(The Turkish Post) – Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sherif Fathy, on Oct. 14 honored a farmer whose report of an inscribed stone on his land in the Nile Delta led archaeologists to the 1.6-meter head of a colossal Ramses II statue. The farmer, Khaled El-Shahat Khalil, lives in the village of Behbeit el-Hagar in Gharbia province.
The ministry said the rescue excavation uncovered the remains of two colossal royal statues and an inscribed granite block. Officials estimate that the Ramses II statue to which the head belonged stood about 8.5 meters tall with its base.
A farmer’s report leads to the Ramses II statue
Khalil found the stone block while preparing the land in front of his home for planting, according to the ministry and local officials. He suspected it was ancient and reported it to the local antiquities inspectorate.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities then formed a committee and sent a team to carry out a rescue excavation at the spot. The dig revealed the head, the larger part of a second statue and the granite block.
Fathy and the governor of Gharbia, Alaa Abdel Moaty, visited the village in the Samannoud district on Oct. 14. They presented Khalil and his wife with a certificate of appreciation and a pilgrimage trip to Mecca for the umrah.
The minister thanked Khalil for reporting the find promptly. Fathy also inspected the site and followed the excavation work, which is aimed at establishing the nature of the remains and finding any further pieces.
The colossal head wears the double crown
Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the head shows the king wearing the double crown, the symbol of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.
The team also recovered part of the statue’s back pillar. It carries the Horus name of Ramses II, Hor-ka-nakht-mery-maat, which means “Strong bull, beloved of Maat”. From the size of the head, El-Leithy estimated the complete Ramses II statue at about 8.5 meters including the base.
The second statue survives to a length of about 2.4 meters, with the legs and base missing. It wears the striped nemes headdress, and its head is well preserved, with facial features that resemble those of the first statue. The ministry said it is thought to depict Ramses II as well, but has not confirmed this.
The pink granite block is about 1.3 meters long and was found about 1 meter from the second statue. Its hieroglyphic inscription includes two royal titles, “Nesu-Bity”, or King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and “Sa-Ra”, or Son of Ra.
Behbeit el-Hagar and its temple of Isis
Behbeit el-Hagar is known for the ruins of a large granite temple dedicated to the goddess Isis, called the Iseum in antiquity. Most of the main sanctuary dates from the reign of Nectanebo II in the 4th century B.C., and Ptolemaic rulers later completed its decoration.
Ramses II, the third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, ruled Egypt from about 1279 to 1213 B.C., about nine centuries before the surviving temple was built. Archaeologists have not yet said whether the statues once stood at the site or were brought there from elsewhere.
Ramses II is one of the most widely represented kings of ancient Egypt. His monuments include the temples of Abu Simbel in the south of the country and large parts of the temple complexes of Karnak and Luxor. A colossal granite statue of the king now stands in the entrance hall of the Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza pyramids.
Sherif Fathy says the dig will continue
Fathy described the find as an important addition to the archaeological record of Behbeit el-Hagar. The ministry said excavation and study at the site of the Ramses II statue will continue to determine how the statues and the block relate to each other and what they show about the history and architectural development of the site.
Further studies are needed to establish the original setting of the granite block, according to the ministry.
