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The nose and mouth of Amenhotep III can be seen in profile in this view of a colossal alabaster statue recently found at his funerary temple in Egypt.
An alabaster statue of the ancient Egyptian king Amenhotep III has been unearthed by a team of Egyptian and European archaeologists working at his funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor.
The 18th Dynasty king ruled from about 1390 to 1352 B.C., the height of a period known as the New Kingdom that is noted for its peace and artistic abundance. Amenhotep III was the grandfather of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun.
The statue shows Amenhoptep III seated, wearing a headdress, a pleated kilt and a royal beard, according to a news release posted today on the website of Zahi Hawass, Egypt's minister of state for antiquities.
Masterpiece of royal portraiture
Hawass described the statue's face as a masterpiece of royal portraiture. It has almond-shaped eyes outlined with cosmetic bands, a short nose and a large mouth with wide lips. The face is 4 feet (120 centimeters) tall.
The statue was found in the passageway leading to the third gate, or pylon, of the funerary temple at Kom el-Hettan, 660 feet (200 meters) behind the Colossi of Memnon, a second statue that guarded the first gate.
The statues likely stood an estimated 60 feet (20 meters) tall, according to Hourig Sourouzian, head of the mission of the Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project.
She said the statue is unique because it was carved in alabaster, a stone hewn in the quarries of Hatnub in Middle Egypt that is rarely used for colossal statues. The pair at Kom el-Hettan are the only preserved examples of their size.
The statues likely collapsed during an ancient earthquake. The back of one of the two statues thrones was discovered in a previous excavation at the site. The remaining parts will be uncovered for conservation and restored in their original location.
Deity discovered
In addition to the giant statues, the mission has also discovered the head of a deity carved in granodiorite. The head is 11 inches high (28.5 centimeters high) and represents a male god wearing a striated wig. Part of his plaited divine beard is preserved under the chin.
The deity was found in the central part of the temple's great court, which has also yielded a red quartzite stele of Amenhotep III.
The stele was originally 30 feet (9 meters) tall. It is being reconstructed from 27 large pieces and several small ones up to about four-fifths of its original height.
The stone slab's round top will be put in place next season, the archaeologists report. That part of stele bears two scenes representing Amenhotep III and his queen consort, Tiye, bringing offerings to the gods, Amun Re and Sokar.
The rest of the stele is decorated with 25 lines of sunken hieroglyphic inscriptions, which list the temples Amenhotep III dedicated to the great gods of Thebes.
More stories from ancient Egypt:
- Enormous statue of powerful pharaoh unearthed
- Massive head of pharaoh unearthed in Egypt
- Two statues of ancient pharaoh found
- Egypt: Missing pieces of 3,400-year-old statue unearthed
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
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... looks VERY reminiscent of Mexican/Central American temple carvings ... hmmm ...
Many experts have noted the similarities between the two cultures, they might be linked in some way. A century ago some linguists even thought that the Mayan writing was related to the Egyptian one. There are many mysteries that haven't been solved satisfactorily yet.
Hello? Erich Von Daniken? We have some folks interested in your mysterious links between Ancient Cultures theories...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods%3F
Way cool. I wonder how long conservation will take for this statue.
Zahi Hawass appears in all videos made about Egyptian archeological sites, since many years ago. Is he an antiquities tycoon in Egypt? I read that he had denied permission to the people that wanted to prove that the Great Pyramid of Giza had been made using an internal ramp, even though they only wanted to use non-destructive methods. He appears to have absolute power over all Egyptian antiquities. He's ubiquitous, that's for sure.
Ubiquitous. That's a good word for him. I'm not sure exactly what his title is, the article says Minister of State for Egyptian Antiquities, but for sure, he's got his mits on everything over there.
It seems his heart is in the right place in terms of preserving what is there, protecting it from exploitation by foreigners, as has happened so much in Egypt's past, and bringing new discoveries to public light for all to see, but at times, his gigantic ego just makes me groan as soon as I hear that voice of his... "Aw, jeez, not this guy again!"
I am so glad that someone else thinks the same as I do about "Mr. Know It All", that I could go outside and just start screaming until they could hear my voice in "EGYPT", Hallelujah.
Lets Hope that whatever the new regime is in Egypt will honor there historic past and not destroy it
Shouldn't the editor have caught "bears" and replaced it with bares? Just saying.
No, in that particular context, "bears" is correct - meaning that the statue bears the inscriptions.
Beware of bare bears bearing beers in bars. Unless you're into that kind of thing...
Myolman - to answer your question, Zahi Hawass is the head of Egypt's Antiquities Council and is, in fact, the "final word" on what happens to Egypt's cultural and archaeological resources. He's a great archaeologist, but he's also a bit of a jerk personally. (As an archaeologist myself, while I haven't met him directly, I have several friends whose judgment I trust who've confirmed that about him.)
That's also why he had the authority to grant or deny permission for work inside the Great Pyramid - he's the one who makes the final decisions on who has access to archaeological and historic sites in Egypt.
amenhotep was tut's grand pappy...ain't that cool..
Interesting. What does this description (and the image itself) possibly imply about the ethnicity of Ahmenhotep III?
Dr Hawass's retirement was recently extended because he was at the age of mandatory retirement. Too bad they did not tell him in order for him to keep his position, that he would have to treat "the living" with the same dignity as he attempts to treat the "deceased bodies".