On the way back from the Habu Temple, almost as an afterthought, the driver stopped at the Colossi of Memnon. Used to seeing the smallest of the monuments in US being taken care of like crown jewels, I was surprised to see a busy road passing by so close to the monument.
The statues are awe inspiring, like most other things in Egypt. At the same time, the quartzite sculptures, which once upon a time framed the entrance to Amenhotep III's temple, look desolate and lonely.
(Believe it or not: The statues were called Shammy and Tammy, a possible corruption of Arabic words for left and right)
The northern colossus lost a part of its torso during an earthquake in 27BC. Sometime after that the status started emitting a strange musical note (widely believed to be Amenhotep greeting his mother EOS). In 299BC, Roman emperor Septimus Severus "repaired" and silenced the ancient king.
I wanted to go down to the statue to see the ancient Greek graffiti left by tourists visiting the signing statue, but ran out of time.
A video captured on the way back from the colossi
