3-008-498 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Land of Egypt", by Frank Dillon, in the Exhibition of the British Institution, 1862. Engraving of a painting. 'The twin Colossi of the Plain of Goorna were among the last of the stupendous remains of ancient Egyptian art at which his Royal Highness [the Prince of Wales] arrived on his journey up the river [Nile]. One of these gigantic statues (that farthest from the spectator...) being the famous vocal Memnon was an object of curiosity and wonder to the ancients...Mr. Dillon has given an effect of earliest morning, judging from the long shadows, the direction of the rays, and the activity of the fellah at the plough, and the reapers; and sunrise was the time when the statue was said to emit the vocal sounds'. The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which stand at the front of the ruined Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, the largest temple in the Theban Necropolis. The statues, which have stood since 1350 BC, were erroneously thought to represent the Greek mythological king Memnon. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.