France returns Ancient Egyptian limestone relief and other artefacts

Cairo recovered an Ancient Egyptian limestone relief dating back to the 30th Dynasty from an auction house in Paris, the Antiquities Ministry announced yesterday. An official there said the 80 kg tablet — which depicts goddess Sekhmet carrying the sun disk over her head next to a line of hieroglyphics — was stolen from a temple at the Saqqara necropolis sometime during the 1900s. The ministry also repatriated 44 other artefacts, including jewelry, from the Ancient Egyptian and Coptic eras.