Side
panel detailThe original function of the
Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance
to Amenhotep's memorial temple (or mortuary
temple): a massive cult centre 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 ha, 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. Standing on the edge of the Nile
floodplain, successive annual inundations
gnawed away at the 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.
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