These imposing guardians of the mortuary temple of Amenophis III (destroyed in ancient times as it served as a quarry for other pharaohs), sculptures of the pharaoh seated on his throne and wearing the nemes, are thought to have survived an earthquake in 27 BC. One of them did not escape unscathed, however: it is thought that the crack it sustained led it to emit a curious sound in the morning heat. The Greeks believed it to be Memnon, injured during the Trojan War, plaintively greeting his mother, goddess of dawn. But when it was restored under Septimus Severus, the statue fell silent and the pilgrimages stopped.