Discovered in 1904 near the courtyard of the Temple of Heryshef at Herakleopolis Magna (Ihnasya el-Medina), this red granite colossal represents King Ramesses II standing between god Ptah and goddess Sekhmet. Ptah, a god of craftsmen, whose cult was centred at Memphis, is shown mummy-shaped wearing a skull cap, a royal beard and holding a staff. His consort, the warrior goddess Sekhmet, is depicted with a lioness head topped with a sun disk and a protective uraeus snake. The central figure of King Ramesses II is muscular with broad shoulders and powerful upper arms. With its carefully modelled anatomical details, such as the protruding collarbones, rounded pectoral muscles, the remarkable kneecaps and the salient tibia bone, the King’s figure can hardly skip the attention of the viewer. Ramesses II wears a blue crown, also known as the khepresh crown, a pleated royal kilt (shendyt) ornamented with a leopard pendant and seven cobras, each crowned with a sun disk. On his right shoulder, he holds a crook, symbol of his kingship. His left arm extends along his body, touching the right hand of the goddess. It appears from the inscriptions carved on the statue base and the back pillar that the figure of goddess Sekhmet replaced an earlier figure of god Harsaphes. Nine vertical columns of text, incised on the back pillar, name King Ramesses II as the ‘beloved of’ the deities: Ptah, Horus, Heryshef, Bastet, Atum and Amun-Re.