A statue depicting Pharaoh Ramesses II (“Ramesses the Great”), believed by many to have been the pharaoh in the biblical story of the Exodus, was found at the Tel Faraon archaeological site near El Husseiniya along the Nile Delta, the Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said on Wednesday.
The statue of Ramesses the Great is incomplete, the ministry said, missing both its legs and base.
Even so, Hisham el-Leithy, Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that, according to initial assessments, the statue weighs approximately 5 to 6 tons and stands at around 2.20 meters tall (just over 7 feet).
Leithy added that though the statue had been poorly preserved, the remaining features “display artistic and royal features suggesting it was once part of a Triad, similar to those uncovered at a number of archaeological sites across Sharqia Governorate.”
Tel Faraon, or Nebeshe, is located south of Tanis and was known in antiquity as the city of Imet, the ancient capital of the 19th Nome of Lower Egypt. It is also home to a temple of Wadjet, the cobra and protector goddess of Lower Egypt.
Further, Leithy noted that the discovery “sheds light on aspects of religious and royal activity in the eastern Delta region,” aiding archaeologists and historians in understanding the phenomena of “transferring and repurposing royal statues during the New Kingdom period.”
Initial analysis of the statue suggested that it had been transported from the ancient city of Pi-Ramesses, the capital of Egypt’s 19th dynasty, to Imet for reuse in a temple.
This, noted Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities' Egyptian Antiquities Sector, reflected the “religious and historical significance of the [Tel Faraon] site across different eras.”
Immediately after discovery, the statue was transferred to a museum storage warehouse in the San Al-Hajar area for further preservation and study.
Other significant finds at the Tel Faraon site
Another significant find at the site happened in September 2025, when archaeologists uncovered a sandstone stele bearing a complete hieroglyphic version of the Canopus Decree.
The decree, issued by priests in 238 BCE in honor of Pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes and Queen Berenice, addressed military affairs, rebellions, grain imports during drought, tax relief when the Nile ran low, and instituted an annual festival linked to the heliacal rising of Sirius.
It also proposed adding an extra day every four years, foreshadowing the Julian calendar, and ordered that copies be inscribed in hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek, and be displayed in major temples.
At the time, ministry officials said that the discovery “opens new horizons for understanding the ancient Egyptian language.”