The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Mirror with Engraved Scene: Thesan and Memnun (Eos and Memnon)

c. 470–460 BCE

Etruscan

bronze
Diameter: 14.4 cm (5 11/16 in.); Overall: 19.8 cm (7 13/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1952.259
Location: 102D Pre-Roman

Did You Know?

The short tang below the disc of this mirror fit into a larger handle, likely of bone or ivory.

Description

Two figures occupy the reverse side of this nearly circular bronze mirror, neatly enclosed by a continuous ivy-leaf border. Equipped with wings and winged shoes, the dawn goddess Thesan (Eos) carries the body of her son Memnun (Memnon). Slain by Achilles on the battlefield at Troy, he still wears armor and greaves, though his crested helmet has fallen below. The subject occurs on several other Etruscan mirrors and Greek vases of the same time period, though not nearly as frequently as scenes of Eos in pursuit of lovers (including Tithonos, father of Memnon).
  • Lee, Sherman E. "An Etruscan Mirror with Eos and Memnon." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 40, no. 2 (1953): 32-35. www.jstor.org
    De Puma, Richard Daniel. "A Fourth Century Praenestine Mirror with Telephos and Orestes." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts Roemische Abteilung 87 (1980): 5-28. Mentioned, illustrated (Disc section) pp. 25-27.
    De Puma, Richard Daniel. "Greek Myths on Three Etruscan Mirrors in Cleveland." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 7 (1983): 290-302. Pp. 290-296, Figs. 1-5, 16. www.jstor.org
    De Puma, Richard Daniel. Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum, U.S.A. volume 1: Midwestern Collections. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1987. Pp. 29-30, Figs. 15a-f.
    De Puma, Richard Daniel, "Eos and Memnon on Etruscan Mirrors," in Murlo and the Etruscans: Art and Society in Ancient Etruria, eds. De Puma, Richard Daniel, and Jocelyn Penny Small. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994. Pp. 180-189, Fig. 16.13.
    Carpino, Alexandra Ann. Discs of Splendor: The Relief Mirrors of the Etruscans. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003. Pp. 18-19, plate 18.
  • Mirrors: Art and Symbol. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 3-November 18, 1984).
  • {{cite web|title=Mirror with Engraved Scene: Thesan and Memnun (Eos and Memnon)|url=false|author=|year=c. 470–460 BCE|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.259