CAIRO - Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said Thursday that archeologists had discovered a 3,400-year-old statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III together with a falcon-headed sun god in south Egypt's Luxor. SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawwas said the statue was one of the most beautiful statues ever found recently in Amenhotep III's funerary temple, who had a large quantity of statues featuring him with many different ancient gods. Amenhotep III, who was believed to be the grandfather of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun, ruled in the 14th century B.C. in one of the most prosperous period of Egypt's New Kingdom and presided over a vast empire stretching from Nubia in the south to Syria in the north. Earlier this month, Egyptian archeologists found the upper part of a double statue of the Pharaoh sitting on his throne, with chief deity Amun.
