Every Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt sough to immortalise themselves
in stone. Widely varying amounts of these statues survive depending
on the reign involved, and how well it was remembered by later
dynasties. In addition a great deal of the survival is down to
luck. For example there is only one small statue of the Pharaoh
Khufu who built the Great Pyramid.
Most of the surviving sculpture is from quite late in Ancient
Egyptian history, but it should be remembered that Khufu had
been dead for two millennia when Amenhotep III (Right) came to
the throne.
Perhaps the most well known statues of Amenhotep
III are the Collossi of Memnon,
which are virtually all that remains of the Pharaoh's Theban
mortuary temple. |