CAIRO: Egypt’s tourism and antiquities ministry announced that a collaborative archaeological endeavor between Egypt and the United States had unearthed the upper portion of an immense statue of King Ramses II during excavation efforts south of Minya on Monday.
According to Bassem Jihad, leader of the Egyptian team on the mission, the limestone block stands approximately 3.8 meters (12.5 feet) tall and portrays a seated Ramses adorned with a double crown and a regal headdress crowned by a royal cobra.
Jihad further stated that the hieroglyphic inscriptions adorning the upper section of the statue’s back column extol the virtues of the monarch, who was among the most formidable pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Known also as Ramses the Great, he held sway as the third ruler of Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty from 1,279 to 1,213 BCE.
Upon reassembly with its previously excavated lower segment, the statue’s combined height is estimated to reach about 7 meters. Situated on the western bank of the Nile, the city of El Ashmunein, referred to as Khemnu in ancient Egypt and serving as the regional capital of Hermopolis Magna during the Greco-Roman period, was the site of this remarkable discovery.
Mustafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, confirmed that studies have corroborated the match between the upper portion of the statue and the lower section unearthed by German archaeologist Gunther Roeder in 1930. Waziri also announced that the mission has initiated the process of cleaning and preparing the block in anticipation of reconstructing the statue’s full form.
