Herodotus and Diodorus told us that Sesostris had set up before the temple of Hephæstus (_i.e._ of Ptah) at Memphis statues of himself, his wife, and his sons, on a colossal scale (p. 146). In the ruins of Memphis (at the village of Mitrahinneh) there lies, surrounded by green turf and tall palms, in a depression, the prostrate statue of Ramses II. hewn out of a single block. The feet are wanting, the head wears the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt; in the middle of the girdle are engraved the words Mi Amun Ramses, _i.e._ Ramses beloved of Ammon. From the knees upwards the fragment measures thirty-five feet; on this scale the total height must have reached forty-two or forty-three feet. At Tanis in the Delta, Ramses II. built or restored a great temple, and erected obelisks. The inscriptions on the ruins speak of his victories in Syria. Here also lies a prostrate and shattered colossus; the name-shields on the back of the throne are those of the second Ramses.[243] Of the buildings of this king for the sepulchral chambers of the Apis bulls at Memphis, the fortification of the border towards Syria, and the canal, we have spoken above (pp. 68, 157).
On the left bank of the Nile, westwards of the temple and the two colossi of Amenophis III., at Medinet Habu, Ramses III. built a splendid temple. A magnificent gate flanked by broad wings sixty-six feet in height leads from the east to the first ante-court, which, as always, is surrounded by a portico, partly supported by massive pillars, and partly by statues of Osiris. From this court a second somewhat smaller gateway leads into a second court; the portico surrounding this is supported to the right and left on strong columns, of seven feet in diameter, the capitals of which are formed by lotus-leaves, and on each of the other sides by eight Osiris pillars. The columns and pillars, in spite of their massiveness, do not seem too heavy to support the blocks which form the roof of the portico. In this court we find the four pictures which represent the war of Ramses III. against the Libyans (p. 164). The ante-temple, to which the entrance lay between the Osiris pillars just mentioned, the inner temple, and the shrine, are in ruins; the bases only and the foundations can still be traced. In the ten reliefs mentioned above the external wall of the second court displays in the most brilliant colours the warlike achievements of Ramses III. against the Temhu and Zakkarj (p. 165). About 120 steps to the south-east of the first gateway are the ruins of another structure of this king, which appears to have been his palace. Two obliquely rising towers enclose a court, surrounded by a building several stories high. The rooms still remaining are paved with slabs; the windows are square. The reliefs represent the king surrounded by his wives, and then at draughts, the instruction which his children receive in reading and writing from a priest, and other household matters. On the right bank of the Nile at the south-west edge of the terrace of Karnak, Ramses III. began to build a temple to the moon-god Chunsu, which was completed by Ramses IV.; and at Karnak itself, in the court before the great hall of Sethos I., he erected a smaller temple, cutting the southern portico of this temple at right angles, which he dedicated to "Ammon Ra, his father," to whom the whole sanctuary belonged.[244]