Two colossal seated statues of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC), carved from quartzite sandstone, which are located at the eastern end of the site of his much-plundered mortuary temple in western Thebes; each of the figures is flanked by a representation of Tiy. The two remaining statues are 70-feet (21-meters) high, each hewn from a single block of stone. The more northerly of these was partly destroyed by an earthquake in 27 BC, resulting in a curious phenomenon. Every morning, when the rays of the rising sun touched the statue, musical sounds like the twang of a harp string were heard. This was supposed to be the voice of Memnon responding to the greeting of his mother, Eos. After the restoration of the statue by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (170 AD) the sounds ceased. The sounds had come from air passing through the pores of the stone, caused by the change of temperature at sunrise, and the masonry patching caused the "singing" to cease. These statues once flanked the gateway in front of the temple pylon but now sit alone in the middle of cultivated fields.