Egyptian archeological mission discovers sphinx statue in Aswan

CAIRO – 16 September 2018: A sphinx statue made of sandstone was discovered in Aswan by the Egyptian archaeological mission working on the project of reducing the groundwater level in the Temple of KomOmbo.

Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities MostafaWaziri announced that the discovered sphinx most probably dates back to the Ptolemaic era andthat it was found in the south-eastern side of KomOmboTemple in the area between the outer wall of the temple and the archaeological hill.

This is the same site where the two sandstone reliefs of King Ptolemy V were discovered in August.

General Director of the Aswan and Nubia antiquities council Abdel MoneimSaeed recounted that the mission will carry out extensive studies on the sphinx to gather more information about its history and the king it belongs to.

The two previously discovered sandstone reliefs of King Ptolemy V were made of sandstone; one of them is dome-shaped and topped with a sun disk bearing the image of Ptolemy XII and his wife Cleopatra V with their daughters. The piece contains 29 lines of hieroglyphic writing.

The other piece has the image of Ptolemy V holding a whip in one hand and a prisoner in the other. The piece also comprisestwo texts; 29 lines of hieroglyphic writing and 33 lines of Demotic writing. The two ancient pieces date back to the Ptolemaic era.

The discovery was made while the commission was undergoing their current works of removing groundwater from under the Temple of KomOmbo in the city of Aswan, south of Egypt.
The Ptolemaic Kingdom was founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter (Macedonian General), who declared himself pharaoh of Egypt and created thepowerful Hellenistic dynasty that ruled an area stretching from southern Syria to Cyrene and south to Nubia.

It is worth noting that each of the two previously discovered pieces is two meters in height, and consists of numerous codes and carvings that the commission is working on decoding.

The national project of reducing groundwater in the Temple of KomOmbo and Edfo in Aswan cost almost $9 million.

The governor of Aswan is co-operating with numerous local and international entities in order to convert Aswan into a modernized touristic hub. Egyptians are very eager to completethe conversion and to restore the city’s previous solid position among international touristic hotspots worldwide.