egyptologylessons:

The Colossus Statue of Rameses II “Memnon the Younger”

Originally from the Ramesseum, Thebes 𓌀𓏏𓈈𓊖 “wAs.t”, Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 “kmt”, 19th Dynasty, about 1250 BC.

Ramses II (𓇳𓏤𓄟𓋴𓇓) “re-msi-sw” ‘He, Born of Re’ succeeded his father Seti I (𓊪𓏏𓎛𓁣𓇌𓌸𓈖) “stḥy mri.n-ptḥ” ‘Seti, beloved of Ptah’ in around 1279 BC and ruled for 67 years.

This fragment of his statue 𓂙𓏏𓏭𓀾 “hnty” was cut from a single block of two-coloured granite 𓌳𓄿𓏏𓏋𓊌𓏫 “mAt”. He is shown wearing the nemes head-dress surmounted by a cobra diadem.

The sculptor has used a slight variation of normal conventions to relate his work to the viewer, angling the eyes down slightly, so that the statue relates more to those looking at it. It was retrieved from the mortuary temple of Ramses at Thebes (the ‘Ramesseum’) by Giovanni Belzoni in 1816.

Belzoni wrote a fascinating account of his struggle to remove it, both literally, given its colossal size, and politically. The hole on the right of the torso is said to have been made by members of Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt at the end of the eighteenth century, in an unsuccessful attempt to remove the statue. It arrived in England in 1818.

After its arrival in The British Museum the ‘Younger Memnon’ was perhaps the first piece of Egyptian sculpture to be recognized as a work of art by connoisseurs, who traditionally judged things by the standards of ancient Greek art.

Weighing 7.25 tons
Height: 266.8 cm
Width: 203.3 cm (across shoulders).𓍝

One of the largest pieces of Egyptian sculpture in the British Museum.

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