I want to be honest with you: I almost skipped them.
All itineraries of the west bank place the Colossi of Memnon at the bottom of the list - a quick photo stop on the way to the Valley of the Kings, something you see through a taxi window. I almost did just that. And then the driver stopped, and I got out, and I only... stopped.
They're bigger than you think. Much bigger. And there is something about standing in front of a face that was etched 34 centuries ago - a face that was constructed to communicate eternity - that makes the Valley of the Kings with all its undeniable splendor, feel like it could stand five minutes more.
But What Are They, precisely?
Two seated figures of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, approximately 18 meters tall, weighing approximately 720 tonnes each. They were constructed to signify the approach of his mortuary temple - a complex that back then was bigger than Karnak. Larger than anything.
The temple was carried off by the floods. The earthquakes claimed all that the floods had left. It is these two personalities that have survived. That is the fact which is apt to fall differently as soon as you stand before them: you do not look at monuments that were constructed to stand alone in a field. You're looking at the only thing left of something enormous.
Who Built Them - and Why Do You think he thought he could?
Amenhotep III, the Egyptian ruler that ruled in the 18th Dynasty, which is around 1388 to 1351 BC, is what historians would tend to refer to as the golden age of the New Kingdom. His Egypt was rich, stable, and in general at peace--not because he was a mighty warrior, but because he was a great diplomat. He employed gold and strategic marriages to ensure that his enemies become friendly. He erected temples in Egypt and Nubia. He was a man who, as no man can be more lasting in the exercise of power than he was, he was a man who carved in stone the kind of power he wielded.
These statues were made in the style of a man called Amenhotep who was the son of Hapu the royal sculptor, and one of the only non-royal Egyptians in history ever granted divine status when dead. The stone was cut off near the present Cairo--more than 700 kilometers to the northward--and hauled here without anything we should call machinery. It remains of interest to engineers. The logistics in itself are extraordinary.
Part That Sounds Like a Legend (Because It Was)
An earthquake broke the upper part of the northern statue, along the waist, in 27 BC. Then something weird began to occur.
Each morning at sunrise, when the heat changed and the hot air passed through the cracks in the rock, the statue which had been broken would sing. Not metaphorically, an actual reverberating sound, neither musical nor low moan, but a swell of sound, starting at the crack at first light.
It was specifically to hear it by ancient Greek and Roman tourists. They linked the sound with Memnon - the character in Greek mythology who is the son of Eos the goddess of dawn, and it is believed that every morning he cries in the presence of his mother. This name, however, remained, though it had nothing to do with Egypt or Amenhotep or whatever these statues were actually constructed to do.
It was heard by Strabo about 20 BC, and he recorded it. The emperor Hadrian arrived in AD 130, and took a court poet to mark the experience. The names of hundreds of visitors were cut into the legs of the statues -a sort of guestbook to the ancient world, scratched into the ankles of a pharaoh.
In the 3 rd century AD Septimius Severus had the crack repaired. Block sandstone which were used, were stacked in horizontal layers. The sound ceased at once, and has never been resumed. You can find those patch joints to this day, and you can find it in the north statue, which is obviously patched when compared with its twin.
The puzzle was capped in the mend. It seems to me that it was the proper ending of it, somehow.
What You're Actually Looking At When You're There
In both statues, the pharaoh is depicted sitting on a throne with his hands flat on his knees. It is the stereotypic stance - calm, rigid, possessing power without having to carry out the action. He is wearing the two crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. The sides and the backs of the thrones are inscribed with hieroglyphs, and cut into the sides where you will find the god Hapy tying together the lotus and papyrus -the symbols of the one two lands.
Under the feet of each figure, very easily overlooked unless you happen to be observing, stand smaller statues of the mother of Amenhotep Mutemwiya and his wife Tiye. They are not in place ornamentally. It is a hewn argument over dynastic legitimacy, over who this pharaoh was and whence his authority was, it is built into the base of the monument such that it could not be forgotten or ignored.
