Everything about The Colossi Of Memnon totally explained
The
Colossi of Memnon (known to locals as
el-Colossat, or
es-Salamat) are two massive stone statues of
Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For the past 3400 years they've stood in the
Theban necropolis, across the
River Nile from the modern city of
Luxor.
The twin statues depict
Amenhotep III (fl.
14th century BC) in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze turned eastward toward the river and the rising sun. Two shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside his legs: these are his wife
Tiy and mother
Mutemwiya. The side panels depict the Nile god
Hapi.
The statues are made from blocks of
quartzite sandstone which was stone quarried at either
Gebel el Ahmar (near modern-day
Cairo) and near
Edfu (north of
Aswan) when reconstructed. Including the stone platforms on which they stand, they reach a towering 18 metres (approx. 60 ft) in height.
The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to
Amenhotep's memorial temple (or
mortuary temple): a massive cult centre built during the pharaoh's lifetime, where he was worshipped as a god-on-earth both before and after his departure from this world. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most opulent in Egypt. Covering a total of 35 ha, even later rivals such as
Ramesses II's
Ramesseum or
Ramesses III's
Medinet Habu were unable to match it in area; even the
Temple of Karnak, as it stood in Amenhotep's time, was smaller.
With the exception of the Colossi, however, very little remains today of Amenhotep's temple. Standing on the edge of the Nile
floodplain, successive annual inundations gnawed away at the foundations – a famous
1840s lithograph by
David Roberts shows the Colossi surrounded by water – and it wasn't unknown for later rulers to dismantle, purloin, and reuse portions of their predecessors' monuments.
The
Greek historian and geographer
Strabo, writing in the early years of the
1st century, tells of an earthquake (in
27 BC) that shattered the northern colossus, collapsing it from the waist up.
Following its rupture, this statue was then reputed to "sing" every morning at dawn: a light moaning or whistling, probably caused by rising temperatures and the evaporation of dew inside the porous rock. The legend of the "Vocal Memnon", the luck that hearing it was reputed to bring, and the reputation of the statue's
oracular powers, travelled the length of the known world, and a constant stream of visitors, including several
Roman Emperors, came to marvel at the statues. The mysterious vocalisations of the broken colossus ceased in
199, however, when Emperor
Septimius Severus, in an attempt to curry favour with the oracle, reassembled the two shattered halves.
Memnon was a hero of the
Trojan War, a King of Ethiopia who led his armies from
Africa into
Asia Minor to help defend the beleaguered city but was ultimately slain by
Achilles. Whether associating the Colossi with his name was whimsy or wishful thinking on the part of the Greeks — they generally referred to the entire Theban Necropolis as the
Memnonium — the name has remained in common use for the past 2000 years. The name Memnon means "Ruler Of The Dawn."
Image:Colossi_of_Memnon.jpg|Amenhotep III's Sitting Colossi
Image:AmenhotepIII_South_Colossus.jpg|South Colossus of Memnon
Image:Egypt.ColossiMemnon.01.jpg|The north Colossus.
Image:Egypt.ColossiMemnon.02.jpg|Side panel detail.
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