14th century BC) in a seated position, his hands resting on his knees and his gaze facing eastwards (actually ESE in modern bearings) towards the river.

The statues are made from blocks of quartzite sandstone which was quarried at el-Gabal el-Ahmar (near modern-day Cairo) and transported 675 km (420 mi) overland to Thebes (Luxor).

[10] Suzanne Bickel describes the height of both colossi were accessible to the surrounding public as a method of allowing all to worship Amenhotep III himself and the gods at his temple.

These upper levels consist of a different type of sandstone, and are the result of a later reconstruction attempt, which William de Wiveleslie Abney attributed to Septimius Severus.

Hourig Sourouzian felt that Amenhotep III did not plan for the site to flood altogether as the surrounding wall for the mortuary temple behind the Colossi was constructed primarily of mud brick.

It stood on the edge of the Nile floodplain, and successive annual inundations gnawed away at its foundations – a 1840s lithograph by David Roberts shows the Colossi surrounded by water – and it was not unknown for later rulers to dismantle, purloin, and reuse portions of their predecessors' monuments.

Several of the inscriptions refer to sounds emitted by the statues [9], the most famous being poetry by Julia Balbilla recording multiple visits during November 130 CE in a party that included the Emperor Hadrian and his wife Vibia Sabina.

[16] Soon after its construction the temple was destroyed by an earthquake, recently dated by the Armenian Institute of Seismology to around 1200 BC, which left only the two huge colossi at the entrance still standing.

Memnon was a hero of the Trojan War and King of Ethiopia, who led his armies from Africa into Asia Minor to help defend the beleaguered city of Troy but was ultimately slain by Achilles.

in the 19th century, William de Wiveleslie Abney noted that "(t)he Arabs called these statues 'Shama' and 'Tama', and when speaking of them together gave them the appelation of Sanamât, or the idols.

[22] The earliest report in literature is that of the Greek historian and geographer Strabo, who said that he heard the sound during a visit in 20 BCE, by which time it apparently was already well-known.

[23] The description varied; Strabo said it sounded "like a blow",[24] Pausanias compared it to "the string of a lyre" breaking,[25] but it also was described as the striking of brass[26] or whistling.

As a result, many Greco-Roman travelers, drawn by the mystique of the site, would etch their names upon the colossi during their visits, leaving behind inscriptions that reflect their fascination and desire for posterity.