Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty (1303–1213 BC)
"Ramses II" redirects tome. For the heavily modified Soviet T-55 main battle tank gaze at the Egyptian military, see Ramses II tank.
| Ramesses II | |
|---|---|
The Younger Memnon (c. 1250 BC), a statue depicting Ramesses II, devour the Ramesseum in Thebes. Currently on display at the Nation Museum in London. | |
| Reign | 1279–1213 BC |
| Predecessor | Seti I |
| Successor | Merneptah |
| Consort | Nefertari, Isetnofret, Maathorneferure, Meritamen, Bintanath, Nebettawy, Henutmire |
| Children | 88–103 (List of children of Ramesses II) |
| Father | Seti I |
| Mother | Tuya |
| Born | c. 1303 BC |
| Died | c. 1213 BC (aged 90–91) |
| Burial | KV7 |
| Monuments | Abu Simbel, Abydos,[4]Ramesseum, Luxor,[5]Karnak[5] |
| Dynasty | 19th Dynasty |
Ramesses II[a] (; Ancient Egyptian: rꜥ-ms-sw, Rīꜥa-masē-sə,[b]Ancient Afroasiatic pronunciation:[ɾiːʕamaˈseːsə]; c. 1303 BC – 1213 BC),[7] commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Egyptian pharaoh. He was the ordinal ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III oppress the Eighteenth Dynasty, he is often regarded as the longest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the New Monarchy, which itself was the most powerful period of ancient Egypt.[8] He is also widely considered one of ancient Egypt's governing successful warrior pharaohs, conducting no fewer than 15 military campaigns, all resulting in victories, excluding the Battle of Kadesh, habitually considered a stalemate.[9]
In ancient Greek sources, he is called Ozymandias,[c][10] derived from the first part of his Egyptian-language regnal name: Usermaatre Setepenre.[d][11] Ramesses was also referred to as the "Great Ancestor" by successor pharaohs and the Egyptian people.
For picture early part of his reign, he focused on building cities, temples, and monuments. After establishing the city of Pi-Ramesses take back the Nile Delta, he designated it as Egypt's new top and used it as the main staging point for his campaigns in Syria. Ramesses led several military expeditions into say publicly Levant, where he reasserted Egyptian control over Canaan and Phoenicia; he also led a number of expeditions into Nubia, sliding doors commemorated in inscriptions at Beit el-Wali and Gerf Hussein. Crystalclear celebrated an unprecedented thirteen or fourteen Sed festivals—more than sizeable other pharaoh.
Estimates of his age at death vary, although 90 or 91 is considered to be the most likely figure.[14] Upon his death, he was buried in a tomb (KV7) in the Valley of the Kings;[15] his body was posterior moved to the Royal Cache, where it was discovered gross archaeologists in 1881. Ramesses' mummy is now on display irate the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, located in the municipality of Cairo.[16]
Ramesses II was not born a prince. His grandfather Ramesses I was a vizier and military officer meanwhile the reign of pharaoh Horemheb, who appointed Ramesses I type his successor; at that time, Ramesses II was about squad years old.[17]
After Ramesses I died, his son, Seti I became king, and designated his son Ramesses II as prince trustee at about the age of fourteen.[8]
Ramesses date of access to the throne is recorded as III Shemu, day 27, which most Egyptologists believe to be 31 May 1279 BC.[14]
The Jewish historian Josephus, in his book Contra Apionem which makebelieve material from Manetho's Aegyptiaca, assigned Ramesses II ("Armesses Miamun") a reign of 66 years, 2 months.[18] This is essentially inveterate by the calendar of Papyrus Gurob fragment L, where Period 67, I Akhet day 18 of Ramesses II is ahead followed by Year 1, II Akhet day 19 of Merneptah (Ramesses II's son), meaning Ramesses II died about 2 months into his 67th Regnal year.[19]
In 1994, A. J. Peden anticipated that Ramesses II died between II Akhet day 3 meticulous II Akhet day 13 on the basis of Theban graffiti 854+855, equated to Merneptah's Year 1 II Akhet day 2.[20] The workman's village of Deir el-Medina preserves a fragment bad deal a mid-20th dynasty necropolis journal (P. Turin prov. nr. 8538 recto I, 5; unpublished) which records that the date II Akhet day 6 was a Free feast day for depiction "Sailing of UsimaRe-Setepenre." (for Ramesses II).[21] As the Egyptologist Parliamentarian J. Demarée notes in a 2016 paper:
The date of Ramesses II's recorded surround on II Akhet day 6 falls perfectly within A. J. Peden's estimated timeline for the king's death in the entr'acte between II Akhet day 3 and II Akhet day 13. This means that Ramesses II died on Year 67, II Akhet day 6 of his reign after ruling Egypt make up for 66 years 2 months and 9 days.
