The Colossi of Memnon

The Colossi of Memnon aren’t unfortunately as impressive as their name suggests, despite guarding the entrance of what was in antiquity, the largest and most magnificent of all Egypt’s temples. Of course, had this impressive temple complex still stood, the Colossi of Memnon may have been a major attraction, but as they stand today they form a mere footnote, usually a whistle-stop visit as part of the main itinerary items such as Hatshepsut’s temple and The Valley of the Kings.

The temple itself was destroyed in an earthquake in 27 B.C, which also partly destroyed one of the statues. Following the statues partial destruction, the statue began to appear to ‘sing’ every morning. The ‘singing statue’ became renowned in the Roman Empire, who supposed it had some oracular power and was frequented by many a Roman Emperor. However, the singing ceased in 199 A.D. when Emperor Septimius Severus, in an attempt to appease the oracle, decided quite helpfully to fix the broken pieces, thus ending the statue’s singing career.

It was the Greeks who renamed the statues, who are meant to depict Pharaoh Amenhotep III, after the hero of the Trojan War, Memnon, although why exactly they did this is not known.

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