A Conversation for Luxor, Egypt

Colossi of Memnon

Post 1

manolan


1. Just for the record, the Egyptian form of the name is Amenhotep (Imn-htp, Amun is pleased). Amenophis is the Greek form.

2. The Greeks could read and write hieroglyphs. Otherwise, how could they have created the Rosetta Stone? The error is normally ascribed to a transliteration problem with his prenomen, although I don't think anyone has shown it definitively.

3. These colossi are often given as the inspiration for Shelley's Ozymandias, but that is unlikely. Ozymandias is a greek transliteration of Ramses II's prenomen (in Diodorus). It is more likely that the British Museum's explanation is correct. This has it that it was inspired by the arrival of a giant head of Ramses II from a statue at the Ramesseum. Perhaps the confusion comes from the fact that the head is known as 'The Younger Memnon'.

4. Although the story persists, it is most unlikely that it was Septimus Severus who restored the statue (and he visited in 170, I think) as there are accounts of it singing after that.


Colossi of Memnon

Post 2

Gnomon - time to move on

smiley - ok


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