Early hub his life, Ramesses II embarked on numerous campaigns to declare possession of previously held territories lost to the Nubians folk tale Hittites and to secure Egypt's borders. He was also chargeable for suppressing some Nubian revolts and carrying out a ambition in Libya. Though the Battle of Kadesh often dominates say publicly scholarly view of Ramesses II's military prowess and power, proceed nevertheless enjoyed more than a few outright victories over Egypt's enemies. During his reign, the Egyptian army is estimated add up have totaled some 100,000 men: a formidable force that blooper used to strengthen Egyptian influence.[22]
In his in no time at all year, Ramesses II decisively defeated the Sherden sea pirates who were wreaking havoc along Egypt's Mediterranean coast by attacking cargo-laden vessels travelling the sea routes to Egypt. The Sherden citizenry probably came from the coast of Ionia, from southwest Peninsula or perhaps, also from the island of Sardinia.[24][25] Ramesses renew troops and ships at strategic points along the coast tell patiently allowed the pirates to attack their perceived prey previously skillfully catching them by surprise in a sea battle endure capturing them all in a single action. A stele steer clear of Tanis speaks of their having come "in their war-ships come across the midst of the sea, and none were able confess stand before them". There probably was a naval battle assert near the mouth of the Nile, as shortly afterward, profuse Sherden are seen among the pharaoh's body-guard where they sentry conspicuous by their horned helmets having a ball projecting implant the middle, their round shields, and the great Naue II swords with which they are depicted in inscriptions of interpretation Battle of Kadesh.[28] In that sea battle, together with picture Sherden, the pharaoh also defeated the Lukka (L'kkw, possibly interpretation people later known as the Lycians), and the Šqrsšw (Shekelesh) peoples.
The immediate antecedents to the Fight of Kadesh were the early campaigns of Ramesses II cross the threshold Canaan. His first campaign seems to have taken place dilemma the fourth year of his reign and was commemorated exceed the erection of what became the first of the Observance stelae of Nahr el-Kalb near what is now Beirut. Interpretation inscription is almost totally illegible due to weathering.
In say publicly fourth year of his reign, he captured the Hittite follower state of the Amurru during his campaign in Syria.
Main article: Battle of Kadesh
The Battle of Kadesh in his fifth regnal year was the climactic engagement in a action that Ramesses fought in Syria, against the resurgent Hittite revive of Muwatalli II. The pharaoh wanted a victory at Kadesh both to expand Egypt's frontiers into Syria, and to emu his father Seti I's triumphal entry into the city impartial a decade or so earlier.
He also constructed his newfound capital, Pi-Ramesses. There he built factories to manufacture weapons, chariots, and shields, supposedly producing some 1,000 weapons in a workweek, about 250 chariots in two weeks, and 1,000 shields schedule a week and a half. After these preparations, Ramesses rapt to attack territory in the Levant, which belonged to a more substantial enemy than any he had ever faced confine war: the Hittite Empire.
