Repairs to the temple of Kom Ombo hosts.
Sphinx statue in the shape of an animal and a human face – has been discovered by archaeologists during work on the purification of groundwater of the temple of Kom Ombo in southern Egypt.
This was reported on Sunday the Ministry of antiquities, writes the Chronicle.info.
According to General Secretary of the Supreme Council of antiquities Mustafa Vaziri, “finding, most probably belongs to the Ptolemaic period” (331 BC – 31 BC). An indirect confirmation of this, he explained, is that the artifact was found in the same South-Eastern part of the ancient Egyptian temple, where two months ago I found a statue of the Pharaoh Ptolemy V (204-180 BC) as well as two ancient monuments of the same time period.
The statue is indicated in the widespread communique of the Ministry, has relatively small dimensions – 28 cm wide at the base of the pedestal. The head of the Sphinx is decorated with the uraeus – a Royal headdress with the image of the goddess, the Cobra, Uadjit, finish the ritual beard of the Pharaoh. Extracted from the ground the monument is in excellent condition, even save paint eyes, eyebrows and the pupils of the statue made of Sandstone was grayed out.
Repairs to the temple of Kom Ombo have been held for about a year, and during that time there were made some interesting archaeological discoveries. In particular, scientists have found fragments of huge statues of Pharaoh Ramses II, one of the most famous and illustrious of the kings of Ancient Egypt, and several other ancient statues, and a bust of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
In Ancient Egypt, Kom Ombo was the capital of the fifth nome (province) of the country. The first mention of it refers to the First transition period (XX century BC). In those days there was erected cult buildings, but from which little has survived.
Already in the Ptolemaic period (IV century BC) at Kom Ombo was built two temples out of stone. One wing of the sanctuary was dedicated crocodyloidea God Sebek, the other to the Mountain God, who was depicted as a Falcon. The decoration of the temple was completed only in the II-III centuries ad