The statues are turned eastward where the Nile and the rising sun are. It was not a design decision, but theological. Mortuary temples turned toward the East, to the land of the living. These characters were to be placed in between two worlds.
Getting There Is Easier Than It Sounds
The statues are in the west bank of Nile in Luxor, in a place named Kom el-Hettan, near the location of the ancient city of Thebes. Luxor as such is approximately 670 kilometers south of Cairo.
Board the local ferry in the east bank - it is cheap and the crossing of the Nile in the morning light is truly beautiful. At the ferry landing on the west bank, hire a taxi or take a ride on one of the organized tours that cover the circuit of the west bank. The majority of them visit the Colossi as an intermediate, typically at the start, when everyone still has energy.
One can see the statues just at the road, free of charge. That, then, is worth repeating, free, in a city where practically nothing of importance is free.
A Few Things Worth Knowing Before You Go
Come early or come late — the site is completely exposed, and summer temperatures regularly break 40°C by midday. Bring water even if you think you won't need it. Wear comfortable shoes; the ground around the statues is uneven.
The light just after sunrise and just before sunset turns the stone a deep amber and throws long shadows across the plain. If you care about photographs, that window is worth planning around.
If you want to make a full day of the west bank — and you should — pair the Colossi with Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum, and the Valley of the Kings. That's a complete picture of what this side of the Nile actually was: a city of the dead, built to last forever, which mostly has.
The excavation around the statues is ongoing. The German Archaeological Institute has been working the site since the 1990s and has pulled out over 200 statues and thousands of artifacts from what remains of the temple complex. New things keep surfacing. The ground here is still giving things back.
Interesting Facts About the Colossus of Memnon
Here are some lesser-known but fascinating details about these ancient giants:
The quartzite for the statues came from Gebel el-Ahmar, near modern Cairo — over 700 kilometers away
Ancient Greek geographer Strabo documented visiting and hearing the singing sound around 20 BC
Roman Emperor Hadrian visited in AD 130 and had his court poet commemorate the experience in verse
The statues originally had crowns on top, which have since been lost to time and weathering
Over 100 ancient Greek and Latin inscriptions from visitors are carved into the legs of the statues
Excavations of the surrounding temple have recovered over 200 statues and thousands of artifacts
The German Archaeological Institute has been excavating the temple site since the 1990s, with new discoveries still emerging regularly
The Honest Case for Stopping
There are more famous things to see in Luxor. The Valley of the Kings will give you painted tombs and the weight of royal burial on a scale these statues can't match. Karnak will give you sheer architectural volume. Medinet Habu will give you color that has survived thousands of years in ways that seem almost impossible.
But the Colossi offer something those places don't, and it's harder to name. It's the particular feeling of standing in front of something that has simply outlasted everything built around it — the temple, the city, the civilization — and is still here, still facing east every morning, still watching the sun come up over the Nile like it has 34 centuries of habit behind it.
Whether that moves you depends on what you bring to it. Some people take the photo and get back in the taxi. Some people stay longer than they planned. Both responses are completely understandable. But I'd give it more than a minute if you can.
FAQs
Where exactly are the Colossi of Memnon?
West bank of the Nile in Luxor, Egypt — in the area called Kom el-Hettan, near where the ancient city of Thebes stood. They face east, toward the river.
Why the name "Memnon"? That doesn't sound Egyptian.
It isn't. After the 27 BC earthquake cracked the northern statue and it started producing that eerie dawn sound, Greek and Roman visitors connected it to Memnon from Greek mythology. The name outlasted the sound by about 2,000 years.
Is there an entry fee?
Viewing from the road and surrounding area is free. Parts of the active excavation zone nearby may be off-limits depending on current dig work.
What happened when they repaired the crack?
The singing stopped the moment Septimius Severus had it filled with sandstone blocks in the 3rd century AD. It hasn't been heard since. You can see the repair seams clearly on the northern statue today.
Is it worth stopping if I'm short on time?
Honestly — yes. It takes twenty minutes and costs nothing. And there's a reasonable chance it'll be the thing you remember most clearly when you're back home trying to explain what Luxor actually felt like.