January 24, 2022
The German mission, led by archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian, that has been working in the mortuary temple of king Amenhotep III since 1998, uncovered more ancient statues and remains of the temple during the past season.
King Amenhotep III was one of the most powerful and famous rulers from ancient Egypt. His mortuary temple was known as “the temple of millions of years” and is located at the West Bank of Luxor. It is currently fronted by the famous Colossi of Memnon, one of its only surviving elements, which stood in front of the temple gates that are now lost.
In ancient times the temple has suffered from sever destruction due to an earthquake. The temple of Amenhotep III originally included three massive pylon gates, an open solar courtyard, a pillared-hall, and sanctuaries. It also contained hundreds of statues representing deities and the king, sphinxes, & inscribed stelae.
The new discoveries included statues belonging to the king as a sphinx, statues representing the goddess Sekhmet, wall fragments with various decorative motifs, & a small broken statue belonging to an official. The team also found column bases belonging to the great pillared hall of the temple.
