1-649-533 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

Seated colossus of Rameses II, Temple of Abu Simbel, Egypt, c1860-1890. The great rock-cut Temple of Abu Simbel built during the reign of Rameses II (ruled 1279-1212 BC) and dedicated to the sun gods Amon-Re and Re-Horakhte. Rameses' reign was notable for a dramatic upsurge in the rate of temple building. The existence of the great temple at Abu Simbel was unknown outside Egypt in modern times until 1813. It was explored in 1817 by the Italian explorer and antiquity seeker Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823).