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The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced Sept. 22 that the joint Egyptian-German archaeological mission working on the Temple of Esna in Luxor governorate (south Egypt) has restored several inscriptions, drawings and colors in the temple’s ceiling...The Temple of Esna, near the west bank of the Nile River in the city of Esna in southern Egypt, was begun during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius in the first century AD and finished in the era of Emperor Decius between 249-251. It was dedicated to the ancient deity Khnum, who is usually depicted with the head of a ram...The colors...

Archeologists have discovered the remains of two huge sphinx statues, each measuring 26 feet in length, at the funerary temple of King Amenhotep III, a pharaoh who reigned about 3,300 years ago, according to a recent statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. A team led by Horig Sorosian found the sphinxes partially submerged in water at the funerary building, known as the “Temple of Millions of Years,” located within the vast ruins of Luxor, Egypt, which includes the ancient city of Thebes. Amenhotep III’s temple is packed with artifacts and was once a resplendent feature of Luxor....

Live Science makes predictions about what archaeologists will uncover in the new year. There are a number of archaeological finds and stories we might hear about in 2022. These include discoveries from Egypt's "lost golden city," new finds from Qumran — the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in nearby caves — as well as finds that may shed light on what life was like 11,000 years ago, when humans started building large ceremonial sites. In this countdown, Live Science makes five archaeology predictions for 2022. New finds from Egypt's 'lost golden city' In 2021 archaeologists announced the...

A settlement that was buried beneath the sand for thousands of years—and eluded archaeologists for centuries—is believed to be one of the largest ancient Egyptian cities ever unearthed. The site was discovered by a stroke of good luck when archaeologists began searching for the mortuary temple of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun (r. ca. 1336–1327 B.C.) along the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. What they found instead was a well-preserved urban settlement filled with houses, streets, and walls, some of which still stand 10 feet tall. Hieroglyphic inscriptions indicate the city was called tehn Aten, or “dazzling” Aten, and...

Tutankhamun died at a young age with a feminine physique. His closest relatives, including his father Akhenaten, his uncle or brother Smenkhkare and preceding 18th dynasty pharaohs Amenhotep III and Tuthmosis IV, all shared similar features and fates. While scholars tend to relate the deaths of these pharaohs to separate circumstances, Hutan Ashrafian suggests that the royal family may have had an inherited disorder: temporal lobe epilepsy. Temporal lobe epilepsy is known to affect the release of hormones and sexual development. Tutankhamun was depicted with a feminine physique. Due to his short life, his representations are far less common than...

Enigmatic discoveryThe discovery of a red granite head of a king with Nubian features in the precinct of Amenhotep III's temple on Luxor's West Bank has puzzled Egyptologists, writes Nevine El-Aref "This really is a very surprising discovery," Hourig Sourouzian, director of the German conservation project for the Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III's temple, told Al-Ahram Weekly. She explained that since excavation of the site began in 1998 the mission had consistently stumbled upon homogenous New Kingdom statuaries until last week, when a well-preserved red granite royal head with Kushite features -- full cheeks and bulging lips -- was...

The ancient city of Gezer has been an important site since the Bronze Age, because it sat along the Way of the Sea, or the Via Maris, an ancient trade route that connected Egypt, Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The city was ruled over many centuries by Canaanites, Egyptians and Assyrians, and Biblical accounts from roughly the 10th century describe an Egyptian pharaoh giving the city to King Solomon as a wedding gift after marrying his daughter. .... The site has been excavated for a century, and most of the excavations so far date to the the 10th through eighth centuries...

A German expedition has unearthed part of a colossal statue of an XVIII dynasty pharaoh. Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni said that "the red granite head and shoulders of Amenihotep III (1390-1352 BC) were unearthed in the pharaoh's temple area at Kom el-Hetan on the west bank of the Nile at Luxor." Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Zahi Hawass said that "The one-metre, high bust is in good condition' except for a slight crack on the right side." For her part, the leader of the German team described the bust as "the best portrait of King...

Outside the Greek mainland and Aegean Island a possible representation of Achaean warriors equipped with boar tusks helmets is from an Egyptian papyrus fragments from Tell el-Amarna, home of Amenhotep III's son, dated around 1350 BC (*2). In this papyrus some warriors are depicted with conical pale-yellow helmets which remaind in general design the typical Aegean boar tusks helmet. This identification is strengthened by the find of a piece of boar’s tusk, with perforations for attaching it to a leather frame, during excavations at Qantir, the site of the Ramesside capital Pi-ramesse in the eastern delta. It appears likely that...

