The statue that ‘sang’ at dawn for Roman tourists
The two Colossi of Memnon, erected for the pharaoh Amenhotep III around 1350 BCE, became one of antiquity's great tourist attractions: after an earthquake around 27 BCE cracked the northern statue, it was reported to give off a sound near sunrise. Greek and Roman visitors travelled to hear it and carved roughly a hundred inscriptions recording their visits — coming to gawk at a monument already about 1,300 years old. It still stands today, some 3,400 years after it was raised.
How we know
Amenhotep III r. ~1388/1386–1351/1349 BCE; Colossi erected ~1350 BCE; northern statue cracked in ~27 BCE earthquake; ~107 Greek/Latin visitor inscriptions AD 20–250 (Strabo, Pausanias attest the sound); age at 27 BCE = 1350−27 ≈ 1,300 yrs; age today = 1350+2026 ≈ 3,400 yrs.
One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.