The Egyptian antiquities service has re-erected 2 statues on their original site in the memorial temple of Amenhotep III at Luxor. Amenhotep III was known as "the magnificent" because he reigned during the epoch of the Egyptian empire in the middle of the 14th century BC.
The king's temple, millions of years was the largest of the memorial temples at Luxor but became damaged by an earthquake shortly after the king's death. By the time of Pharaoh Merenptah, at the end of the 13th century BC, the blocks and sculptures from the temple were reused in the elderly Merenptah's own temple.
This last step was fortunate as those blocks which were reused had their sculpted surfaces turned down so the original decoration was hidden away and protected from further damage. Merenptah's workmen also took a stela from the site inscribed for Amenhotep III and carved the back for Merenptah.
The stela was found by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1896 and is considered by many to be that famous archaeologist's most important find, this being because the stela's inscription contains the first known mention in archaeology of "Israel".
AFP Photo/ Khaled Desouki
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