1st Akhenaton's mother, largest hippo statues unearthed

A rare statue of Queen Ti, mother of Akhenaton, the first in history to propagate monotheist calls, and the wife of King Amenhotep III, was unearthed in the Al-Bar El-Gharbi West Bank area in the ancient Egyptian archaeological city of Luxor, said Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.

Touring Luxor Sunday accompanied by the People's Assembly Housing Committee under Mohamed Abul-Enein and Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary General Zahi Hawas, the minister said the find was made by a German mission inside the Amenhotep III Temple.

He added the largest alabaster life-size headless statue of a hippopotamus was also unearthed in the floor of a temple basement in the Kom El-Hitan area.

The culture minister Sunday inaugurated the tomb and sarcophagus of King Ramses VI (1156-1149 BC) of the 20th Dynasty after finishing restoration works.

The tomb is number nine amongst the tombs of the Valley of Kings, located over the tomb of Tutankhamen.

The project, accomplished by the SCA in tandem with the American Research Center and financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), involves restoration of the recently-found sarcophagus.

The tomb was open for visits until the 1st and 2nd centuries (AD).

This is the first time to rebuild and display a royal sarcophagus of the Modern Kingdom era inside the tomb.