Panoramic
view
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 (since 1350
BC) they have stood in the Theban necropolis, across
the River Nile
from the modern city of
Luxor
Description
The twin
statues depict Amenhotep III
(fl. 14th century
BC) in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his
gaze facing eastwards (actually SSE in modern bearings) towards the
river. 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 Hapy.
The statues
are made from blocks of quartzite sandstone
which was quarried at
el-Gabal el-Ahmar
(near modern-day Cairo) and
transported 675 km (420 mi) overland to Thebes. (They are
too heavy to have been transported upstream on the Nile.)The blocks
used by later Roman engineers to reconstruct the eastern colossus
may have come from Edfu (north
of Aswan). Including
the stone platforms on which they stand – themselves about
4 m (13 ft) – the colossi reach a towering
18 m (60 ft) in height and weigh an estimated 720 tons
each The two figures are about 15 m
(50 ft) apart.
Both statues
are quite damaged, with the features above the waist virtually
unrecognizable. The western (or southern) statue is a single piece
of stone, but the eastern (or northern) figure has a large
extentive crack in the lower half and above the waist consists of 5
tiers of stone. These upper levels consist of a different type
of sandstone, and are
the result of a later (Roman Empire) reconstruction attempt. It is
believed that originally the two statues were identical to each
other, although inscriptions and minor art may have
varied.
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 hectares (86 acres), 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 was not unknown for later rulers to dismantle,
purloin, and reuse portions of their predecessors´
monuments.
Name
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. The name
Memnon means "Ruler of the Dawn", and was probably applied to the
colossi because of the reported cry at dawn of one of the statues
(see below). Eventually, the entire Theban Necropolis became
generally referred to as the Memnonium.
Sounds
In 27 BC, a
large earthquake
reportedly shattered the eastern
colossus, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking the lower
half. Following its rupture, the remaining lower half of this
statue was then reputed to "sing" on various occasions- always
within an hour or two of sunrise, usually right at dawn. The sound
was most often reported in February or March, but this is probably
more a reflection of the tourist season rather than any actual
pattern. The description varied; Strabo said it sounded "like a
blow", Pausanias compared it to "the string of a
lyre" breaking,
but it also was described as the striking of brass or
whistling. The earliest report in literature is that of
the Greek historian
and geographer Strabo, who
claimed to have heard the sound during a visit in 20 BC, by which
time it apparently was already well-known. Other ancient sources
include Pliny (not from
personal experience, but he collected other reports),
Pausanias,
and Juvenal. In
addition, the base of the statue is inscribed with about 90
surviving inscriptions of contemporary tourists reporting
whether they had heard the sound or
not.
The legend
of the "Vocal Memnon", the luck that hearing it was reputed to
bring, and the reputation of the statue´s oracular powers
became known outside of Egypt, and a constant stream of visitors,
including several Roman Emperors,
came to marvel at the statues. The last recorded reliable mention
of the sound dates from 196 (A.D.). Sometime later in the Roman
era, the upper tiers of sandstone were added (the original remains
of the top half have never been found); the date of this
reconstruction is unknown, but local tradition places it circa 199,
and attributes it to the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus
in an attempt to curry favour with the
oracle (it is known that he visited the statue but did not hear the
sound).
Various
explanations have been offered for the phenomenon; these are of two
types: natural or man-made. Strabo himself apparently was too far
away to be able to determine its nature: he reported that he could
not determine if it came from the pedestal, the shattered upper
area, or "the people standing around at the base". If natural, the
sound was probably caused by rising temperatures and the
evaporation of dew inside the
porous rock. Similar sounds, although much rarer, have been heard
from some of the other Egyptian monuments (Karnak is the usual
location for more modern reports). Perhaps the most convincing
argument against it being the result of human agents is that it did
cease, probably due to the added weight of the reconstructed upper
tiers.
A
few mentions of the sound in the early modern era (late 18th and
early 19th centuries) seem to be hoaxes, either by the writers or
perhaps by locals perpetuating the
phenomenon.
The "Vocal
Memnon" features prominently in one scene of Henrik
Ibsen´s Peer
Gynt. They also show up in Oscar Wilde´s
fairy tale "The Happy Prince."