Two additional colossal statues of Amenhotep III were unveiled in Luxor yesterday, along with a carved alabaster head from another Amenhotep III statue. Archaeologists say that the severely damaged statues, carved from red quartzite, are now situated on their original sites at the pharaoh’s funerary temple. The first depicts Amenhotep III in a seated position, wearing a royal pleated kilt held at the waist by a decorated belt. The second shows the king standing and has been placed at the north gate of the temple. “The statues had lain in pieces for centuries in the fields, damaged by destructive forces...

A big statue of King Amenhotep III has been discovered by an Egyptian-German archeological mission in Luxor, said an Egyptian official on Friday 21/2/2008. The mission succeeded in collecting 100 pieces of another statue of Amenhotep III, Luxor Antiquities Director Mansour Borayek said. Led by Egyptologist Horig Sourouzian, the mission unearthed two heads of Sphinx in addition to seven statues of goddess Sekhmet on the western bank in Luxor, he added. In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet was originally the warrior goddess of Upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lioness. Amenhotep III was the ninth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. He...

LUXOR, Egypt (AFP) - Egyptian and European archeologists on Saturday announced they had discovered a giant statue of an ancient pharaonic queen on the spectacular south Egypt site of the Colossi of Memnon. The statue represents Queen Tiy, the wife of 18th dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III, and stands 3.62 metres high (almost 12 feet). It was discovered around the site of the massive Colossi of Memnon twin statues that command the road to Luxor's famed Valley of the Kings. Two sphinx representing Tiy and Amenhotep III as well as 10 statues in black granite of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, who...

LUXOR, Egypt - A Johns Hopkins University archaeological team has unearthed a statue of Queen Ti, one of the most important women in ancient Egypt and wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Monday. The statue, mostly intact, was found under a statue of Amenhotep III in the sprawling Karnak Temple in Luxor, which was a royal city in ancient Egypt. Ti was the first queen of Egypt to have her name appear on official acts alongside that of her husband. She was known for her influence in state affairs in the reigns of both her...

...says Hutan Ashrafian, a surgeon with an interest in medical history at Imperial College London. Tutankhamun died young with a feminised physique, and so did his immediate predecessors. Paintings and sculptures show that Smenkhkare, an enigmatic pharaoh who may have been Tutankhamun's uncle or older brother, and Akhenaten, thought to have been the boy king's father, both had feminised figures, with unusually large breasts and wide hips. Two pharaohs that came before Akhenaten -- Amenhotep III and Tuthmosis IV -- seem to have had similar physiques. All of these kings died young and mysteriously, says Ashrafian. "There are so many...

...the mortuary temple of the 18th-Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III was the largest temple complex in the Theban area. It stretched over a 350,000-square- metre space, guarded at the main gateway by a pair of gigantic statues of Amenhotep popularly known as the Colossi of Memnon, with smaller statues of Queen Tiye and Queen Mutemwiya at their feet. Regrettably, these two colossi are almost all that remains of this huge temple complex, since much of the rest of the temple collapsed during a massive earthquake that hit the area in antiquity, while the parts that survived this catastrophe decayed as a...

The 13 meter (42 foot) tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of a pair that flanked the northern entrance to the grand funerary temple on the west bank of the Nile that is currently the focus of a major excavation

Archaeologists today discovered the upper portion of a statue of Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III at Luxor, Egypt. The find -- part of a double statue featuring King Amenhotep III with the falcon-headed sun god Re-Horakhti -- was made at the pharaoh's funerary temple, located on the west bank of the Nile. In a press statement, Egypt's Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosny said that the discovery was made during routine excavations at Amenhotep III's mortuary temple carried out by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)... Previously, the SCA mission already unearthed a double statue of the pharoah and the god Amun,...

CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed part a 3,000-year-old statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, believed to be the grandfather of the young King Tutankhamun, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Saturday. "The statue was found near the northern entrance of Amenhotep III's temple and depicts the king sitting down on a throne with Amun," the chief deity, Hawass said. The red-granite top half of the statue was discovered at the site of the Amenhotep III's funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor, Hawass said. The newly-discovered artifact which measures 130 cm (51 inches) in height and 95...

Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed part a 3,400-year-old statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, believed to be the grandfather of the young King Tutankhamun, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Saturday. 'The statue was found near the northern entrance of Amenhotep III's temple and depicts the king sitting down on a throne with Amun,' the chief deity, Hawass said. The 4ft by 3ft statue of Amenhotep III in Kom el-Hittan was discovered at the site of the pharaoh's mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt's Ministry of Culture said. The temple is one of the largest on the west...

Nice article about some recent finds, including at least two which have appeared on FR of late. Clockwise from top: King Amenhotep III's sphinx statue; canopic jars from Sheikh Abdel-Gourna; a relief on Isisnofret's sarcophagus; the lower part of King Amenhotep's statue (5 - 11 March 2009, issue #937)