The first monument encounters of visit to the west bank of Luxor is the site of the of Amenhotep Ill (18th Dynasty).The temple itself has all completely disappeared, but the colossal twin statues of the king, whith once in front of the entrance to the temple, are still-there to greet the visitor. Having lost the mass of a mighty pylon from behind their backs, whose effect would have been to reduce their size to proper proportions, the "Memnon colossi," as the statues are now known, look awkwardly gigantic.
The Memnon colossi are quartz monoliths, 18 meters high. The king is represented sitting on his throne, while his mother Mutemuia and his wife Tiy, much smaller in size, stand beside his legs. The back plinth bears the royal names and titles in large hieroglyphs. The sides of the 'cube"-thrones are decorated with the symbolic unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The Ancient Greeks who visited the site were much impressed by the size and serenity of the royal features, and identified the giant with the Greek hero Memnon, son of Aurora. Their fame among ancient visitors increased when one of the colossi began to emit deep sounds in the early morning, as the heated air passed through fissures which had possibly been provoked by an earthquake. This "singing Memnon" was silenced when the fissures were repaired under Septimus Severus. Many ancient graffiti, in various languages, were scribbled on the legs and bases of the statues by passing travelers.
The temple of Amenhotep Ill must have been of vast proportions. Its demolition began in antiquity. Many of its stone pieces, statues and stelae were employed in buildings by Merenptah (19th Dynasty) and Ramesses Ill (20th Dynasty). A headless alabaster sphinx with crocodile tail can still be seen on the temple grounds as well as a tall quartz stela with a long inscription.
In 2008, archaeologists discovered a massive, 12 feet high quartzite statue of Queen Tiy, favorite wife of Amenhotep Ill of the 18th Dynasty, south of the Colossi of Memnon in Luxor. Two sphinxes representing the royal couple, as well as ten black granite statues of the goddess Sekhmet, were also found nearby.