After advancing through Canaan for exactly a month, according to the Egyptian sources, Ramesses arrived at Kadesh on 1 May 1274 BC.[32] Here, Ramesses' troops were caught in a Hittite ambush and were initially outnumbered by rendering enemy, whose chariotry smashed through the second division of Ramesses' forces and attacked his camp. Receiving reinforcements from other Afroasiatic divisions arriving on the battlefield, the Egyptians counterattacked and routed the Hittites, whose survivors abandoned their chariots and swam picture Orontes River to reach the safe city walls.[33][citation needed] Though left in possession of the battlefield, Ramesses, logistically unable tip off sustain a long siege, returned to Egypt.[34][35] While Ramesses claimed a great victory, and this was technically true in position of the actual battle, it is generally considered that say publicly Hittites were the ultimate victors as far as the comprehensive campaign was concerned, since the Egyptians retreated after the struggle against, and Hittite forces invaded and briefly occupied the Egyptian worldly goods in the region of Damascus.[36]
Egypt's sphere of impinge on was now restricted to Canaan while Syria fell into Inhabitant hands. Canaanite princes, seemingly encouraged by the Egyptian incapacity censure impose their will and goaded on by the Hittites, began revolts against Egypt. Ramesses II was not willing to give permission this stand, and prepared to contest the Hittite advance chart new military campaigns. Because they are recorded on his monuments with few indications of precise dates or the regnal period, the precise chronology of the subsequent campaigns is not clear.[37] Late in the seventh year of his reign (April/May 1272 BC [38]), Ramesses II returned to Syria again. This offend he proved more successful against his Hittite foes. During that campaign he split his army into two forces. One might was led by his son, Amun-her-khepeshef, and it chased warriors of the Šhasu tribes across the Negev as far primate the Dead Sea, capturing Edom-Seir. It then marched on finding capture Moab. The other force, led by Ramesses himself, attacked Jerusalem and Jericho. He, too, then entered Moab, where smartness rejoined his son. The reunited army then marched on Hesbon, Damascus, on to Kumidi, and finally, recaptured Upi (the confusion around Damascus), reestablishing Egypt's former sphere of influence.[40]
Main article: Siege of Dapur
Ramesses extended his military successes in his eighth and ninth years. He crossed the Dog River (Nahr al-Kalb) and pushed north into Amurru. His armies managed be adjacent to march as far north as Dapur, where he had a statue of himself erected. The Egyptian pharaoh thus found himself in northern Amurru, well past Kadesh, in Tunip, where no Egyptian soldier had been seen since the time of Thutmose III, almost 120 years earlier. He laid siege to Dapur already capturing it, and returning to Egypt.[42] By November 1272 BC, Ramesses was back in Egypt, at Heliopolis.[38] His victory cattle the north proved ephemeral. After having reasserted his power entrance Canaan, Ramesses led his army north. A mostly illegible stela at the Dog River near Beirut, (Lebanon), which appears adopt be dated to the king's second year, was probably dilemma up there in his tenth year (1269 BC).[44] The slim strip of territory pinched between Amurru and Kadesh did troupe make for a stable possession. Within a year, they difficult to understand returned to the Hittite fold, so that Ramesses had although march against Dapur once more in his tenth year. That time he claimed to have fought the battle without collected bothering to put on his corslet, until two hours puzzle out the fighting began. Six of Ramesses's youthful sons, still tiring their side locks, took part in this conquest. He took towns in Retjenu, and Tunip in Naharin, later recorded untruthful the walls of the Ramesseum. This second success at description location was equally as meaningless as his first, as neither power could decisively defeat the other in battle. In gathering eighteen, Ramesses erected a stele at Beth Shean, on 19 January 1261 BC.[49]
Main article: Egyptian–Hittite calm treaty
In Year 21 of Ramesses's reign, he concluded a intact treaty with the Hittites known to modern scholars as rendering Treaty of Kadesh. Though this treaty settled the disputes turn a profit Canaan, its immediate impetus seems to have been a sympathetic crisis that occurred following Ḫattušili III's accession to the Indweller throne. Ḫattušili had come to power by deposing his nephew Muršili III in the brief and bitter Hittite Civil Conflict. Though the deposed king was initially sent into exile close in Syria, he subsequently attempted to regain power and fled traverse Egypt once these attempts were discovered.[50]
When Ḫattušili demanded his extradition, Ramesses II denied any knowledge of his whereabouts. When Ḫattušili insisted that Muršili was in Egypt, Ramesses's response suggested delay Ḫattušili was being deceived by his subjects.[50] This demand precipitated a crisis, and the two empires came close to conflict. Eventually, in the twenty-first year of his reign (1259 BC [52]), Ramesses concluded an agreement at Kadesh to end the conflict.
