Getting on with a colossal task [18th dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III]

Al-Ahram Weekly ^ | June 2-8, 2011 | Nevine El-Aref

[SunkenCiv]

...the mortuary temple of the 18th-Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III was the largest temple complex in the Theban area. It stretched over a 350,000-square- metre space, guarded at the main gateway by a pair of gigantic statues of Amenhotep popularly known as the Colossi of Memnon, with smaller statues of Queen Tiye and Queen Mutemwiya at their feet.

Regrettably, these two colossi are almost all that remains of this huge temple complex, since much of the rest of the temple collapsed during a massive earthquake that hit the area in antiquity, while the parts that survived this catastrophe decayed as a result of the high level of subterranean water -- the temple having been built closer to the River Nile than any contemporary mortuary temples. During the 19th Dynasty, Pharaoh Me[r]neptah used several blocks of the Amenhotep III temple to help construct his own mortuary temple, which he built almost 100 metres to the north.

[SunkenCiv]

The reconstructed limestone stela [credit: the archaeological mission]

[SunkenCiv]

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[humblegunner]

Amenhotep is a Gua'ould.

Everyone knows that.

[therightliveswithus]

The Pharaoh’s last words: Beware the individual mandate