Thursday, March 02, 2006

More re new temple at Heliopolis

Two-page article on the National Geographic website re the recent discovery of a temple under a market in Heliopolis, on the outskirts of Cairo: "An Egyptian team has been cooperating with a team from the German Archaeological Institute on the excavations in the Ain Shams and Matariya neighborhoods of Cairo . . . . The temple was built of limestone, and the archaeologists have uncovered the remains of one pillar bearing inscriptions of Ramses II. The researchers are currently excavating the entrance area and the west side of the temple site. They have found chambers for the storage of wheat, a kiln for making amulets, part of a large statue—the head of which weighs 5 tons (4.5 metric tons) and would have stood almost 20 feet (6 meters) tall—and another head of granite, weighing 2 tons (1.8 metric tons). 'Perhaps the most exciting [find] is an unusual seated statue that shows Ramses II in the leopard skin of a priest, showing that he built this temple as the high priest of Re', Hawass said."
See the full story at the above website.

Also reported on AlJazeera, with a couple of photographs:
Also at:
http://www.inform.kz/txt/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=140197

The German excavation team working at the site have also published information on the subject on the following web page (with thanks to Geoffrey Tassie from the Egyptian Cultural Heritage Organization):

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