Achilles Fights Memnon, on a vase by the Berlin Painter of about 490 B.C. At the left Achilles is
encouraged by his mother Thetis, and at the right a distressed Eos (Dawn), mother of Memnon,
gesticulates towards her doomed son. The duel did not appear in the Iliad, but is popular with artists It
was preceded by a weighing of the souls of the heroes before Zeus (psychostasia) such as was performed
for Achilles and Hector in Iliad 22. and it was attended by their mothers, which is why they are often also
shown attending the fight. Memnon was an Ethiopian prince, the most handsome man at Troy.
Take, for example, the great central day which dawns with the first line of Book 11 and sets at 18. 239-40
(almost exactly one-third of the length of the entire Iliad). It is tensely awaited during the previous night
in the last part of Book 8 and throughout Book 9. When the day comes it is Hector's: despite setbacks he
storms the ditch and wall, reaches the ships, kills and strips Patroclus. Zeus explicitly lets him know: 'I
guarantee power to Hector to kill until he comes to the benched vessels, until the sun goes down and
blessed darkness comes over' (lines 192-4 = 207-9). Hector refers to this message when he rejects the
cautious advice of the seer Polydamas (12.235-6), and when he calls for fire by the ships-'now Zeus has
given us a day worth all the rest of them' (15.719). Zeus himself repeats the terms of his undertaking as he
pities Achilles' immortal horses: he will let Hector kill 'until the sun goes and blessed darkness comes
over' (17. 453-5). Surely we are to have this in mind when the sun does eventually go down in Book 18.
Immediately after that Polydamas advises the Trojans to retreat inside the walls; and it is the subtle
control of the time-scheme which give the point to Hector's deluded reply;