A joint Egyptian-American archaeological mission discovers the second part. Today, Monday, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the upper part of the huge statue of King Ramses Reuterswinds.
The limestone block is approximately 3.8 meters high, and depicts a seated Ramesses wearing a double crown and king cobra headdress.
Bassem Jihad, head of the Egyptian group in the mission, said in a statement. He added: “On the top of the back column of the statue are hieroglyphic writings glorifying one of the most powerful pharaohs in ancient Egypt, the king.”
The ruler also known as Ramesses the Great in the 19th century. He was the third pharaoh of the Egyptian dynasty, and ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC. The size of the statue, including its lower part, which was discovered decades ago, could reach about 7 metres. The city of El-Eshmunene, located on the west bank of the Nile, was known as Khemnu in ancient Egypt and was the regional capital of Hermopolis Magna in Greco-Roman times.
Tests confirmed that the upper part of the statue is consistent with the lower part discovered by German archaeologist Gunter Roeder in 1930.
Mustafa Waziri, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, said. Waziri said: “The mission began by cleaning and preparing the block before designing what the statue would look like if the two parts were combined.”
