The Colossi of Memnon Statues were a small part of the gigantic complex of the Temple of Amen-Hotep III. Each of the statues was cut from a single block of stone that measures over 20 meters tall and weighed a thousand tons. Since the statues' crowns are still intact and their bases fully exposed, they stand even taller. They were carved from beautiful orthoquartzite (one of the hardest stones ever known and therefore, one of the difficultly carved ones, probably brought by boat from quarries near Heliopolis, seven hundred kilometers to the north).
The right statue was especially popular with Ancient Greek and Roman travelers since an earthquake cracked the statue, in 27 BC, and for the next two hundred years it emitted an eerie whistling noise each morning because both the temperature an...
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