Free Republic

Archaeologists with the University of Tübingen, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, uncovered ancient Egyptian murals depicting the zodiac signs beneath 2,000 years of grime and soot in the Temple of Esna. The archaeologists have been working to restore the temple, which lies on the West Bank of the Nile, near the city of Luxor, which was once known as Thebes. “The zodiac was used to decorate private tombs and sarcophagi and was of great importance in astrological texts, such as horoscopes found inscribed on pottery sherds,” Dr. Daniel von Recklinghausen, a Tübingen researcher, said in...

Egypt's first complete Zodiac was uncovered on the ceiling of the Temple of Esna in Luxor governorate during restoration work carried out by an Egyptian-German expedition...After five years of cleaning and restoration work, the joint Egyptian-German mission uncovered a bright and colourful astronomical representation of the ancient Egyptian night sky.The relief contains all the twelve Zodiac signs, the outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, as well as depictions of the so-called seven arrows and constellations used by the ancient Egyptians in time measurement....these findings were not recorded by the temple's previous publication by late French Egyptologist Serge Sauneron, who...

Remnants of an ancient city dating back to the Roman Empire have been unearthed in the Egyptian city of Luxor. Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery in a news release Tuesday. Images of the site reveal the remains of a residential community. Authorities are describing the unearthed city as the oldest remaining structures in this area of Luxor. Mostafa Waziri of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities called the area the “most important and oldest residential city on the eastern mainland in Luxor Governorate,” according to the news release, as translated by Google. Modern-day Luxor contains the ruins...

...a number of residential buildings, along with workshops and pigeon towers..., according to a ministry statement, which noted that this is the "first complete residential city" from the Roman Empire era found in east Luxor. A variety of artifacts were also uncovered, including pottery, bells, grinding tools (often used for food preparation), and Roman coins made of copper and bronze...Susanna McFadden, a professor of art history at the University of Hong Kong who specializes in Greco-Roman art, called the finds "exciting news." She is curious to learn how the team determined that the remains dated to the second and third...

A group of Egyptologists from Spain have discovered two tombs that housed almost 60 mummies at site in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor.“The most important thing this year is the discovery of two tombs, almost six meters deep,” made up of “two chambers each and housing around 60 mummies and remains of mummies,” Francisco J. Martin, the president of the Vizier Amenhotep Huy Project, told EFE.Martín, who leads a team of 22 Spanish Egyptologists and eight Egyptian experts, said the tombs were dated after Vizier Amenhotep-Huy’s tomb (18th dynasty).The site is a rich example of the architectural style and...

Ancient Egyptian carving sheds light on Karnak temple Sun Dec 17, 5:11 PM ET CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt announced the discovery of a carving dating back to the 12th century BC which could hold the key to valuable information on Karnak temple, the largest ancient religious site in the world. The large quartzite stone, carved with 17 lines of hieroglyphics, highlights the achievements of high priest Bak En Khonso and his contributions to the grand hall at Karnak. The 170 cm by 80 cm carving (5.5 by 2.5 feet), unearthed by a team of archeologists in the southern Nile city...

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced Sept. 22 that the joint Egyptian-German archaeological mission working on the Temple of Esna in Luxor governorate (south Egypt) has restored several inscriptions, drawings and colors in the temple’s ceiling...The Temple of Esna, near the west bank of the Nile River in the city of Esna in southern Egypt, was begun during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius in the first century AD and finished in the era of Emperor Decius between 249-251. It was dedicated to the ancient deity Khnum, who is usually depicted with the head of a ram...The colors...

The United States killed al Qaeda boss Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike Saturday, following a more than 20-year effort to assassinate the terrorist. Labeled by US officials as Osama bin Laden’s number-two, al-Zawahiri, 71, was a key plotter of the September 11 terrorist attacks and took over as the leader of the notorious terror group following bin Laden’s death in 2011. The strike was carried out early Sunday at an Afghanistan safe house the elderly terrorist had be holed up in, at 6:18 am local time and 9:48 pm Saturday in the US. The early morning attack saw al-Zawahiri...

A settlement that was buried beneath the sand for thousands of years—and eluded archaeologists for centuries—is believed to be one of the largest ancient Egyptian cities ever unearthed. The site was discovered by a stroke of good luck when archaeologists began searching for the mortuary temple of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun (r. ca. 1336–1327 B.C.) along the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. What they found instead was a well-preserved urban settlement filled with houses, streets, and walls, some of which still stand 10 feet tall. Hieroglyphic inscriptions indicate the city was called tehn Aten, or “dazzling” Aten, and...

