The upper half of a giant statue of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II has been discovered near the ancient city of Hermopolis (modern-day el-Ashmunein), about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Cairo.
The large stone piece is about 12.5 feet (3.8 meters) tall and depicts Ramesses II (reign circa 1279 to 1213 B.C.) wearing a double crown and a headdress topped with a royal cobra, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in an Arabic language statement. The back of the statue has hieroglyphs that state the various titles of the king. These titles help to glorify Ramesses II, according to the statement.
The lower part of the statue was found in 1930 by German archaeologist Günther Roeder. The original statue, when the lower and upper parts were together, would have stood about 23 feet (7 m) tall, the statement said.
Would have liked to know why it took so long to find it, and also more on the other stuff they found. And was this just them messing up and finding it while working to restore the Ashmunein Basilica, and as it was found there was there any wrong doing of the Christians of the time to deface the statue to start with.