The Ministry of Antiquities has announced the discovery of parts of a huge sandstone statue of Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great who ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1213BC and is credited for being a prolific builder and forming an Egyptian empire that extended form present-day Syria in the North to Sudan in the south. The statue parts found include the Pharaoh’s head, broken in two, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt.
A statement by the Ministry said that the parts discovered were found in the Temple of Kom Ombo in Egypt’s southernmost governorate of Aswan, during a project to protect the site from underground water.
Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, said the discovery is specially significant since it furnishes proof of the existence and use of this temple in the Modern Kingdom which spanned the period from the 16th to the 11th century BC; there was only slight proof of that before the recent discovery. A visible part in the newly discovered statue depicts King Ramses II accompanied by gods Sobek and Horus, the main gods of the Temple of Kom Ombo. This, Mr Ashmawy said, indicates that the statue belongs to the temple and could not have been moved there.
Mr Ashmawy added that the archaeological team is currently working hard on the site aiming to discover the rest of the statue so that it can be re-assembled as soon as possible.
Watani International
4 March 2018