New discoveries in Egypt's ancient Heliopolis
Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany witnessed on Thursday the lifting of two newly discovered 19th dynasty royal statues from a pit at the Souq Al-Khamis district in the Al-Matariya area of greater Cairo.
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It is thought that the newly discovered statue is that of King Ramses II [Credit: Ministry of Antiquities] |
Mahmoud Afifi, Head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities at the Ministry said that what has been found of the first statue is an 80cm tall bust of King Seti II carved in limestone with fine facial features.
The second statue was found in large pieces. It appears to have been 8 metres long and carved in quartzite.
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The statues were found in the vicinity of the temple of Ramses II in the temple precinct of ancient Heliopolis [Credit: Ministry of Antiquities] |
Aymen Ashmawy, Head of the Egyptian team on the mission described the discovery as "very important" because it shows that the Oun temple was enormous with magnificent structures, distinguished engravings, soaring colossi and obelisks.
Regretfully, he said, the temple suffered damages during the Graeco-Roman period, and most of its obelisks and colossi were transported to Alexandria and Europe. During the Islamic era, the blocks of the temple were used in the construction of Historic Cairo.
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Head of the newly discovered statue of king Seti II [Credit: Magdi Abdel Sayed] |
El-Enany said the newly discovered artefacts would be placed, meanwhile, in a temporary exhibition at the Egyptian Museum.
Head of the German mission Dietrich Raue said excavations would continue in search of other statues and artefacts that could reveal more of the ancient sun city’s secrets.
Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [March 09, 2017]
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