The Colossi of Memnon are two enormous statues of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III, originally designed to enshrine his funerary temple, located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor.
The statues are incredibly tall, around 18 metres. They represent Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who reigned in ancient Egypt about 3,400 years ago.
At dawn, when the first ray of desert sun poured over the fiery horizon, the shattered statue sang (it is said that it was half destroyed by an earthquake).
Its melody was more powerful than pleasant; a fleeting, otherworldly song that evoked mysterious thoughts of the divine.
In 20 BC, esteemed tourists from all over the Greco-Roman world crossed the desert to witness the acoustic spectacle of dawn.
Scholars such as Pausanias, Publius, and Strabo told stories of the strange sound of the statue ringing in the morning air. Some say it resembled startling brass, while others compared it to the snap of a snapping lyre string.
The supernatural song and the ancient Egyptian statues ended up being borrowed from ancient Greece. According to Greek mythology, Memnon, mortal son of Eos, the goddess of Aurora, was killed by Achilles. Supposedly, the haunting wail that echoed from the chasm of the cracked colossus, was her crying over her son every morning and her tears turning into dew.
But it was the scientists of our time who discovered the arcane mystery of singing. Apparently the dew that deposited inside the statue during the night evaporated with the morning sun, producing vibrations similar to a moan.
Unfortunately, the ancient Romans, equipped with good intentions, silenced the song in the third century despite themselves.
After visiting the legendary statues and not hearing their ephemeral sounds, Emperor Septimius Severus, reportedly attempting to gain favor with the oracular monument, had the fractured statue repaired.
The reconstructions, in addition to disfiguring the statue so that the sculptures no longer looked like identical twins, robbed the colossus of his famous voice.
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