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The
two lonely statues out on the plains of Luxor's
west bank are not of Memnon, but of Amenophis 3 of
the 15th century BCE. And they used to belong to
his huge mortuary temple, standing in front of its
pylons. But only 150 years ordered pharaoh
Merneptah that stones should be taken from
Amenophis' temple, and used for his own mortuary
temple just a few hundred metres north. The reason
why he could do this, is possibly because large
parts of it was built from mud-brick, which by
then had been largely destroyed by the flooding of
the Nile.
But the statues rise to fame came with their
partial destruction of an earthquake in 27
BCE. The northern statue was cleaved to the waist,
resulting in holes that in early mornings would
emit a hooting sound. Soon there was a legend to
explain this, telling that the statues were of
Memnon, an Ethiopian king and son of the goddess
Eos, who had been slain by Achilles during the
Trojan War. The sound was Memnon greeting his
mother Eos, who responded by weeping over the
tragic death of her son.
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The
colossi became an enormous attraction in
antiquity, attracting tourists from all around the
Mediterranean Sea. The crowds would spend the
night sleeping in front of the statues in order to
be woken up by Memnon's musical whispering.
Exactly what created the sound is not clear. The
most common explanation is that dew was suddenly
heated up by the rising sun, creating damp that
would escape through the narrow holes.
Fascinated by Memnon, the Roman emperor Septimus
Severus wanted in 199 CE to fix the statues
from their old injuries. Not aware of a natural
explanation to the phenomenon, he had cracks fixed
and holes filled. The morning after the reopening
of the attraction, no sound was heard. And nobody
was ever since heard Memnon greet his mother.
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