A 1.6-meter head of the pharaoh, part of a statue once about 8.5 meters tall, was found in Gharbia Governorate along with a second royal statue and a granite block carved with his titles.
Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed the remains of a colossal Ramses II statue in the Nile Delta, after a local resident reported an inscribed stone on land opposite his home, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced this week.
The finds were made during rescue excavations by a Supreme Council of Antiquities mission in the village of Behbeit el-Hagar in Gharbia Governorate, a site best known for the ruins of a great temple to the goddess Isis.
What was found at the Ramses II statue site
The centerpiece is a head of Ramses II about 1.6 meters, or 5.2 feet, tall, wearing the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Part of the statue’s back pillar survives with the pharaoh’s Horus name, Ka-Nakht Mery-Maat, meaning “Strong Bull, Beloved of Maat.” Based on the fragments, specialists estimate the complete Ramses II statue stood about 8.5 meters, or roughly 28 feet, tall including its base.
The team also uncovered a second large royal statue, a section about 2.4 meters long that is missing its legs and base. Its head, wearing the striped nemes headcloth, is well preserved. Reports describe its features as similar to the first head, but officials have not confirmed whether it also depicts Ramses II.
About a meter away, excavators found a pink granite block 1.3 meters long carved with two of the pharaoh’s royal titles: Nesu-Bity, “King of Upper and Lower Egypt,” and Sa-Ra, “Son of Ra.”
A villager’s report led to the find
The excavation began after a resident reported the inscribed block to antiquities authorities, who inspected the site and organized rescue digs. Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy praised the resident for coming forward, according to reports of the ministry’s announcement.
Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said work will continue to determine how the statues relate to each other and to other remains at the site, and what they reveal about its history and layout.
Why a Ramses II statue at an Isis temple is a puzzle
Ramses II, often called Ramses the Great, ruled Egypt for about 66 years in the 13th century B.C. and filled the country with temples and giant statues of himself. The Isis temple at Behbeit el-Hagar, however, dates from about a thousand years later, to the last native pharaohs and the Ptolemaic era.
That gap raises an open question: whether the statues once stood at an earlier, now-vanished temple on the same spot, or were moved there from somewhere else in antiquity, as often happened with Ramses’ monuments. Archaeologists have not yet said which.
Part of a busy year for Egyptian archaeology
The Behbeit el-Hagar finds follow other Ramses II discoveries in the Delta this year, including a six-ton statue of the pharaoh unearthed at Tell al-Faraoun in Sharqia Governorate, announced in April. For Egypt, which is counting on discoveries like these to draw visitors to its new Grand Egyptian Museum and historic sites, each find is both history and tourism.
For more culture coverage from Vincypowa News, read Becket Is the Greatest Vincentian Artist of All Time.
Sources: Gulf News; Egypt Independent; Greek Reporter; Egypt Independent (Sharqia find); Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
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