Egypt is a country where you can find many different ancient monuments. The Colossi of Memnon is an interesting artifact of Ancient Egypt, but they are not directly related to it.
It all started with the fact that the Colossi of Memnon was made in honor of Amenhotep III, who ruled in the XIV century in Egypt. His father was Akhenaten, the legendary pharaoh - reformer. Colossi were also part of the architecture of the Necropolis. The Necropolis itself was located in the city of Thebes. Today the city of Luxor is located opposite it.
The necropolis was considered a small cult town. It was built in honor of the Pharaoh. Its area was huge, about 30 hectares. Religious buildings were located around it, the main of which was the burial temple of Amenhotep III. The Colossi of Memnon are two statues of Amenhotep III made of stone, in the form of a seated pharaoh.
They were located off the west bank of the Nile, facing east where the sun was rising. At the feet of the statue of the pharaoh stood sculptures of his mother and wife, Mutemuya and Tiya. The sides of the statues bore the image of the god Hapi, who was for the Necropolis a protector from the seasonal floods of the Nile. But the story says that he was unable to save him and with every flood, the burial temples collapsed. But some of the statues have survived and still stand in their places. But the very name Colossi of Memnon appeared a little later. It was invented by the Romans and Greeks. It was believed that Memnon was the king of Ethiopia from ancient mythology. It was he who helped the Greeks in the war against the army of Achilles, who besieged Troy. Also, the word Memnos was similar to the Greek word Memnonium. This word meant the part of the city of Thebes in which the funeral temple of Amenhotep III was built.
Sounds of the Ear of Memnon
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Greek mythology says they made sounds. In the 1st century BC, after the earthquake in Thebes, many exhibits were destroyed, and some cracked. They were the Colossi of Memnon, which over time began to utter strange sad sounds with every sunrise.
The Greeks and Romans based a legend on this. They believed that every morning Memnon greets his mother Eos with a song, but some believed that it was the mother who mourned her son. Still, the people began to worship the statues of the pharaoh. And by the year 200, when the emperor Sever was in power of Rome, these statues were restored by his order. And after that, they were silent forever.
Scientists explained the loss of sounds by the fact that the moisture accumulated during the night evaporated in the morning with the first rays of the Sun. Its evaporation influenced the destruction of the stone. It was then that these sounds were pronounced.
In 199, the surface of the statues was polished and leveled, so the sounds stopped because there was nowhere to accumulate moisture. To this day, the Colossi of Memnon amaze tourists with their beauty and mystery.
