My raison d’etre was to stand guard; I eventually "failed", yet I'm still a sentinel. Tourists from one country named me after a hero from a different country altogether, a hero who has nothing to do with my country. This name is how people from most other countries know me still. After some personal upheaval, but during a period of relative peace throughout my land, I found myself singing each morning when the sun came up. My paeans ended eventually, and so did the peace. I am?

Datsmeharse

I used to have a bath, pretty much annually, but it did nothing for my complexion. I no longer bathe. Some say they can find the answers up above, but the opposite is true here. Aug 12 09, 5:03 PM

Verbonica

The Colossi of Memnon are two massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For the past 3400 years (since 1350 BC) they have stood in the Theban necropolis, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor. The original function of the Colossi was to stand guard at the entrance to Amenhotep's memorial temple. Memnon was a hero of the Trojan War, a King of Ethiopia who led his armies from Africa into Asia Minor to help defend the beleaguered city but was ultimately slain by Achilles. In 27 BC, a large earthquake reportedly shattered the eastern colossus, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking the lower half. Following its rupture, the remaining lower half of this statue was then reputed to "sing" on various occasions- always within an hour or two of sunrise, usually right at dawn. Standing on the edge of the Nile floodplain, successive annual inundations gnawed away at the foundations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossi_of_Memnon Aug 12 09, 8:54 PM

Datsmeharse

Well done V, a print of the statues during one of their annual baths: http://www.antiqueprints.com/images/aff/f0213.jpg Amenhotep's temple was damaged by earthquake; it was believed almost all of the gigantic temple was scavenged to provide material for later sites, however recent excavations have uncovered much material, including possible brothers of the two colossi, collapsed ruins that may have be lost and forgotten under centuries of silt from the annual floods. Aug 13 09, 8:42 PM