Egypt unveiled a sacred road lined with thousands of statues on Thursday, which was used as a procession route for the gods 3,000 years ago. Called the Avenue of Sphinxes, this 1.7-mile stretch features more than 1,050 statues of sphinxes and rams that has been reconstructed with the hopes of attracting tourists from around the world. The ancient walkway, also known as the Way of the Rams and the Path of the Gods, connects the famous Karnak and Luxor temples in what was the city of Thebes, which used to be Egypt's capital in antiquity. ...The glitzy ceremony began at...

Controversy has recently arisen about moving four sphinxes from their find spot in Luxor (ancient Thebes) to Cairo's Tahrir Square. Archaeologists and heritage experts argue that using the statues to decorate a traffic circle in the congested heart of the Egyptian capital is unlawful and may inadvertently damage the monuments. Not only is Tahrir Square one of the busiest places in the country -- it was the epicenter of the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and is the location of the Egyptian Museum -- but Cairo also suffers from extreme air pollution and high humidity. The sandstone statues...

Work on the Al-Kabbash Road project, linking the temple complexes of Luxor and Karnak – which date back to around 1400 BCE, when Luxor was known as the ancient city of Thebes – is due to be finished later this year. However, the discovery of the statue has brought a temporary stop as the statue cannot currently be moved. Not very much is known about it yet, and photos are limited. According to the Director General of Antiquities at Luxor, Dr Mohamed Abdel Aziz, speaking to news site Youm, the workers found a statue of a “lion’s body with a human head”,...

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the tomb of a royal goldsmith containing the mummies of a woman and her two children, authorities said. The tomb, dating back to the New Kingdom (16th to 11th Centuries BC), was found near the Nile city of Luxor, 400 miles (700km) south of Cairo. Among the items discovered inside was a statue of the goldsmith Amenemhat, sitting beside his wife. ... According to the archaeologists, the mother died aged about 50, with tests revealing she had a bacterial bone disease. Her two sons were in their 20s and 30s and their bodies said to...

A flake of limestone (ostracon) inscribed with an ancient Egyptian word list of the fifteenth century BC turns out to be the world's oldest known abecedary. The words have been arranged according to their initial sounds, and the order followed here is one that is still known today. This discovery by Ben Haring (Leiden University) with funding from Free Competition Humanities has been published in the October issue of the 'Journal of Near Eastern Studies'. The order is not the ABC of modern western alphabets, but Halaham (HLHM), the order known from the Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Arabian and Classical Ethiopian...

After analysing high-resolution scans of the walls of Tutankhamun's grave complex in the Valley of the Kings, Dr Reeves spotted what appeared to be a secret entrance. He described how he uncovered the 'ghosts' of two portals that tomb builders blocked up, one of which is believed to be a storage room. The other, on the north side of Tutankhamun's tomb, contains 'the undisturbed burial of the tomb's original owner - Nefertiti', Dr Reeves argued. If Dr Reeves is correct, the hidden tomb could be far more magnificent than anything found in Tutankhamun's burial chamber. He believes it is her...

Any scholar who knows archaeology should discuss his theory in the presence of scholars who know the Valley of the Kings and are working there now. Instead, this theory was analysed by Egyptologists who have never worked in the valley or written a single article on Tutankhamun or his tomb. Reeves has gained a lot of publicity for saying nothing.

Ahram Online spoke with Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty regarding an upcoming radar scan of Tutankhamun’s tomb to determine if Queen Nefertiti is buried in a hidden chamber. The theory that Nefertiti may be buried in Tutankhamun’s tomb was introduced by Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves. Ahram Online (AO): What is your opinion about Reeves' theory, and could it be true? Minister: It is a respectable scientific theory that could prove right or wrong, and when examining the west and north walls of Tutankhamun’s burial chamber, I realised that all the evidence that Reeves mentioned regarding the existence of hidden chambers is...

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian official says the Antiquities Ministry has given initial approval for the use of non-invasive radar to verify a theory that Queen Nefertiti's crypt may be hidden behind King Tutankhamun's 3,300-year-old tomb in the famous Valley of the Kings.

The assault — a suicide explosion and fierce exchange of gunfire — left as many as three attackers dead and at least five other people injured, Egyptian officials and media reports said. It came a week after unidentified gunmen killed two tourist police in a drive-by shooting near the Pyramids of Giza outside Cairo. ... Three attackers armed with bombs and weapons tried to cross the security cordon at Karnak Temple, but were faced by security forces who foiled their attempt,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement. It also confirmed the deaths of three attackers. There was no indication...

Another 18th Dynasty tomb has been discovered by archaeologists from the American Research Center in Egypt at Al-Qurna in Luxor. Paintings on the walls of this New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.) tomb "are records of daily life practices that prevailed in that era," according to a statement made by Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty. This tomb, which belonged to Satmut and his wife Ta-kh-at, was also looted in antiquity, and some of the scenes and inscriptions on its walls were erased. "The newly discovered tomb is located to the east of TT110 and they share the same courtyard. The tomb door is...