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The Colossi of Memnon are a three thousand four hundred old structure
comprising of two mammoth stone figures, which are known locally as the el-Colossat
or es-Salamat. These huge statues are located on the west bank of Luxor; they
did not belong to the Memnon but to the third Amenophis of the 15th century
BC. The two statues adorned the entrance to the mortuary temple of Amenophis.
After about one hundred and fifty years, the reigning Pharaoh ordered for the
stones out from the stately statues, he wanted to use them for his own mortuary
temple some hundred meters north. The reason behind doing this was the statue
was largely made of mud bricks, which were largely affected by the floods of
the Nile. The statue was ravaged till the waist and gained fame all over after
it was partially destroyed during the earthquake in the 27th BC. The statues
started a hooting sound, which made it a popular destination. Legend has it
that Achilles killed the Memnon; an Ethiopian king during the famous Trojan
War who was started weeping.
The sound of his weeping made his mother Eos weep in response. This moaning
sound was the key factor that made the statues famous as the moaning statues
and it brought about large number of discerning Tourists from all over the place.
The musical note produced due to the fissures in the statues, the morning sun
lent its warmth to the stone structures, and then the wind made it its wind
chime.
Roman emperor Septimus Severus in the 199 CE wanted to make sure the statues
were restored and fixed to ensure constant inflow of tourists. As the holes
were filled up with along, the cracks the ensuing morning led to no sound emit
by the statues. The statues are twenty three meters tall built of granite and
lie magnificently by the side of the road. There few other remnants of the site
two headless sphinxes.
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