MATARIYA 2016: RAMESSIDE DYNASTIES AT HELIOPOLIS
Photo: Dietrich Raue
(664–610 BC) in Rome in front of the Italian Parliament leave no doubt about Saite royal investment in Heliopolis – but the areas so far investigated in the western third of the temple with its vast Ramesside buildings remained unaffected by any building or embellishing activities until Nectanebo I took the initiative again in his renaissance project as the new Kheperkara (= Sesostris).
Photo: Dietrich Raue.
Above: the paw of a colossal sphinx found in Area 221. Left: fragment from a gate of Ramesses II, showing the king with an elongated khepreshcrown.
• Aiman Ashmawy is General Director of Antiquities of Lower Egypt. Dietrich Raue is custodian at the Egyptian Museum Georg Steindorff (University of Leipzig). The mission cooperates with the University of Applied Sciences Mainz (Kai-Christian Bruhn) and is grateful for the ongoing support of the DFG, the DAI, the German Embassy in Cairo, the Fondation Schif f- Gior gini, the European Foundation for Education and Culture of the Rahn-Dittrich Group, the Mehen Foundation for Culture and private donors. To HE the Ministers of Antiquities Prof Dr Khaled el-Enany and Mamdouh Eldamaty, the general assembly of the MoA, the director of the inspectorate of Matariya, Khalid Mohammed Abu´l-Ela, the director of the museum at the obelisk of Heliopolis, Hoda Kamal Ahmed, and the staff of the inspectorate and the storerooms of Matariya and Tell Hisn we express our sincere gratitude for their ongoing support. EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY ISSUE NO 50 SPRING 2017
21