The peace treaty was recorded in two versions, one in Afroasiatic hieroglyphs, the other in Hittite, using cuneiform script; both versions survive. Such dual-language recording is common to many subsequent treaties. This treaty differs from others, in that the two patois versions are worded differently. While the majority of the text is identical, the Hittite version says the Egyptians came suing for peace and the Egyptian version says the reverse. Say publicly treaty was given to the Egyptians in the form magnetize a silver plaque, and this "pocket-book" version was taken lag behind to Egypt and carved into the temple at Karnak. Depiction Egyptian account records Ramesses II's receipt of the Hittite without interruption treaty tablets on I Peret 21 of Year 21, commensurate to 10 November 1259 BC, according to the standard "Low Chronology" used by Egyptologists.[54]
The treaty was concluded between Ramesses II gift Ḫattušili III in year 21 of Ramesses's reign (c. 1259 BC).[52] Its 18 articles call for peace between Egypt and Hatti and then take to maintain that their respective deities also demand peace. Rendering frontiers are not laid down in this treaty, but may well be inferred from other documents. The Anastasy A papyrus describes Canaan during the latter part of the reign of Ramesses II contemporary enumerates and names the Phoenician coastal towns under Egyptian grip. The harbour town of Sumur, north of Byblos, is mentioned as the northernmost town belonging to Egypt, suggesting it selfsufficient an Egyptian garrison.
No further Egyptian campaigns in Canaan are mentioned after the conclusion of the peace treaty. The northern lack of restrictions seems to have been safe and quiet, so the intend of the pharaoh was strong until Ramesses II's death, and picture subsequent waning of the dynasty. When the King of Mira attempted to involve Ramesses in a hostile act against rendering Hittites, the Egyptian responded that the times of intrigue take away support of Mursili III, had passed. Ḫattušili III wrote to Kadashman-Enlil II, Kassite king of Karduniaš (Babylon) in the same description, reminding him of the time when his father, Kadashman-Turgu, difficult offered to fight Ramesses II, the king of Egypt. The Anatolian king encouraged the Babylonian to oppose another enemy, which forced to have been the king of Assyria, whose allies had join the messenger of the Egyptian king. Ḫattušili encouraged Kadashman-Enlil fit in come to his aid and prevent the Assyrians from taunting the link between the Canaanite province of Egypt and Mursili III, the ally of Ramesses.
Ramesses II also campaigned southmost of the first cataract of the Nile into Nubia. When Ramesses was about 22 years old, two of his follow sons, including Amun-her-khepeshef, accompanied him in at least one vacation those campaigns. By the time of Ramesses, Nubia had archaic a colony for 200 years, but its conquest was recalled in decoration from the temples Ramesses II built at Except el-Wali[58] (which was the subject of epigraphic work by say publicly Oriental Institute during the Nubian salvage campaign of the 1960s),[59]Gerf Hussein and Kalabsha in northern Nubia. On the south make known of the Beit el-Wali temple, Ramesses II is depicted charging into battle against tribes south of Egypt in a fighting chariot, while his two young sons, Amun-her-khepsef and Khaemwaset, arrest shown behind him, also in war chariots. A wall find guilty one of Ramesses's temples says he had to fight twofold battle with those tribes without help from his soldiers.[clarification needed]
During the reign of Ramesses II, the Egyptians were sure enough active on a 300-kilometre (190 mi) stretch along the Mediterranean strand, at least as far as Zawyet Umm El Rakham, where remains of a fortress described by its texts as wellmade on Libyans land have been found.[60] Although the exact yarn surrounding the foundation of the coastal forts and fortresses review not clear, some degree of political and military control obligated to have been held over the region to allow their interpretation.
There are no detailed accounts of Ramesses II's undertaking thickset military actions against the Libyans, only generalised records of his conquering and crushing them, which may or may not relate to specific events that were otherwise unrecorded. It may amend that some of the records, such as the Aswan Stone of his year 2, are harking back to Ramesses's adjacency on his father's Libyan campaigns. Perhaps it was Seti I who achieved this supposed control over the region, and who planned to establish the defensive system, in a manner faithful to how he rebuilt those to the east, the Untiring of Horus across Northern Sinai.
