Colossi of Memnon
Photograph by Tuul and Bruno Morandi.
The Colossi of Memnon (Arabic: el-Colossat or es-Salamat) are two colossal seated statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which once would have flanked the entrance of the king’s Mortuary Temple, which was said to have finally been erected in 1350 B.C.
The sculptures have 107 Roman-era inscriptions in Greek and Latin dated between 20 and 250 A.D., with many of these inscriptions on the northernmost statue referring to the Greek mythological ruler Memnon, whom the statue was incorrectly supposed to resemble.
The statues also depict figures of Amenhotep III’s Great Royal Wife, Tiye, and the king’s mother, Mutemwiya, both who are shown in royal regalia, yet in smaller size alongside the king’s legs. The Nile God Hapi also features upon the sides of the throne, and the placement of the statues have the king facing eastward to the Nile.
The Colossi’s initial duty was to guard the entrance to Amenhotep’s memorial temple (or mortuary temple), an enormous structure built and dedicated to Amenhotep III, during the pharaoh’s reign in which he was revered as a god-on-earth both before and after his death. Amenhotep III’s temple complex was once the largest and most sumptuous in Ancient Egypt. Even later rivals such as Ramesses II’s Ramesseum and Ramesses III’s Medinet Habu were unable to surpass it in size; even the Temple of Karnak, as it stood during Amenhotep’s time, was smaller.
With the exception of the Colossi, Amenhotep’s temple is now almost entirely destroyed. Due to its location on the edge of the Nile floodplain, the successive annual inundations gnawed away at its foundations – an 1840s lithograph by David Roberts depicts the Colossi surrounded by water. However, it must be noted that it was likely not just nature that led to the disappearance of Amenhotep’s structure, as it was not uncommon for subsequent rulers to dismantle and usurp creations from other kings, and claim for themselves their predecessors’ monuments.
The temple however, was devastated shortly after its construction by an earthquake, which the Armenian Institute of Seismology recently dated to around 1200 B.C., leaving just the two massive colossi at the entryway surviving. The 1200 B.C. earthquake also caused large chasms in the ground, burying countless statues, some of which were in pristine condition.
The Colossi were further wrecked by an earthquake in 27 B.C., after which they were partially rebuilt by Roman authorities.
Du Camp was a French early amateur photographer who acquired the profession from Gustave Le Grey just before embarking on his 1849-1859 expedition to Egypt. His travel books were among the first to feature photographed images.
The Colossi of Memnon are made of quartzite and were erected about 50ft apart from one another. They measure at approximately 60ft in height, and it is thought they would weigh about 720 tons per statue.
The southern statue is made of one piece of stone, whereas the northern statue has a big, extensive crack in the lower half and five levels of stone above the waist. These higher levels are made of sandstone and are the result of a subsequent reconstruction attempt, which William de Wiveleslie Abney credited to Septimius Severus.
