Discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhmet

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Discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhmet

Post by DJKeefy »

Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim Ali has announced the discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhmet in Luxor governorate, official news agency MENA reported Monday.

The statues, made from black granite, were unveiled by a German excavation team in the temple of King Amenhotep III, who governed Egypt from 1410 B.C. to 1372 B.C., MENA quoted Ali as saying in a press conference.

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"For the role of Sekhmet in the reign of Amenhotep III as the goddess of war and destruction, the king was keen to establish dozens of statues to resemble her," Ali said.

The statues were transferred immediately for security reasons to another place in preparation for a restoration process, the official added in a statement.

Mansour Boraik, field director of excavations in Luxor, said all the discovered statues, 2 meters high each, incarnate an enthroned goddess in a human body and lioness head.


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Re: Discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhme

Post by Kevininabydos »

why have they held this back till now, this was two years ago!
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Re: Discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhme

Post by DJKeefy »

Ive no idea Kevininabydos, I thought i had read something similar a while back.

EDIT: the new newsfeed below says More Sekhmet statues unearthed at Amenhotep III's temple in Luxor, so it looks like a new batch, maybe the photo above is from the old find.
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Re: Discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhme

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More Sekhmet statues unearthed at Amenhotep III's temple in Luxor.

Black granite statues of the ancient Egyptian lioness goddess Sekhmet were unearthed Monday at King Amenhotep III's temple on the west bank of Luxor.

Egyptian and European excavators unearthed a collection of black granite statues depicting the ancient Egyptian lioness Goddess Sekhmet during their routine excavation at King Amenhotep III funerary temple in the Kom Al-Hittan area on the west bank of Luxor.

The statues depict the goddess Sekhmet in her usual form, sitting on the throne with a human body and lioness's head.

"This is not the first time statues of the lioness goddess have been unearthed at Kom Al-Hittan," said Mohamed Ibrahim, minister of state for antiquities adding that the Egyptian-European mission led by German Egyptologist Horig Sourouzian has previously unearthed 64 statues of Sekhment of different shapes and sizes.

Ibrahim explained that such a large number highlights the important role of the goddess during the reign of the 18th dynasty king Amenhotep III, father of the monotheistic king Akhnaten and grandfather of the golden king Tutankhamun.

Sekhmet was believed to be a protective goddess as she was also the goddess of war and destruction. "Some Egyptologists," pointed out Ibrahim, "believe that king Amenhotep constructed a large number of goddess Sekhmets in an attempt to cure him of a specific disease that he suffered during his reign." Sekhmet was well known of her supposed ability to cure critical deseases.

Mansour Boreik, supervisor of Luxor antiquities, told Ahram online that the statues are very well preserved and each one is two metres tall. He continued saying that the newly discovered statues prove Amenhotep III's funerary temple was once filled with Sekhmet statues of different sizes and shapes, similar to his temple on the east bank of Luxor, known as goddess Mut temple. This temple acted as a symbol of stability and prosperity during Amenhotep III's reign.

10 years ago, the archeologists unearthed a large number of statues of Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye; they also unearthed some parts of the temple's walls.

"The work we are doing here is not only about advancing historical knowledge, but also about saving the last remnants of a temple that was once very prestigious; it is unfortunate that it been badly damaged," Sourouzian said.

The teams aim to produce a virtual reconstruction of the temple using the latest computer programmes, she added, saying that this reconstruction would show the original position of every surviving piece within the original temple.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/66628.aspx
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Re: Discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhme

Post by Hafiz »

The Virtual Reconstruction angle. I've seen and used the American site and whilst I don't know programming costs I assume that it has cost millions. There is also a more basic site I've seem for Ammara and others. It seems to be the thing to do.

Are the Germans going to build their own interactive site to duplicate the US one? Don't answer.

All this makes me wonder whether the hits on these sites and the real or new information in them justifies the expense compared with the resources that might have been used for physical discovery and conservation (and jobs for Egyptians rather than for US programmers).

On the other hand the information on the sites is more accessible than a learned journal.

Maybe the focus on IT is just about getting grants from private endowments and from universities and governments. Maybe it is easier to sell these slick and modern products to funders versus unglamorous and hit and miss digging. I'm reminded of a luckless but well funded American who was selling the benefits (limited) of (expensive) satellite imaging. The novelty value of this (not new) technology seemed to attract a lot of positive attention. Maybe its the same with archaeology in general - unpromoted or unhyped work doesn't get attention.

I've found them useful, but a bit of a gimmick, although they do draw a deal of information together in one place.
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Re: Discovery of 14 ancient stone statues for Goddess Sekhme

Post by FABlux »

Kevin this is a new find :)
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