Colossos de Mêmnon, 1870, Egito - Henri Béchard
Egito
N. 97
Fotografia - Impressão em papel albuminado
The Colossi of Memnon (Arabic: el-Colossat or es-Salamat)
are two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep
III, who reigned in Egypt during
the Dynasty XVIII. Since 1350 BCE, they
have stood in the Theban Necropolis, located west of the River Nile from
the modern city of Luxor.
The twin statues depict Amenhotep
III (fl. 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. Two
shorter figures are carved into the front throne alongside
his legs: these are his wife Tiye and mother Mutemwiya.
The side panels depict the Nile god Hapi.
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).
The stones are believed to be too heavy to have been transported upstream on
the Nile. The blocks used by later Roman engineers to reconstruct the northern
colossus may have come from Edfu (north of Aswan). Including
the stone platforms on which they stand – themselves about 4 m
(13 ft) – the colossi reach a towering 18 m (60 ft) in height
and weigh an estimated 720 tons each. The two figures are about 15 m
(50 ft) apart.
Both statues are quite damaged, with the features above the
waist virtually unrecognizable. The southern statue comprises a single piece of
stone, but the northern figure has a large extensive crack in the lower half
and above the waist consists of 5 tiers of stone. 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 Septimus Severus. It is believed that
originally the two statues were identical to each other, although inscriptions
and minor art may have varied.
The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the
entrance to Amenhotep's memorial temple (or mortuary
temple): a massive construct built during the pharaoh's lifetime, where he
was worshipped as a god-on-earth both before and after his departure from this
world. In its day, this temple complex was the largest and most opulent
in Egypt.
Covering a total of 35 hectares (86 acres), 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.
With the exception of the Colossi, however, very little remains
today of Amenhotep's temple. It stood on the edge of the Nile floodplain,
and successive annual inundations gnawed away at its foundations – a famous
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.
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 2 huge colossi at the entrance still standing.
These were further destroyed by an earthquake in 27 BC, after which they were
partly reconstructed by the Roman authorities.
The 1200 BC earthquake also opened numerous chasms in the
ground which meant that many statues were buried, some in pristine condition.
These have been the subject of extensive restoration and excavation conducted
by the Armenian/German archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian, who has revealed that
the complex consisted of three pylons, each fronted by colossal statues, while
at the far end a rectangular Temple complex consisted of a peristyle court
surrounded by columns. So far four of the statues have been re-erected, with 8
waiting to be re-erected, while some 200 statues or pieces of statues are in
the Luxor Museum, some on display, others in store awaiting conservation.
The modern Arabic name is Kom el-Hatan, but it is generally
known by the Roman name as the Temple of Memnon. Memnon was a hero of the Trojan War,
a King of Ethiopia who led his armies
from Africa into Asia Minor to
help defend the beleaguered city but was ultimately slain by Achilles.
Memnon (whose name means the Steadfast or Resolute)
was said to be the son of Eos, the goddess of dawn. He was associated with colossi built
several centuries earlier, because of the reported cry at dawn of the northern
statue, which became known as the Colossus of Memnon.
Eventually, the entire Theban
Necropolis became generally referred to as the Memnonium making
him "Ruler of the west" as in the case of the god Osiris who
was called chief of the west.
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."
In 27 BC, a large earthquake reportedly
shattered the northern colossus, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking
the lower half. Following its rupture, the remaining lower half of this statue
was then reputed to "sing" on various occasions – always within an
hour or two of sunrise, usually right at dawn. The sound was most often
reported in February or March, but this is probably more a reflection of the
tourist season rather than any actual pattern. The earliest report in
literature is that of the Greek historian
and geographer Strabo, who claimed to have heard the sound during a visit in
20 BC, by which time it apparently was already well known. The description
varied; Strabo said it sounded "like a blow", Pausanias compared it
to "the string of a lyre" breaking, but it also was described as the striking
of brass or
whistling. Other ancient sources include Pliny (not
from personal experience, but he collected other reports), Pausanias, Tacitus, Philostratus and Juvenal. In
addition, the base of the statue is inscribed with about 90 surviving
inscriptions of contemporary tourists reporting
whether they had heard the sound or not.
The legend of the "Vocal Memnon", the luck that
hearing it was reputed to bring, and the reputation of the statue's oracular powers
became known outside of Egypt, and a constant stream of visitors, including
several Roman Emperors, came to marvel at the statues.
The last recorded reliable mention of the sound dates from 196. Sometime later
in the Roman era, the upper tiers of sandstone were added (the original remains
of the top half have never been found); the date of this reconstruction is
unknown, but local tradition places it circa 199, and attributes it to the
Roman Emperor Septimius Severus in an attempt to curry
favour with the oracle (it is known that he visited the statue but did not hear
the sound).
Various explanations have been offered for the phenomenon;
these are of two types: natural or man-made. Strabo himself apparently was too
far away to be able to determine its nature: he reported that he could not
determine if it came from the pedestal, the shattered upper area, or "the
people standing around at the base". If natural, the sound was probably
caused by rising temperatures and the evaporation of dew inside the
porous rock. Similar sounds, although much rarer, have been heard from some of
the other Egyptian monuments (Karnak is the usual location for more modern reports).
Perhaps the most convincing argument against it being the result of human
agents is that it did cease, probably due to the added weight of the
reconstructed upper tiers.
A few mentions of the sound in the early
modern era (late 18th and early 19th centuries) seem to be hoaxes,
either by the writers or perhaps by locals perpetuating the phenomenon.
The "Vocal Memnon" features prominently in one scene
of Henrik Ibsen's Peer
Gynt.
They also show up in Oscar
Wilde's fairy tale "The Happy Prince."
