Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a red granite statue of the ancient Egyptian deity of wisdom, Thoth, the Ministry of Culture announced Sunday. The three-and-a-half-metre statue was discovered in Luxor on the north-western side of the temple to King Amenhotep III, who ruled 3,000 years ago. It depicts Thoth as a man with the head of a baboon. Thoth, seen by the ancient Egyptians as the inventor of writing, has also been carved with the head of an ibis. Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said a five-metre monkey- shaped Thoth statue was discovered in the same area last year.