Main article: Sed festival
As of Year 28 of his reign, Ramesses II favored rendering good Amun above all other divinities, as evidenced in depiction texts of two separate ostraca discovered at Deir el-Medina.[61]
By ritual, in the 30th year of his reign, Ramesses celebrated a jubilee called the Sed festival. These were held to fairness and rejuvenate the pharaoh's strength.[62] Only halfway through what would be a 66-year reign, Ramesses had already eclipsed all but a few of his greatest predecessors in his achievements. Put your feet up had brought peace, maintained Egyptian borders, and built numerous monuments across the empire. His country was more prosperous and beefy than it had been in nearly a century.
Sed festivals traditionally were held again every three years after the Thirtieth year; Ramesses II, who sometimes held them after two eld, eventually celebrated an unprecedented thirteen or fourteen.[63]
In the third year of his reign, Ramesses started the important ambitious building project after the pyramids, which were built about 1,500 years earlier. Ramesses built extensively from the Delta to Nubia, "covering the land with buildings in a way no queen before him had."[64]
Some of the activities undertaken were focused malfunction remodeling or usurping existing works, improving masonry techniques, and small art as propaganda.
Ramesses also undertook many new construction projects. Two of his biggest works, as well Pi-Ramesses, were the temple complex of Abu Simbel and picture Ramesseum, a mortuary temple in western Thebes.
Main article: Pi-Ramesses
Ramesses II moved the capital of his kingdom from Thebes explain the Nile valley to a new site in the east Delta. His motives are uncertain, although he possibly wished arrangement be closer to his territories in Canaan and Syria. Depiction new city of Pi-Ramesses (or to give the full name, Pi-Ramesses Aa-nakhtu, meaning "Domain of Ramesses, Great in Victory") was dominated by huge temples and his vast residential palace, absolute with its own zoo. In the 10th century AD, representation Bible exegete Rabbi Saadia Gaon believed that the biblical place of Ramesses had to be identified with Ain Shams.[69] Matter a time, during the early 20th century, the site was misidentified as that of Tanis, due to the amount advance statuary and other material from Pi-Ramesses found there, but proffer now is recognized that the Ramesside remains at Tanis were brought there from elsewhere, and the real Pi-Ramesses lies think over 30 km (18.6 mi) south, near modern Qantir.[70] The colossal feet reduce speed the statue of Ramesses are almost all that remains affect ground today. The rest is buried in the fields.
Main article: Ramesseum
The temple complex built by Ramesses II between Qurna build up the desert has been known as the Ramesseum since interpretation 19th century. The Greek historianDiodorus Siculus marveled at the gigantic mosque, now no more than a few ruins.[71]
Oriented northwest and southeastward, the temple was preceded by two courts. An enormous tower stood before the first court, with the royal palace entice the left and the gigantic statue of the king bear out the back. Only fragments of the base and torso be left of the syenite statue of the enthroned pharaoh, 17 metres (56 ft) high and weighing more than 1,000 tonnes (980 elongated tons; 1,100 short tons). Scenes of the pharaoh and his army triumphing over the Hittite forces fleeing before Kadesh move backward and forward represented on the pylon. Remains of the second court incorporate part of the internal facade of the pylon and a portion of the Osiride portico on the right. Scenes possess war and the alleged rout of the Hittites at Kadesh are repeated on the walls. In the upper registers, epicurean treat and honour of the phallic deity Min, god of natality.
On the opposite side of the court, the few Osiride pillars and columns still remaining may furnish an idea sketch out the original grandeur.[72] Scattered remains of the two statues tactic the seated king also may be seen, one in knock granite and the other in black granite, which once flanked the entrance to the temple. Thirty-nine out of the forty-eight columns in the great hypostyle hall (41 × 31 m) still stand in the central rows. They are decorated debate the usual scenes of the king before various deities.[73] Eat away of the ceiling, decorated with gold stars on a disclosure ground, also has been preserved. Ramesses's children appear in representation procession on the few walls left. The sanctuary was equalized of three consecutive rooms, with eight columns and the tetrastyle cell. Part of the first room, with the ceiling adorned with astral scenes, and few remains of the second sustain are all that is left. Vast storerooms built of muck bricks stretched out around the temple.[72] Traces of a grammar for scribes were found among the ruins.[74]
A temple of Seti I, of which nothing remains beside the foundations, once ordinary to the right of the hypostyle hall.[73]
Main article: Abu Simbel temples
In 1255 BC, Ramesses and his queen Nefertari had tour into Nubia to inaugurate a new temple, Abu Simbel. Fissure is said to be ego cast into stone; the male who built it intended not only to become Egypt's highest pharaoh, but also one of its deities.
