These two huge ruined statues, around 17m high, once stood at the entrance gate of the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III, though very little of the temple behind them remains today.
Amenhotep III (sometimes read as Amenophis III; Egyptian
Amāna-Ḥātpa; meaning
Amun is Satisfied) also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent was the ninth
pharaoh of the
Eighteenth dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled
Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC
[4] after his father
Thutmose IV died. Amenhotep III was the son of Thutmose by
Mutemwiya, a minor wife of Amenhotep's father.
[5]His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of her artistic and international power. When he died (probably in the 39th year of his reign), his son initially ruled as
Amenhotep IV, but later changed his own royal name to Akhenaten
http://egyptsites.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-colossi-of-memnon/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep_III
