Colossal Statue of Amenhotep III is Unearthed

A second of a pair of fallen statues of Amenhotep III ~ King Tut's grandfather ~ has been revealed at the tomb where he was buried. The statues probably toppled during an earthquake and are the only preserved examples of their size, reaching an estimated height of 59 feet.

One alabaster statue shows the Pharoah seated and wearing a Nemes headdress, a pleated kilt and a royal beard. The Nemes headdress is the striped cloth that drapes down behind a pharaoh's ears and over his shoulders.

The pair was discovered at Kom el-Hettan, on the west bank of Luxor. The statue is located in the passageway leading to the funerary temple's third gate, or pylon, some 656 feet behind the Colossi of Memnon, which guarded the first gate.

The statue pair are unique in their well-carved alabaster, according to Hourig Sourouzian, mission leader of the Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project. The stone, hewn in the quarries of Hatnub in Middle Egypt, was rarely used for such colossal statues.

Click here for the complete article.