Ramses II, the third Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, was one of the most powerful and celebrated rulers in ancient Egyptian history. He led several military expeditions and expanded the Egyptian Empire to stretch from Syria in the east to Nubia in the south. His successors referred to him as the “Great Ancestor.” In March of 2017, a 26-foot statue was found submerged in ground water in a Cairo slum by a joint Egyptian-German archaeological expedition. The statue was discovered near the ruins of Ramses II’s temple in the ancient city of Heliopolis, which is located in the eastern part of modern-day Cairo. The Antiquities Ministry hailed the discovery as one of the most important finds ever, and experts believe the statue likely depicts Ramses II. The head of the statue was pulled out of the water by a massive forklift in the presence of archaeologists, officials, local residents, and members of the news media. The joint expedition also found the upper part of a life-sized limestone statue of Pharaoh Seti II, Ramses II’s grandson, which is 31 inches long. The sun temple in Heliopolis was founded by Ramses II, lending support to the likelihood that the statue is of him. The temple was one of the largest in Egypt, almost double the size of Luxor’s Karnak, but was destroyed in Greco-Roman times. Stones from the site were looted and used for building as Cairo developed, and many of its obelisks were moved to Alexandria or to Europe.
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