Vita gazette:  Egypt archaeologists uncover sphinx statue of a Roman emperor with a smiling face. The team also unearthed a Roman-era stele, or stone slab, engraved in both hieroglyphic and demotic scripts, the text pending translation.

Archaeologists in Southern Egypt unearthed the limestone statue near the Temple of Hathor, about 2 miles southeast of Dendera. Discovered in a two-story building dating from the Byzantine period, the sphinx is reportedly beautifully and accurately carved and represents the ancient Roman emperor.

The discovery was made while extracting a water storage vessel made of mortar-covered red bricks with steps down at the exact location. During the excavation of this basin, researchers uncovered the sphinx statue, whose head is depicted as adorned with “nemes,” a striped shroud worn by the pharaohs and may be familiar from Tutankhamun’s iconic golden death mask. The face of the statue is reported to be covered with faint traces of red and yellow, possibly because it was once painted. It is also recorded that he carries a “Uraeus”, the stylised, upright shape of a cobra that is about to attack, seen as a symbol of sovereignty and divine authority.

The team also unearthed a Roman stele, or stone slab, under the statue, the text engraved with both hieroglyphic and demotic inscriptions awaiting translation.

The excavation was led by Professor Mamdouh Damati, an archaeologist and former minister of Antiquities from Ain Shams University in Cairo. According to Prof Damati, a preliminary examination of the smiling statue’s face shows that the figure was intended to represent the Roman emperor Claudius.

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 temple’s ceiling 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.