was from Africa, and the other was from Asia. Was Memnon, the warrior of the Trojan War, a leader of Africans or of Asiatics?

Early legends about Memnon’s father

The earliest relevant information to help us ascertain which group of Ethiopians was led by Memnon comes from the seventh century BCE. This is very early in the context of the legend of the Trojan War, since the Iliad itself was probably written in that same century.

From this era, we find legends about Tithonus, the father of Memnon. In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 218, we read about Tithonus being kidnapped by Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Since Eos was the goddess of the dawn, this suggests that she took Tithonus to the east. Indeed, this Homeric hymn specifies that Tithonus lived with Eos in her home at “the ends of the earth.”

Tithonus was the father of Memnon, and Eos herself was remembered as Memnon’s mother. This strongly supports the conclusion that Memnon was understood to be the leader of the Ethiopians from the east, not from Africa. This would suggest that Africans did not participate in the Trojan War.

Early information about Memnon

Do we come to this same conclusion when we examine the records about Memnon himself? One of the very earliest records about him comes from the writings of Herodotus. In the fifth century BCE, Herodotus wrote that the city of Susa, in modern-day Iran, was known as the city of Memnon.

Ctesias, writing just a few decades after Herodotus, provides us with the earliest proper account of Memnon’s career. His account is very detailed and explains exactly where Memnon came from.

According to Ctesias, Memnon’s father Tithonus was the ruler of Persia and was allied or subject to the king of the Assyrian Empire. His son, Memnon, built a palace for himself at Susa. Ctesias claims that Memnon led an army of many thousands of Ethiopians and ‘Sousians’—that is, people from Susa.

Did Africans really participate in the Trojan War?

In view of this early evidence surrounding Memnon and his father, it seems clear that there is no real basis for the idea that Africans participated in the Trojan War, whether in history or in early legend.

It appears that this warrior of the Trojan War, Memnon, was not the leader of an army of Africans. Instead, his army was evidently from Asia. The Ethiopians over whom Memnon ruled were not those of Africa. Rather, they were from the east in the direction of India.

The evidence indicates that Memnon was particularly associated with the city of Susa, which is in present-day Iran.