Enormous statue of powerful pharoah unearthed

The 13m tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of 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. -- PHOTO: AP

CAIRO - ARCHEOLOGISTS unearthed one of the largest statues to date of a powerful ancient Egyptian pharoah at his mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor, the country's antiquities authority announced on Tuesday.

The 13m tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of 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.

The statue consists of seven large quartzite blocks and still lacks a head and was actually first discovered in the 1970s and then rehidden, according to the press release from the country's antiquities authority. Archaeologists expect to find its twin in the next digging season.

Excavation supervior Abdel-Ghaffar Wagdi said two other statues were also unearthed, one of the god Thoth with a baboon's head and and 1.85cm tall one of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet.

Archaeologists working on the temple over the past few years have issued a flood of announcements about new discoveries of statues.

The 3,400-year-old temple is one of the largest on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, where the powerful pharoahs of Egypt's New Kingdom built their tombs. -- AP

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