Egypt announces discovery of Ramses II statues

Reuters ^ | Feb. 26, 2006 | Reuters

[FairOpinion]

CAIRO (Reuters) - Statues weighing up to five tonnes and thought to be of one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs, Ramses II, have been found northeast of Cairo, Egypt's Supreme Antiquities Council said in a statement on Sunday.

Ramses II ruled Egypt from 1304 to 1237 BC, and presided over an era of great military expansion, erecting statues and temples to himself all over Egypt. He is traditionally believed to be the pharaoh mentioned in the biblical story of Moses.

"Many parts of red granite statues were found, the most important of which had features close to Ramses II ... The statue needs some restoration and weighs between four and five tonnes," the statement quoted the Council's Zahi Hawass as saying.

A royal head weighing two to three tonnes and a seated 5.1 meter (16.7 foot) statue were also found, with cartouches, or royal name signs, of Ramses II on the side of the seated statue.

The discoveries were made at a sun temple northeast of Cairo in ancient Heliopolis, a region known in ancient times for sun worship and where the Council says a calendar based on the solar year was invented.

[FairOpinion]

**FILE PHOTO** A guard stands at the entrance of the museum where a colossal statue of Ramses II, who ruled Egypt 3000 years ago, lies in the city of Memphis, Egypt July 31, 1997. Statues weighing up to five tonnes and thought to be of one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs, Ramses II, have been found northeast of Cairo, Egypt's Supreme Antiquities Council said in a statement on Sunday.(AP Photo/Enric Marti)

Note this is FILE photo, but this is what accompanied the article. I guess there are no pictures posted yet of the latest find.

I would like to see the pictures of the latest, not to mention seeing them in real life.

[FairOpinion]

GGG PING

[FairOpinion]

Another article:


Ancient Sun Temple Uncovered in Cairo


CAIRO, Egypt - Archaeologists discovered a pharaonic sun temple with large statues believed to be of King Ramses II under an outdoor marketplace in Cairo, Egypt's antiquities chief said Sunday.

The partially uncovered site is the largest sun temple ever found in the capital's Aim Shams and Matariya districts, where the ancient city of Heliopolis — the center of pharaonic sun worship — was located, Zahi Hawass told The Associated Press.

Among the artifacts was a pink granite statue weighing 4 to 5 tons whose features "resemble those of Ramses II," said Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Also found was a 5-foot-high statue of a seated figure with hieroglyphics that include three cartouches with the name of Ramses II, and a 3-ton head of royal statue, the council said in a statement.

The green pavement stones of the temple's floor were also uncovered.

An Egyptian team working in cooperation with the German Archaeological Mission in Egypt discovered the site under the Souq al-Khamis, a popular market in eastern Cairo, Hawass said.

"The market has to be removed" as archeologists excavate the entire site, Hawass said. "Other significant discoveries might be waiting to be excavated now, and compensation will be paid to the shop owners."

"We are planning to make the whole area as a tourists and archaeological site, maybe after two years," he said.

King Ramses II, who ruled Egypt for 66 years from 1270 to 1213 B.C., had erected monuments up and down the Nile with records of his achievements, as well as building temples — including Abu Simbel, erected near what is now Egypt's southern border.

Numerous temples to Egypt's sun gods — particularly the chief god Ra — were built in ancient Heliopolis. But little remains of what was once the ancient Egyptians' most sacred cities, since much of the stone used in the temples was later plundered.

The area is now covered with residential neighborhoods, close to a modern district called Heliopolis, in Egypt's packed capital.







http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060226/ap_on_sc/egypt_sun_temple;_ylt=AgBkOIL57YKggym0nY3bdZOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-

[samadams2000]

Wow. Ramses was pre- suicide bombing.

[socal_parrot]

Looks nothing like him...

[Personal Responsibility]

I was just about to post the same thing! LOL!

[Phil Connors]

What does GGG mean?

[Cyclopean Squid]

This will lead to a sea-change in our understanding of history. Egyptologists are bound to be part ways with the old views. My only concern is that they will drown themselves will work.

[Daralundy]

GODS GRAVES GLYPHS

[Tax-chick]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs. It's a ping list for people interested in really old stuff.

[FairOpinion]

GGG -- "Gods, graves, glyphs" -- it's a ping list for various historical and archaeological threads.

SunkenCiv is the manager of the ping list, and is doing an excellent job. If you are interested, you can send him FReepmail.

You have a choice of being on the "regular" ping list, being pinged to every article, and sometimes there are quite a few, but all interesting -- or if you would rather not get so many pings, he also puts out a weekly digest, which has links to all the week's threads and some additional ones, and you get that once a week.

On a regular ping list, you get all the articles AND the weekly digest ping.

It's a ping list that has been around for some four years, and has over 500 members and growing.

"Subscription" is free, so you can try it, and if its too much, you can always switch to the digest or cancel it alltogether.

But there are many good articles I would miss, if I wouldn't get pinged to them.

When we post or see articles posted that fit the "GGG" topic, we ping SunkenCiv, so he can ping his ping list.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The G'ould just called-they want their stuff back!

[Coleus]

http://www.freerepublic.com/~sunkenciv/

[Sic Luceat Lux]

Good article, thank you.

[FOG724]

It's a ping list that has been around for some four years, and has over 500 members and growing.

Three guesses as to who started the GGG ping list.

[Phil Connors]

Thank you. I thought it was a reference to "Good Givin' Game" (a reference to the loathesome, doorknob licking fag Dan Savage, author of the column "Savage Love," who uses that term to refer to those whom the rest of us would call sluts).

Don't ask me how I know that term.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks FairOpinion. Pingin'. In profile, and to my nonspecialist eye, that particular statue doesn't look that much like Ramses II, so I'd suspect that it was one of his sons.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

Three guesses as to who started the GGG ping list.

Birth of Gods, Graves, Glyphs eyewitness accounts...

[SunkenCiv]

from the current special exhibit at the Grand Rapids Public Museum:

http://www.grmuseum.org/exhibits/egypt2/gallery.swf

Click #4.

It's a colossal head of Sesostris, uh, II I think, from the Middle Kingdom, recarved slightly for reuse as a portrait of the do-nothing megalomaniac Ramses II.

[SunkenCiv]

I'll bet you learned that during your time in Punxatawny, PA