The colossi from the early shrine at Coptos in Egypt

For more than a hundred years the three colossal limestone figures from Cop tos have challenged anyone wishing to write on the development of culture a nd society in early Egypt. Beginning from a fuller documentation of the thr ee, a reconstruction of their original context is proposed, namely, an arra y of standing stones, a type of sacred structure of which a growing number of examples are known in the region. A study of the signs carved on their s ides answers recent speculations that they record the names of early kings. Both the colossi and the system of symbols to which the signs belong repre sent a culture which, in consequence of a thoroughgoing ancient process of redefinition, was subsequently overlaid by the significantly different cult ure of Pharaonic Egypt.