Unlocking the Legacy of Memnon: creative resources for teaching the Ethiopian hero – a joint NCLG–ACL project

Memnon, a demigod, a Homeric hero, and a wise and fearless King of Ethiopia, appeared in many ancient Greek and Latin texts. Memnon was a key ally who came to the aid of King Priam of Troy and met his end in the Trojan War in a duel with Achilles, as Zeus, Thetis, and Eos looked on. Recently, a new play about Memnon was written by Will Power and produced by the Classical Theatre of Harlem under Director Carl Cofield at The J. Paul Getty Museum in California and at the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s venues in New York City. In this article, I will describe both the process and the resulting open-access teaching resources created by the National Committee for Latin and Greek in a joint project with the American Classical League in response to this new play, Memnon . Integral to our efforts is a call for continued collaboration with colleagues to help advance our goal of creating many more classroom-ready resources.