The anon’s recent question on Barsine suddenly made me realize that Memnon hasn’t been talked about much. All the attention goes to Darius, the inner Macedonian conflicts, maybe the Indian kingdoms, but we barely hear much about Memnon (at least in my experience from the history books). Who was he exactly/his relationship to the Argeads and more specifically why was he ATG’s greatest military rival?
Memnon of Rhodes
First, let me introduce you to one of my favorite historical novels on ATG’s era; I put it that way because it’s not about Alexander, it’s about Memnon, by Scott Oden. Scott not infrequently writes from the underdog’s view. His first novel, Men of Bronze, was about the Persian invasion of Egypt in the 500s…from the Egyptian side. So they’re not “happy, shiny” stories, but I like them for that. Below are several links, to his own page, to TWO Amazon versions (one cheaper, but one is his—which benefits him directly), plus his website with all his works.
All right, so, in terms of academic material, there’s no full monograph. That said, you can find a fair bit in article and book-chapter form. Below are a few. I’d also add that you look at work by both Sabine Müller and Monica D’Agostini on Barsine and her family, to get some info on Memnon as well. In fact, Sabine wrote the entry on Memnon in the Lexicon of Argead Macedonia, so you may as well start there! Here are a few more:
“Memnon and Mentor of Rhodes in the Troad” (mostly on numismatics: coins, and what that tells us.)
Kholod’s “Achaemenid Grants of Cities and Lands to Greeks: The Case of Mentor and Memnon of Rhodes” (More about Persian political alliances, but with good info, Kholod’s is another name to look for)
Sabine Müller’s “Blood runs in the Family – Artabazos and the Resistance to the Macedonian Invasion” (About Barsine’s family, but that obviously includes Memnon, and you’ll want to look at her bibliography as it’s fairly recent!)
Now, as for who Memnon was: he and his elder brother Mentor came from Rhodes (the island), and their father married their sister into an elite Persian family: that of Artabazos. Or possibly Mentor arranged that marriage for his sister once he was already in the Persian employ. Both worked as mercenary commanders. This wasn’t at all peculiar. Greeks from the eastern cities and Euboia (especially) in Greece proper had been serving in armies of the ancient near east for literally centuries. Alexander calling Greek mercenaries “traitors” is HIGHLY ironic, considering the Macedonians had, themselves, been on the Persian side in the Greco-Persian wars! It was all about marketing spin, and trying to peel off some of those (Greek) troops from Darius.
Anyway, earlier, Artabazos was part of the “Satrap’s Revolt” under Artaxerxes Ochus, which took place in the 350s. They were exiled and spent time at the Macedonian court, so they knew Philip, and Alexander as a child. They also knew the Macedonian military machine. That’s why Alexander had an…odd…relationship with that family. Mentor was never exiled, and his excellent leadership during the Egyptian Revolt allowed him to talk the Persian king into recalling his brother (Memnon) and brother-in-law (Artabazos) back to Persia. Artabazos was also his father-in-law, as Mentor married his niece, Barsine. A reminder: uncle-niece and 1st cousin-1st cousin marriages were common among elite families to consolidate land and make political alliances.
After their recall, they were loyal, particularly to Darius III. Mentor died before Philip died, and Memnon then married Mentor’s widow, Barsine. (Again, very common.) In fact, I think most of the kids Barsine had were Mentor’s, not Memnon’s. Anyway, when Alexander invaded, Darius turned to Memnon as the “expert” on Macedonian military. And he did have a plan, but the other Persian elites in the western provinces didn’t like it (such as burning their fields), as that would have cost them in taxes. Plus, Persians were pretty ethnically arrogant—just like Greeks. They didn’t want to allow that a non-Persian might have better ideas than they did, for how to handle this upstart invader. That cost them, at Granikos.
Memnon had generally been successful against the Macedonians even before ATG arrived. Initially, Parmenion’s advance troops did well in Asia Minor…until Memnon showed up. By the time ATG arrived with the full army, Parmenion had been pushed back into the Bosphoros area. ATG succeeded at Granikos because the Persian satraps didn’t listen to Memnon. After that loss, Darius put Memnon in charge, and the Persians started making it REALLY tough on Alexander. Especially at Halikarnassos. After Tyre, that was probably the most notable siege on the coast, and ATG was losing for a lot of it.
He did finally manage to take the city (and it was as bloody or more-so than Tyre). Memnon and the top brass escaped back to Lesbos, where Memnon then planned to take the fight to Greece itself. That would have cut off Alexander and forced him to return…which had been Alexander’s big fear. Before that could happen, Memnon died of some illness. And boy was that a lucky break for Alexander. (No, poison/other was probably not involved.) Pharnabazos (Artabazos’s son and Barsine’s brother) wound up in charge of the fleet but wasn’t nearly as effective. Alexander even disbanded his own fleet and proceeded to go down the coast, cutting off ports for Pharnabazos—until he got to Tyre, where he realized he needed a fleet again.
In any case, Artabazos, and his family, continued loyal to Darius; he didn’t surrender until after Darius’s death, when Alexander reached Hyrkania. Yet he was quite well-treated when he did surrender and was even made a satrap in Baktria. But his family was hated there, so he gave it up “due to age,” and that’s when Alexander appointed Kleitos, who didn’t live to take it.
Even so, the family remained high in Alexander’s regard from then on, and from what we can tell, they were as loyal to Alexander (once they came over to him) as they had been to Darius. Maybe due to Barsine, but I think it probably owed to their long-standing ties with the court, and to the fact Alexander needed them.
Scott Oden's Page of his novels (including Men of Bronze)
Another Amazon offering of Memnon
