Colossi

These were placed in front of the temples. There were two, four, or six representing the founder of the temple. So much was thought of these figures that if a Pharaoh would not be at the pains to have his own portrait executed he would erase the names of his predece or from some existing statues and substitute his own. But few of these are left standing. The most celebrated were the statues of Amen-hetep III. at Thebes, one of which was called the "Vocal Memnon" (q.v.). They, like most colo al statues, are seated figures. Their height is 52 ft. The colo us of Ramses II. at the Rame eum at Thebes was the largest known, being 57 1/2 ft. high. It lies shattered on the ground. A head similar to that of this statue was found near the south side of the Rame eum, and was transported to England. It is now in the British Museum. At Memphis lies another statue of Ramses II., 31 1/2 ft. high. The two seated colo i in front of the temple at Luxor are 45 ft. high. All these figures of Ramses are of granite. The colo al figures carved out of the gritstone hill at Abu Simbel, which form the façade of the temple of Ramses II., are about 66 ft. high without the pedestal. In a tomb now almost destroyed at El Bersheh there was a representation on the wall of the transportation of a colo us. The chief colo i belong to the period of the New Empire, after which time the taste for them seems to have died out.