Colossi of Memnon in Luxor

Placed on the West Bank of the Nile opposite Luxor City are the two magnificent Statues of memnon. These enormous figures were considered to hold special significance at the time they were erected and still act as a gateway and passage into the valley of the Kings. 

 

Directions:

 

A one hour flight from Cairo, 3 hours by road from the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, and 3 hours by road from Aswan, Luxor is easily accessible by many transport links including trains between Cairo and Aswan.

 

History:

 

Standing 23 meters tall, each weighing a thousand tons, the Colossi of memnon were carved from blocks of quartzite taken from Quarries either near Giza or Gebel Es-Silseleh They depict Amenhotep III with his mother Mutemwia (on the southern colossus) and his wife, Tiy (on the eastern), and one of his daughters. The chairs on which the king sit have relief carvings on their sides sowing Nile Gods joining together plants symbolizing Upper and Lower Egypt.

The Colossi alone were enough to convince early Greek and Roman travellers that the site had been a special place.After an earthquake in 27 BC. Cracked the northern colossus, it emitted a bell-like sound each morning as temperature and humidity rose.Greeks believed that this was the greeting of Memnon (a mythical African ruler killed in the Trojan War and made immortal by the god Zeus) to his mother, Eos goddess of the dawn. To hear this song was thought to bring good fortune.The crying stopped when Septimus Severus patched cracks in the colossus in 199 AD. Greek and Roman visitors left graffiti on the Colossi boasting of hearing the voice of Memnon. The emperor Hadrian heard the Colossus sing on three different mornings-a sing, he believed, that the gods held him in especially high regard. Ancient Egyptians called the southern colossus ‘Rulers of Rulers’.