Farmer in Egypt finds fragments of two possible statues of Ramses II — Jerusalem Post
In the village of Behbeit el-Hagar in northern Egypt, farmer Khaled el-Shahat Khalil accidentally discovered fragments of two large statues while working on his own land. According to preliminary assessments, they may depict Pharaoh Ramses II. The Jerusalem Post reports, citing Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
After the discovery, the farmer notified the ministry, which sent a team to the village for rescue archaeological excavations. Behbeit el-Hagar is also an archaeological site where the remains of an ancient temple to the goddess Isis, known as the Iseum, have been preserved.
A 1.6-meter-tall head fragment
The first of the discovered fragments is a head about 1.6 meters tall. It depicts the pharaoh wearing the pschent, the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The rear part of the statue was also found nearby, bearing an inscription containing the Horus name of Ramses II — Hor Ka Nakht Meri Maat, translated as “Mighty Bull, Beloved of Maat.”
Hisham el-Leithy, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the size of the head indicates that the original statue may have been about 8.5 meters tall.
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Second statue and granite block with inscriptions
The second statue fragment, also linked to Ramses II, is 2.4 meters high. The pharaoh's facial features are well preserved on it. The sculpture has no legs or base, and the upper part of the traditional nemes headdress is missing.
A block of pink granite with several hieroglyphic inscriptions was discovered along with the fragments. They include the titles “Nesu-Bity,” meaning “king of Upper and Lower Egypt,” as well as “Sa Ra” — “son of Ra.”
Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy presented Khalil and his wife with a certificate in recognition of reporting the finds. He emphasized the significance of the discovered fragments for further study of Egypt's history.
