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Once again, Pharaoh Tutankhamun had a hand in it.

Almost 100 years after the discovery of his largely intact grave in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt, Egyptian archaeologists wanted to finally find his lost mortuary temple.

Instead, they discovered an entire city with palaces, residential complexes and numerous workshops.

It is the largest ancient city ever found in Egypt, reports the head of the mission, Zahi Hawass.

The settlement dates from the time of King Amenophis III, who ruled from around 1390 to 1353 BC.

The so-called New Kingdom ruled.

The Egyptologist, who headed the Egyptian Antiquities Administration from 2002 to 2011, referred to adobe bricks with the seal of the Pharaoh.

The royal seal can be found on numerous bricks

Source: via REUTERS

The ancient city is well preserved, "with almost complete walls and rooms".

The walls are sometimes up to three meters high.

The archaeologists discovered rock tombs, a bakery with ovens and ceramic containers and a workshop.

Bricks are said to have been made in one area and amulets as decoration for temples and graves in another.

A residential and administrative district was only partially exposed.

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The find fits in well with the reign of Amenhotep III.

a.

He was the ninth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, who started around 1550 BC.

BC had shaken off the foreign rule of the Hyksos over Egypt and expanded it into a veritable empire.

Numerous campaigns to Syria, Palestine, Nubia and Sudan established an empire that was one of the most important great powers of the Mediterranean Bronze Age.

As a builder, Amenophis III.

all of its predecessors

Source: dpa

Amenhotep III

had inherited a solid empire from his father Thutmose IV, which received tributes from numerous regions.

This allowed the Pharaoh to tackle an extensive building program.

"The royal court now unfolded its greatest splendor," writes the Egyptologist Hermann A. Schlögel.

"As a builder, the ruler surpassed all his predecessors."

From the Nile Delta to Sudan, buildings were built that were often enough characterized by their monumentality.

A man named Amenhotep, son of Hapu, took over the management.

One of his most spectacular works is the construction of a new temple for the gods Amun, Mut and Chons, which was built in place of an older shrine in Luxor.

The Colossi of Memnon are representations of Amenhotep III.

in front of its mortuary temple in Thebes-West

Source: Getty Images

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A report about the Temple of Amenhotep said: “His workhouse is full of male and female slaves, of finders of the princes from every country that His Majesty has captured.

Its warehouses contain all good things ... It is surrounded by Syrian settlements, inhabited by the children of the princes. "

That would fit the current find.

Historical sources indicate that the settlement consisted of three palaces of Amenhotep III.

as well as the administrative and economic center of the empire, Hawass is quoted as saying.

From Amenhotep's mortuary temple in West Thebes near Luxor, two huge seated statues have been preserved that show the ruler, but are commonly referred to as the Colossi of Memnon.

Some of the walls are up to three meters high

Source: via REUTERS

For the American Egyptologist Betsy Bryan of Johns Hopkins University, the discovery of the new settlement offers "a rare glimpse into the life of the ancient Egyptians at the time when the empire was richest".

Whether it really is "the second most important archaeological discovery since the tomb of Tutankhamun" in Egypt will have to be shown first.

This also applies to the size of the facility, which could be compared to Pi-Ramesse, the capital of Ramses II in the Nile Delta.

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As the regular announcement of further new discoveries shows, Egypt is currently endeavoring to promote its ailing tourism industry through archaeological sensations.

In February, for example, the remains of an ancient brewery were uncovered in the Nile Delta.

Before that, a mortuary temple with more than 50 sarcophagi was presented in the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo.

In the past week, the mummies of 22 kings and queens from ancient Egypt were transported in an elaborate procession through Cairo to the new Egyptian Museum.

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