Continuation of the article "Amenhotep III and Queen Tia".
Colossi of Memnon - "Ruler of the Dawn" - two massive stone statues of the seated Pharaoh Amenhotep III, facing east towards the Nile and the rising sun. On the front of the throne are carved figures of his wife Tiya and mother Mutemuya, on the side panels - the God of the Nile - Hapi.
These colossal quartzite block statues were originally monoliths. Taking into account the stone platforms on which the statues stand, they reach 18 meters in height. Each statue weighs about 750 tons and rests on a 550-ton quartzite pedestal.
What tool were used to create these giant statues? Iron was already known in ancient Egypt and was considered a precious metal due to its scarcity and hardness, but iron tools are not suitable for processing quartzite. Experts, examining the inscriptions at the bottom of the Colossi of Memnon, determined that the particles of the stone succumbed to the engraving tool, the craftsmen inscribed quartzite when it was soft.
The Swiss chemist professor Joseph Davidowitz carried out a chemical analysis of the Colossi of Memnon and determined that they were not created from huge blocks hollowed out in quarries, but are a frozen geopolymer (analogous to concrete) - an artificially prepared material containing crushed limestone and a special binder. There are legends that in ancient times people possessed unique technologies: “softening stones”.
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Some researchers believe that broad Orthodox crosses are carved on the seatbacks of both colossi of Memnon. But the history of the Cross, as a symbol, is much older, it unites paganism and Christianity, Hinduism and the beliefs of the ancient Mayans …
And the most ancient cross "Ankh" is the most important ancient Egyptian symbol of immortality, in which two symbols are combined - a cross, as a symbol of life, and a circle, as a symbol of eternity.
Their combination means immortality. Ankh - the unity of male and female principles - the oval of Isis and the cross of Osiris.
The cross in combination with the head of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which is, as it were, the "crown" of the cross, is the Ankh - the symbol of the eternal life of the pharaoh, depicted on the Colossi of the memorial temple.
According to the ideas of the Egyptians, it was the form of the Ankh that had the key that could open the gates of death, the key to esoteric knowledge and the immortal life of the spirit.
The northern colossus of Memnon was damaged by an earthquake in 27 BC. Having split, the colossus began to emit a sound similar to the light ringing of a bell, which is usually heard in the morning. The Roman emperor Septimius Sever, seeking to restore the statue in 199 AD, "silenced it forever."
The Colossi of Memnon are the gateway to the realm of the dead. What they express is unknown to history, but these guards in antiquity guarded something, and perhaps they still do. Who are they guarding now? The answer must be sought in the minds of historians.
Author: Valentina Zhitanskaya