Still vast, no longer trunkless

March 20, 2024 12:16 PM

Massive Missing Head of Ancient Ramesses II Statue Uncovered. "Egyptian and American researchers recently uncovered the top half of an ancient statue depicting the pharaoh Ramesses II, completing a puzzle that has remained unsolved since 1930, when German archaeologist Günther Roeder initially uncovered the bottom half."

This is not the same broken statue of Ramesses that inspired Shelley's Ozymandias, which wouldn't have really made any sense, but would have been funnier.

posted by moonmilk (19 comments total)

we should get a Kickstarter going so that we can get it dropped on a Tesla
posted by paimapi at 12:43 PM on March 20 [25 favorites]

How far apart were the top and bottom halves found? I'm wondering why, after they found the bottom in 1930, it took until now to find the top. I'm guessing they knew it must be somewhere nearby but couldn't dig around there for some reason until now.
posted by pracowity at 12:48 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

Headless statue found in templess bar!
posted by chavenet at 1:05 PM on March 20 [22 favorites]

Bonus points for the post title. I'll skip my Ozymandias joke now.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:06 PM on March 20 [5 favorites]

Seriously, I too thought there was a Tesla involved in this story
posted by infini at 2:00 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

ps. Can we add Egypt to the tags pls?
posted by infini at 2:00 PM on March 20 [1 favorite]

It is pretty amazing that we keep finding this old shit...

You'd think it would be gone by now, or, already plundered or explored/scanned. But rocks take a long time to decay. Geology. Love it!
posted by Windopaene at 2:02 PM on March 20 [2 favorites]

I'm wondering why, after they found the bottom in 1930, it took until now to find the top.

their first mistake was thinking it was lifeless. inert. their second mistake was assuming it wanted to be found.

dun dundunDUN
posted by elkevelvet at 2:07 PM on March 20 [14 favorites]

Discarded lines:
One vast and brick-like beard stood on his chin,
And on his head, the biggest, weirdest fro.
posted by pracowity at 2:12 PM on March 20 [4 favorites]

"Six vast, and trunkless legs legs of stone"
posted by Windopaene at 2:12 PM on March 20 [3 favorites]

Dang, forgot to add the link back to the ant thread. Can't find...
posted by Windopaene at 2:14 PM on March 20

ps. Can we add Egypt to the tags pls?

And the "big frickin' statue" tag!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:30 PM on March 20

There are always too many bottoms and not enough tops, this is great news!
posted by sixswitch at 2:49 PM on March 20 [5 favorites]

ing of kings
nd despair
posted by Going To Maine at 2:57 PM on March 20

I haven’t been able to figure out whether Roeder or later researchers knew the lower half was from a statue of Ramesses II. Maybe context or an inscription was sufficient to ID it, or the pharoah had distinctive feet. Was the puzzle who is this?, or was it where’s Ramesses’ head got to?
posted by zamboni at 6:38 PM on March 20 [1 favorite]

There was on loan to the Met for a few years (I saw it in ~2018) an Hellenic item called Fragmentary Colossal Head of a Youth which is, well, fragmentary (it's the bottom half of the head) and truly colossal. You can google up photos of it but lemme tell you: no picture remotely begins to capture it. I was mesmerized.
posted by neuron at 9:58 PM on March 20 [4 favorites]

I believe it inspired an album title for the very aptly named Young Marble Giants.
posted by y2karl at 11:56 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

See also
posted by y2karl at 12:01 PM on March 21

And as Katullus's They were good, they were you post in the See also above revealed, Mefi's own dinsdale not Trevor was present.
posted by y2karl at 12:15 PM on March 21