Egypt: man unearths colossal statue of Ramses II
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A man digging on his property in Behbeit el-Hagar, Egypt, discovered a stone sculpture that led to the unearthing of a colossal statue of Ramsès II.
The man alerted local authorities instead of attempting to remove the stone himself, prompting archaeological excavations. These excavations revealed two monumental royal statues, one of which is Ramses II, a pharaoh who reigned from approximately 1279 to 1213 BCE.
Archaeologists recovered a head from the statue measuring 1.60 meters tall, complete with the double crown representing the pharaoh’s authority over Upper and Lower Egypt. Based on the fragments found, they estimate the entire sculpture originally reached nearly 8.5 meters in height. A second statue, around 2.4 meters long, was also discovered without legs or a base, and may also depict Ramsès II, though this remains unconfirmed.
The statues’ location near the ruins of a temple dedicated to the goddess Isis, built around the 4th century BCE, roughly 900 years after Ramsès II’s death, puzzles historians. Archaeologists now plan to determine if the statues were originally located at this site or moved there later, hoping to solve the mystery of their placement.
