Day Six (Part 1) - Colossi of Memnon

At about 8:05 our mini bus from Luxor Travel arrived to take us to the West Bank. There were already two other tourists in the bus, two ladies from Japan, and we then went to another hotel to pick up three English tourists.

Our Egyptian guide, nicknamed Scarab, spoke very good English and informed us of the itinery. Our first stop would be the Colossi of Memnon.

After around a 20 minute drive we finally arrived.

The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Two shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside his legs; these are his wife Tiy and mother Mutemwiya.

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The statues are made from blocks of quartzite sandstone. The statue on the left is made from one single block! Both statues measure approximately 18 metres (60 ft) in height and weigh around one thousand ton each.

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The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's mortuary temple, of which very little now remains. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most opulent in Egypt. Even later rivals such as Ramesses II's Ramesseum or Ramesses III's Medinet Habu were unable to match it in area; even the Temple of Karnak, as it stood in Amenhotep's time, was smaller.

(Click images for larger version)

After spending a few minutes to take pictures and look at the statues in more detail our we headed back to the mini bus and headed for our next stop - Valley of the Kings!

Day 6 (Part 2) - Valley of the Kings >>