Article by David Marinescu – published Wednesday, October 1, 2025 20:47 / Updated Wednesday, October 1, 2025:28
A funeral statue of a man from ancient Egypt, whose name is supposed to be Messi, was found in the Saqqara necropolis – discovery, otherwise, unprecedented.
The sculpture depicts him with his wife and their daughter, who holds a goose in his hand.
Measuring just over 103 centimeters high and carved in limestone, “the most prominent figure is that of a nobleman standing, with his left foot in front, representing youth, vitality and strength,” the researchers wrote in a study published on May 13 in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology.
“The wife is portrayed on a smaller scale, kneeling and holding her right foot, and behind the left foot is a representation of a girl, probably their daughter,” the researchers added.
Archaeologists found the statue in 2021 in the Saqqara site, a vast necropolis where the ancient Egyptians buried their dead for thousands of years. Although he has no inscriptions, based on his design, the statue seems to date from the fifth dynasty (about 2465-2323 BC), a period when pyramids were built in Egypt.
The last royal pyramid was built by King Ahmose I, who reigned between 1550 and 1525 BC. After that, the Egyptian royalty was buried in the Valley of the Kings, near the old Thebes.
“I found the statue hidden under the sand, and nearby was a false door with the name” Messi “,” Zahi Hawass, former Minister of Antiquities and the main author of the study, told in an e-mail.
False doors are frequently found in the Egyptian tombs, and the Egyptians believed that the spirit of the deceased could enter and leave the grave through them. The name “Messi” could refer to the noble represented.
The statue could symbolize “a connection with the family, suggesting that they will meet in the afterlife, as they were in life,” Hawass said. “The scene that depicts the daughter together with the goose reflects everyday life, having a function similar to that of the scenes usually seen on the walls of the graves,” he added.
As for Messi's large size compared to the woman and the girl, in ancient Egyptian art, the size was often equivalent to importance. For example, members of the royal family and tomb owners were often represented as greater than those around them.
“The discovery of this statue is unparalleled in the field of Egyptian art,” said Hawass, who was co -author of the study – along with Sarah Abdoh, head of the Department of Sculpture, Architectural Training and Restoration of Benha University.
This “It is distinguished from other familiar statues of the Old Kingdom, Because all the characters are completely three -dimensional carved, except for the daughter, which is presented in Altorelief ”.
“The remarkable artistic choice positions the statue as the only known example of the Old Kingdom,” Hawass said, adding that it was unusual for an Egyptian statue of this period to combine the three -dimensional representation with a description in Altorelief.
“By integrating two sculptural traditions into a single monument, the artist has shown a remarkable spirit of experimentation,” Hawass said.
“Thus, this statue is outlined as a unique masterpiece of innovation, remodeling our understanding of the Egyptian art of the Old Kingdom.”
