The magnificent Memnon Colossi in ancient Thebes-West | West Bank of the Nile at Luxor, Egypt 2023

The Memnon Colossi are two side-by-side ancient Egyptian colossal statues from the 14th century B.C. They are located in the Nile Valley not far from the Valley of the Kings (Bibân el-Molûk) in Thebes-West. In the past, the statues were located in front of the pylons of the entrance to the temple of Amenophis III (Egyptian Amenhotep III), a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty.
The Memnon Colossi, so named in Greco-Roman times after Memnon, a semi-divine king of the Ethiopians, stand at 77 meters above sea level west of the city of Luxor, about three kilometers from what is now the west bank of the Nile. They are located directly north on the road to the necropolis of Deir el-Bahari with the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut and to the Valley of the Queens (Bibân el-Harîm).
The quartzite statues are badly damaged. They depict King Amenophis III sitting on a throne with his hands on his knees. He is looking toward the Nile. The facial features of the pharaoh are no longer recognizable. The crowns on the heads of the statues are also missing, but the Nemes headscarf is clearly recognizable.
On a much smaller scale on both sides at the legs of the statues upright female figures are arranged, whereby the figure at the right leg in each case represents the Great Royal Wife of Amenophis the III Teje and those at the left legs his mother Mutemwia. Of the four figures the one of Teje on the right leg of the southern statue is best preserved. Only at the feet recognizable are the figures of an unnamed daughter of the pharaoh formerly arranged between the legs of the Amenophis statues.
The sides of the throne are decorated with representations of gods and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Two representations of Hapi, the god of the Nile flood, can be seen tying lotus plants, the symbol of Upper Egypt, with papyrus shrubs, the symbol of Lower Egypt, to form a united Egypt. The inscriptions identify the Gebel el-Ahmar quarry on the east bank of the Nile near Heliopolis northeast of Cairo as the origin of the building material. However, an analysis of the material of the Memnon colossi indicates that the quartzite stone originated from Gebel Gulab or Gebel Tingar on the western bank of the Nile near Aswan.
Today the statues, including the platforms (pedestals) on which they stand, are still about 18 meters high. With the crowns, the total height of both statues was originally 21 meters. The feet of the statues were 2 meters long and 1 meter wide.

Dimensions of the southern statue:
Dimensions of the pedestal: 10.50 meters × 5.50 meters
Height of the pedestal: 3.30 meters (half pressed into the ground)
Height of the statue: 13.97 meters
Total height: 17,27 meters

Dimensions of the northern statue:
Dimensions of the pedestal: 10.50 meters × 5.50 meters
Height of the pedestal: 3.60 meters (half pressed into the ground)
Height of the statue: 14.76 meters
Total height: 18.36 meters

Already the scientists and engineers of the Napoleon expedition tried to determine the weight of the colossi. For the southern statue they calculated a volume of 292 cubic meters and a weight of about 750 tons, for the corresponding pedestal a volume of 216 cubic meters and a weight of 556 tons. In contrast, a more recent study carried out in 1971/72 calculates the volume of the southern statue at 271 cubic meters and its weight at 720 tons (with a density of 2.65 verified on the stone material). The new measurements for the southern pedestal lead to a volume of about 190 cubic meters, at the same density this results in a weight of about 500 tons for the southern pedestal.
--------------------------------------­-----------------------------------
Equipment I Use
►Camera: https://amzn.to/49b7RTf
►Gimbal Stabilizer: https://amzn.to/45QX25N
►Microphone: https://amzn.to/3sl7IMw
►Action Cam: https://amzn.to/3QyEhQa
►Extension Rod: https://amzn.to/3MlxAOY
►Memory Card https://amzn.to/3QOTZHj
►Drone: https://amzn.to/3SffEJL
►Laptop: https://amzn.to/3FGYP2C
►External Hard Drive: https://amzn.to/40kQQ51
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
English title: The magnificent Memnon Colossi in ancient Thebes-West | West Bank of the Nile at Luxor, Egypt 2023
#memnoncolossi #thebes #luxor