4,500 Newly Discovered Fragments Help Piece Together Massive Psamtik I Statue

The pieces gave researchers a better idea of the size and shape of the colossus



Partial rendering of Psamtek I’s statue (Ministry of Antiquities)
By Julissa Treviño
SMITHSONIAN.COM
APRIL 20, 2018

In March 2017, part of an ancient colossus was uncovered in the northeast Cairo neighborhood that was once the ancient city of Heliopolis. Though it was originally believed to depict Ramses II, antiquities minister Khaled Al-Anani later announced that hieroglyphics indicated it was likely of Psamtik I, a lesser-known pharaoh who ruled Egypt from 664 to 610 B.C.

Now, as Nevine El-Aref of the state-owned outlet Ahram Online reports, researchers at a Egyptian-German excavation have puzzled together new information about the statue after discovering 4,500 more of its fragments.

“The new fragments confirm that the colossus once depicted King Psamtik I standing, but it also reveals that his left arm was held in front of the body, an unusual feature. A very carefully carved scene on the back-pillar shows the kneeling king Psamtek I in front of the creator-god Atum of Heliopolis,” Ayman Ashmawy, head of the ministry of antiquities’ ancient Egyptian sector, tells El-Aref.

The researchers have created a digital rendering of the colossus based on the now- 6,400 known fragments of it. The depiction reveals what part of the upper half of the statue of Psamtek would look like.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fragments-pharaoh-statue-deliberately-destroyed-found-egypt-180968789/#E5bqKkzeO078OcmH.99