* The generally received opinion is that these sovereigns of the XVIIIth dynasty were buried in the Bibân el-Molûk, but I have made several examinations of this valley, and cannot think that this was the case. On the contrary, the scattered notices in the fragments of papyrus preserved at Turin seem to me to indicate that Amenôthes II. and Thûtmosis IV. must have been buried in the neighbourhood of the Assassîf or of Deîr el-Baharî.
A sarcophagus of red granite received his mummy, and _Ushabtis_ of extraordinary dimensions and admirable workmanship mounted guard around him, so as to release him from the corvée in the fields of Ialû. The chapel usually attached to such tombs is not to be found in the neighbourhood. As the road to the funeral valley was a difficult one, and as it would be unreasonable to condemn an entire priesthood to live in solitude, the king decided to separate the component parts which had hitherto been united in every tomb since the Memphite period, and to place the vault for the mummy and the passages leading to it some distance away in the mountains, while the necessary buildings for the cultus of the statue and the accommodation of the priests were transferred to the plain, and were built at the southern extremity of the lands which were at that time held by private persons. The divine character of Amenôthes, ascribed to him on account of his solar origin and the co-operation of Amon-Râ at his birth, was, owing to this separation of the funerary constituents, brought into further prominence. When once the body which he had animated while on earth was removed and hidden from sight, the people soon became accustomed to think only of his Double enthroned in the recesses of the sanctuary: seeing him receive there the same honours as the gods themselves, they came naturally to regard him as a deity himself.
[Illustration: 073.jpg THE TWO COLOSSI OF MEMNON IN THE PLAIN OF THEBES]
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato. The Vocal Statue of Memon is that on the right-hand side of the illustration.
The arrangement of his temple differed in no way from those in which Amon, Maût, and Montû were worshipped, while it surpassed in size and splendour most of the sanctuaries dedicated to the patron gods of the chief towns of the nomes. It contained, moreover, colossal statues, objects which are never found associated with the heavenly gods. Several of these figures have been broken to pieces, and only a few scattered fragments of them remain, but two of them still maintain their positions on each side of the entrance, with their faces towards the east. They are each formed of a single block of red breccia from Syenê,* and are fifty-three feet high, but the more northerly one was shattered in the earthquake which completed the ruin of Thebes in the year 27 B.C. The upper part toppled over with the shock, and was dashed to pieces on the floor of the court, while the lower half remained in its place. Soon after the disaster it began to be rumoured that sounds like those produced by the breaking of a harp-string proceeded from the pedestal at sunrise, whereupon travellers flocked to witness the miracle, and legend soon began to take possession of the giant who spoke in this marvellous way. In vain did the Egyptians of the neighbourhood declare that the statue represented the Pharaoh Amenôthes; the Greeks refused to believe them, and forthwith recognised in the colossus an image of Memnon the Ethiopian, son of Tithonus and Aurora, slain by their own Achilles beneath the walls of Troy--maintaining that the music heard every morning was the clear and harmonious voice of the hero saluting his mother.