Ancient site · Luxor
Colossi of Memnon
Two colossal seated statues of Amenhotep III on Luxor's West Bank, the monumental guardians of his vanished mortuary temple and a classic first stop for visitors.
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The story
The two statues portray Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom), seated on his throne with his hands on his knees and his gaze turned east toward the Nile. They once flanked the entrance to his mortuary temple, of which little else remains standing today. Each statue is about 18 m high and weighs an estimated 720 tons, carved from quartzite sandstone. After an earthquake damaged the northern colossus, it became famed in Greek and Roman times for a sound at dawn, and visitors linked it with the legendary hero Memnon, leaving inscriptions on its base. The emperor Septimius Severus is said to have ordered repairs, after which the sound was no longer heard.
Good to know
- The statues portray Amenhotep III, not Memnon; the name comes from Greek and Roman visitors who confused the king with a legendary hero.
- Each statue stands about 18 m (60 ft) high and weighs an estimated 720 tons.
- Both statues face east toward the Nile and once guarded the entrance to the king's mortuary temple.
- In Roman times the northern statue was famed for 'singing' at dawn, a sound scholars usually put down to dew and warming stone in its cracks.