Key Highlights
- A 3.8‑meter limestone block uncovered in 2024 completes a statue of Ramesses II that had lain half‑buried since 1930.
- When joined with the lower half discovered by German archaeologist Günther Roeder, the monument will reach roughly 7 meters in height, making it one of the largest seated depictions of the Great Pharaoh.
- The find emerged from systematic excavations at El Ashmunein, the modern name for ancient Hermopolis Magna, a historic cult centre of the god Thoth.
- The joint Egyptian‑American team, led by Basem Gehad and Yvona Trnka Amrhein, identified the fragment by matching carving styles, dimensions, and the double‑crown headdress.
- The statue dates to the 13th century BCE, the reign of Ramesses II, whose building programmes shaped New Kingdom Egypt.
Detailed Insights
The 2024 field season at the Minya Governorate’s Hermopolis Magna site, situated about 241 km south of Cairo, turned up a massive limestone slab lying face‑down amidst collapsed temple debris. Initial visual inspection suggested the stone was merely another shattered block, but closer scrutiny revealed the unmistakable silhouette of a seated monarch’s torso crowned with the dual regalia of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Measurements recorded the fragment at 3.8 m (12.5 ft) tall. When the piece was aligned with the lower half unearthed in 1930 by Günther Roeder – which displayed the throne, legs, and a partial back pillar – the seams matched with striking precision. The combined sculpture now stands at approximately 7 m (23 ft), confirming its status as a pre‑eminent example of Ramesses II’s monumental portraiture.
Hermopolis Magna, known in antiquity as Khemnu, served as the chief sanctuary of Thoth, the ibis‑headed deity of wisdom and writing. The city thrived under native Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Roman rule, leaving a layered architectural record that facilitated the recent discovery. The statue not only enriches the visual corpus of Ramesses II’s iconic iconography but also provides fresh data on limestone quarrying, carving techniques, and the logistical organization of large‑scale royal commissions during the 19th Dynasty.
Key Concepts
- Seated Royal Statue: A sculptural genre in which a pharaoh is portrayed seated on a throne, often emphasizing divine authority through regalia such as the double crown.
- Double Crown (Pschent): The combined white Hedjet of Upper Egypt and red Deshret of Lower Egypt, symbolizing the ruler’s sovereignty over the unified land.
- Thoth: The Egyptian god of knowledge, writing, and measurement, traditionally represented as an ibis or a man with an ibis head.
- Hermopolis Magna: An ancient metropolitan hub in Middle Egypt, renowned for its temples to Thoth and for preserving extensive archaeological layers from Pharaonic to Roman periods.
- Archaeological Provenance: The documented origin and chain of custody of an artifact, essential for authenticating its historical context.