STATUES OF MEMNON IN THE PLAIN OF GOORNA AT 
THEBES. 
The village of Goorna is situated on the western bank of the Nile, amidst a grove 
of palm-trees, and beyond it a plain, which exhibits at present very little cultivation, 
extends to some distance, and is bounded by desert hills. Amidst the extensive 
levels of this rough and neglected plain are seen the well-known statues of Memnon; 
sitting, as they have sat for ages, in grand and mournful solemnity, amidst the ruins 
of temples, the isolated but magnificent monuments of ancient splendour. They are 
called by the natives Damy and Shamy, words that sound like nicknames to us, but 
the natives have no such association with them. The nearest in the view is that 
which is known as the vocal Memnon: thanks to the newly discovered power of 
deciphering the hieroglyphics, it is ascertained to be the statue of Amunoph III., 
believed to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus, 1500 B.c. The other statue has been 
supposed to be that of his brother, Amun-Toonh, but without foundation, for, though 
he reigned for a short time jointly with Amunoph III., he was deposed by him, and 
excluded from the hieroglyphic lists: Amunoph was not likely, therefore, to establish 
his statue. It is more probable that both statues represented the same Pharaoh, as 
the statues of Remeses II. are repeated in the pronaos of Aboo-Simbel. The plain 
is hounded by lofty mountains, among which are the valleys of Biban El Malook 
and other recesses, full of sepulchral excavations, whilst the lower parts of the rocky 
heights facing the last are occupied by the village of Goorna. 
