制作两尊巨像所用的石英岩是从现代开罗附近的el-Gabal el Ahmar开采的,随后通过陆路运输来到了675公里外的底比斯(卢克索)。据信,这些石头非常重,以至于埃及人将其运往尼罗河的上游。后来罗马工程师用来重建北方巨像的石块可能开采自自阿斯旺北部的埃德富。巨像脚下的石台高约4米,整体(包括石台)高约18米,重约720吨,[5][6][7]彼此间隔15米。
如今,这两尊巨像都已严重受损,它们腰部以上几乎无法辨认。南边的巨像由一整块石头组成,而北边的巨像在下半部有一个很大的裂缝,腰部以上则由五层石块垒成,这五层石块是后来罗马人重建后留下来的。 英国考古学家威廉·阿布尼爵士(William de Wiveleslie Abney)认为巨像的重建工作是罗马皇帝塞普蒂米乌斯·赛维鲁主持进行的。[8]据信,尽管这两座巨像的铭文和细节可能稍有不同,但两者在建成时的样子应该是完全相同的。
法国考古学家让-安托万·莱特龙(Jean-Antoine Letronne)在他1831年出版的书籍《La statue vocale de Memnon considerée dans ses rapports avec l'Égypte et la Grèce》[9]中首先对它们进行了详细研究,然后在他的著作《Recueil des inscriptions grecques et》的第二卷 (1848) 中把它划到了编目latines de l'Égypte当中。[10]
^Wilfong, T.; S. Sidebotham; J. Keenan; DARMC; R. Talbert; S. Gillies; T. Elliott; J. Becker. Places: 786066 (Memnon Colossi). Pleiades. [March 22, 2013]. (原始内容存档于2015-04-02).
^Adam Łukaszewicz, MEMNON, KING OF EGYPT (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆), The Journal of Juristic Papyrology, Vol. XXV, 1995, pp. 131-146: "Are two different etymologies of Memnonia and Memnon possible in the same area? We are approaching again the very essence of the problem. Is the name of Memnonia a derivative of the appellation of the vocal colossus or is that name independent from the name of Memnon applied to the statue of Amenhotep III? Consequently, the question is whether there was an Egyptian Memnon different from Amenhotep III or was the name of Nebmaatre the unique source of the Memnonian place-names in western Thebes?"
^Archaeoseismological studies at the temple of Amenhotep III,Luxor, Egypt, Arkadi Karakhanyan et al, The Geological Society of America Special Paper 471, 2010
^Sourouzian, H. and Lawler, A.; Unearthing Egypt's Greatest Temple, Smithsonian Magazine 38, 46–53.
^I too, when I was present at the places with Aelius Gallus and his crowd of associates, both friends and soldiers, heard the noise at about the first hour, but whether it came from the base or from the colossus, or whether the noise was made on purpose by one of the men who were standing all round and near to the base, I am unable positively to assert; for on account of the uncertainty of the cause I am induced to believe anything rather than that the sound issued from stones thus fixed.
Strabo, Rerum Geographicarum. XVII 1.46
Lord Curzon: "The Voice of Memnon" in Tales of Travel (1923)
Rupert T. Gould: "Three Strange Sounds: The Cry of Memnon" in Enigmas: Another Book of Unexplained Facts (1929)
Armin Wirsching: "Excursion on transport and erection of the Colossi" in: Armin Wirsching: Obelisken transportieren und aufrichten in Aegypten und in Rom (3rd ed. 2013) ISBN978-3-8334-8513-8