Egypt archaeologists uncover sphinx statue of Roman emperor ‘with smiling face’

The Hathor Temple near where the sphinx was unearthed is most famous for yielding the so-called “Dendera zodiac”, a stunning celestial map from the ceiling of the entrance to a late Greco–Roman temple dedicated to the god Osiris.

The relief is centred on the north pole star, with an inner disc depicting constellations of the zodiac. Some are represented in the same forms that might be familiar today — Aries the ram, Taurus the bull, etc — while others have a more Egyptian form.

The constellation of Aquarius, for example, is represented by the flood god Hapy.

In 1820, the zodiac was removed from the ceiling of the temple and replaced with a fake, with the original ending up in the Louvre in Paris, where it remains on display in the present day.

There remains controversy as to whether Sébastien Louis Saulnier — the antique dealer who commissioned the removal of the zodiac — had been granted permission to do so.

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1743187/egypt-sphinx-statue-dendera-temple-smiley-face-emperor-claudius