QENA, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that traces of a shrine, including a sphinx with the smiling face of an individual who is believed to be a Roman emperor, were uncovered at the site of the Horus Temple in the Dendera Temple complex by a team of researchers led by Mamdouh El-Damaty of Ain Shams University. El-Damaty said that the shrine had a two-level platform and a ramp, which had been carved from limestone. Inside the shrine, he and his team members found a mudbrick basin built during the Byzantine era and a ladder covered with plaster. The sphinx was found within this basin, El-Damaty said. A Roman stela carved with Demotic and hieroglyphic inscriptions was found beneath the statue. Its text could help to identify the face of the sphinx, he explained. To read about innovative research on Roman mummy portraits from the Fayum region of Lower Egypt, go to "At Face Value."
