A great temple at Tanis boasted a larger colossus than existed in Thebes: Heliopolis and Memphis must have been lavishly adorned, and the temples of Abu Simbel alone would have been sufficient to satisfy the ambition of many of the great Pharaohs.
It can be traced in the graffiti of the mercenaries of Psammetichus at Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt, where Greeks, Carians and Phoenicians all cut their names upon the legs of the colossal statues.
He also pushed his investigations into the great temple of Edfu, visited Elephantine and Philae, cleared the great temple at Abu Simbel of sand (1817), made excavations at Karnak, and opened up the sepulchre of Seti I.
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Banks from Aswan to Abu Simbel were threatened with inundation and the scientific world took alarm.