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The extravagance of Amenophis III’s reign is suggested by the 60-foot-high sandstone statues of the pharaoh erected in front of his mortuary temple at Thebes. The Romans called these statues the Colossi of Memnon, believing them put up by the mythical king of Ethiopia, Memnon. It was said in antiquity that the northernmost statue (at right) could be heard singing at dawn and dusk—when Memnon greeted and bade farewell to his mother, Eos, the Greek dawn goddess.