Akht back home

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

A GRANITE engraving depicting a cow-shaped ancient Egyptian deity Akht is back in Egypt.

Eleven years after having gone missing from its original location in Behbit Al-Hegara temple in the Nile Delta, a granite engraving featuring the cow-shaped ancient Egyptian deity Akht has returned to its homeland.

Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawass said the engraving was a part of a larger block at Behbit Al-Hegara temple built during the reign of the 30th Dynasty King Nakhtanebo.

Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, general supervisor of the minister's office, said the story of the retrieved artefact began in 1999 when the temple was robbed by an armed gang. Thieves cut off part of the granite along with other engraved and painted fragments.