A joint Egyptian-US archaeological mission unearthed the top half of the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramesses II (also spelt as Ramses), in southern Egypt in March 2024. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Egypt), it was discovered near the ancient city of Hermopolis (present-day el-Ashmunein), which is about 155 miles (250 kilometres) south of Cairo. The city of el-Ashmunein on the west bank of the River Nile was called Khemnu in ancient Egypt. In the Greco-Roman era, it was the regional capital of Hermopolis Magna.
The excavation at el-Ashmunein was started in 2023 for finding the religious complex, which is believed to date back to Egypt's New Kingdom era (1550–1070 BCE), before the annexation by the Romans. The work was carried out under the authority of the Supreme Council of Antiquities by the Egyptian team along with the archaeologists from the University of Colorado mission. They are engaged in the restoration of the el-Ashmunein Basilica, a Christian Basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The research team is yet to find the religious complex; however, they have found the statue instead.
Basilica is a large oblong building used as a hall of justice and public meeting place in ancient Rome.
About the Discovery
Ramesses II was also known as ‘Ramesses the Great’ and he was the third pharaoh of the 19th dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1279 to 1213 BCE, and was the longest reigning pharaoh.
Pharaoh is the vernacular term often used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt, who ruled from the First dynasty of ancient Egypt (3150 BCE) until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Republic in 30 BCE.
The statue of Ramesses II that has been unearthed is a 12.5 feet (3.8 metres) tall limestone fragment. It depicts a seated Ramesses wearing a double crown and a headdress crowned with a royal cobra. On the rear side of the upper part of the statue, there are hieroglyphic writings detailing the various titles of the Pharaoh, contributing to the glorification of Ramesses II.
Hieroglyphic is a form of writing, which was used in ancient Egypt in which, pictures or symbols were used to represent objects, concepts, or sounds.
It has been confirmed that the unearthed top half of the statue is the part of the lower part of the statue of Ramesses II statue that was unearthed by the German archaeologist Gunther Roeder in 1930. The complete statue would be of a height of 23 feet (7 metres). The archaeological team is creating a model envisioning what the statue looked like in antiquity, when it was fully intact.
Historical Sites Known for Statues of Ramesses II
In the 19th dynasty, during the reign of Ramesses II, Egypt had flourished as a vast empire stretching from modern-day Sudan to Syria. During this time, Ramesses II forged a peace treaty with the Hittites, sealing the deal by his marriage to a Hittite princess. The new capital, Pi-Ramesses, was built in Qantir in the northeastern Egypt.
As per the University of Memphis, many historical sites in Egypt are famous for the statues of Ramesses II. This includes the dual temples of Abu Simbel which is in the southernmost province of Aswan, Egypt. There are four giant statues of Ramesses II, each of which is 20 metres tall, in the main entrance of the temple. In the 1960s, these temples gained international fame during an operation to move the temples to an elevated area to protect them from getting submerged by Lake Nasser which is a reservoir of the High Aswan Dam.
In the temples, the Sun lights up the wall which has an engraving of Ramesses II in a small chamber. This happens only twice in a year, on February 22 and October 22. These dates are said to be the dates of the birthday and coronation day of Ramesses II, respectively. The statue of Ramesses II in the central Cairo square has been moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum, near the Pyramids of Giza.
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