Giant 3,000-year-old statue of Pharaoh Ramses II found buried in a Cairo slum

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4297944/Colossus-probably-depicting-Ramses-II-Egypt.html

[size=38]Giant 3,000-year-old statue of Pharaoh Ramses II found buried in a Cairo slum is hailed as 'one of the most important discoveries ever'[/size]

• Researchers from Egypt and Germany found the bust of the statue and the lower part of the head
  
  
• They also found upper part of a life-sized limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II, Ramses II's grandson
  
  
• Discovery was made in the working class area of Matariya among unfinished buildings and mud roads
  
  
• It shows shows importance of the city of Heliopolis, dedicated to worship of Ra, the sun god 
  
  

By REUTERS and TIM COLLINS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:00 EST, 9 March 2017 | UPDATED: 09:52 EST, 10 March 2017

 

 

 

 

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Archaeologists from Egypt and Germany have found a massive 26ft (8 metre) statue submerged in ground water in a Cairo slum.
Researchers say it probably depicts revered Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.
The discovery, hailed by the Antiquities Ministry as one of the most important ever, was made near the ruins of Ramses II's temple in the ancient city of Heliopolis, located in the eastern part of modern-day Cairo.

Archaeologists from Egypt and Germany have found a massive 26ft (8 metre) statue submerged in ground water in a Cairo slum. Researchers say it probably depicts revered Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago 

WHAT DID THEY FIND? 

Archaeologists in a Cairo suburb - once the site of the ancient capital of Heliopolis - found two pharaonic statues dating back 3,000 years.
The statues are thought to represent Pharaohs from the 19th dynasty.
One statue stands 26ft (8 meters) tall and is carved out of quartzite, a tough stone composed mostly of quartz.
It could not be identified from its engravings but it was found at the entrance to the temple of King Ramses II - also known as Ramses the Great - suggesting it represents him.
The other relic is a limestone statue of 12th century BC ruler King Seti II.
The discovery of the two statues shows the importance of the city of Heliopolis, which was dedicated to the worship of Ra.  
'Last Tuesday they called me to announce the big discovery of a colossus of a king, most probably Ramses II, made out of quartzite,' Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani told Reuters on Thursday at the site of the statue's unveiling.
The most powerful and celebrated ruler of ancient Egypt, the pharaoh also known as Ramses the Great was the third of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and ruled from 1279 to 1213 BCE.
He led several military expeditions and expanded the Egyptian Empire to stretch from Syria in the east to Nubia in the south. 
His successors called him the 'Great Ancestor'.
'We found the bust of the statue and the lower part of the head and now we removed the head and we found the crown and the right ear and a fragment of the right eye,' Anani said.
Yesterday, archaeologists, officials, local residents, and members of the news media looked on as a massive forklift pulled the statue's head out of the water
The joint Egyptian-German expedition, which included the University of Leipzig, also found the upper part of a life-sized limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II, Ramses II's grandson, that is 80 centimetres long.