Hadrian and his wife Sabina visited the Valley of the Kings in AD 129. This included a visit to the Colossi of Memnon to hear the statue "sing" and the court poet who accompanied them, Julia Balbilla, recorded the event in 2 epigrams carved in Greek on the legs of the Northern statue. The statues are actually thought to be of Amenhotep III but the Romans associated them with the Greek mythological King Memnon of Ethiopia (Killed by Achilles and immortalised by Zeus). The Northern statue (erroneously thought by Romans to be of Memnon) contains 107 inscriptions in Greek and Latin - mainly about Memnon and carved by Roman "tourists" documenting "expressions of religious and intellectual wonder, crystallized at the moment of hearing Memnon’s voice" . The epigrams by Balbilla make reference to the King but are primarily a panegyric to Hadrian.
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