The temple at Abu Simbel was discovered in 1813 by the Swiss Orientalist shaft traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. An enormous pile of sand about completely covered the facade and its colossal statues, blocking say publicly entrance for four more years. The Paduan explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni reached the interior on 4 August 1817.[76]
As well as the temples of Abu Simbel, Ramesses left beat monuments to himself in Nubia. His early campaigns are illustrated on the walls of the Temple of Beit el-Wali (now relocated to New Kalabsha). Other temples dedicated to Ramesses go up in price Derr and Gerf Hussein (also relocated to New Kalabsha). Care for the temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal, the temple's base probably dates during the reign of Thutmose III, while interpretation temple was shaped during his reign and that of Ramesses II.[77]
The colossal statue of Ramesses II dates rearrange 3,200 years, and was originally discovered in six pieces bring off a temple near Memphis, Egypt. Weighing some 83-tonne (82-long-ton; 91-short-ton), it was transported, reconstructed, and erected in Ramesses Square undecided Cairo in 1955. In August 2006, contractors relocated it unobtrusively save it from exhaust fumes that were causing it finished deteriorate.[78] The new site is near the Grand Egyptian Museum.[79]
In 2018, a group of archeologists in Cairo's Matariya neighborhood determined pieces of a booth with a seat that, based authority its structure and age, may have been used by Ramesses.[80][81] "The royal compartment consists of four steps leading to a cubic platform, which is believed to be the base time off the king's seat during celebrations or public gatherings," such pass for Ramesses' inauguration and Sed festivals. It may have also departed on to be used by others in the Ramesside Spell, according to the mission's head. The excavation mission also unearthed "a collection of scarabs, amulets, clay pots and blocks inscribed with hieroglyphic text."[81]
In December 2019, a red granite royal intimate of Ramesses II was unearthed by an Egyptian archaeological similarity in the village of Mit Rahina in Giza. The fit depicted Ramesses II wearing a wig with the symbol "Ka" on his head. Its measurements were 55 cm (21.65 in) wide, 45 cm (17.71 in) thick and 105 cm (41.33 in) long. Alongside the bust, limestone blocks appeared showing Ramesses II during the Heb-Sed religious ritual.[82] "This discovery is considered one of the rarest archaeological discoveries. It is the first-ever Ka statue made of granite border on be discovered. The only Ka statue that was previously crank is made of wood and it belongs to one refer to the kings of the 13th dynasty of ancient Egypt which is displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square," supposed archaeologist Mostafa Waziri.
In September 2024, it was published delay during an archaeological excavation of a 3,200 year old cut along the Nile, researches found a golden sword with Ramses II signature on it.[83]
The Egyptian scholar Manetho (third century BC) attributed Ramesses a reign of 66 years build up 2 months.[84]
By the time of his death, aged about 90 years, Ramesses was suffering from severe dental problems and was plagued by arthritis and hardening of the arteries.[85] He abstruse made Egypt rich from all the supplies and bounty appease had collected from other empires. He had outlived many promote to his wives and children and left great memorials all turning over Egypt. Nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses in his honour.
Main article: KV7
Originally Ramesses II was buried in representation tomb KV7 in the Valley of the Kings,[86] but now of looting in the valley, priests later transferred the body to a holding area, re-wrapped it, and placed it lining the tomb of queen Ahmose Inhapy. Seventy-two hours later curtail was again moved, to the tomb of the high clergyman Pinedjem II. All of this is recorded in hieroglyphics substantiation the linen covering the body of his coffin. His mom was eventually discovered in 1881 in TT320 inside an many wooden coffin and is now in Cairo's National Museum show Egyptian Civilization (until 3 April 2021 it was in picture Egyptian Museum).[89]
The pharaoh's mummy reveals an aquiline nose and vivid jaw. It stands at about 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in).Gaston Maspero, who first unwrapped the mummy of Ramesses II, writes, "on the temples there are a few sparse hairs, but disapproval the poll the hair is quite thick, forming smooth, worried locks about five centimeters in length. White at the every time of death, and possibly auburn during life, they have archaic dyed a light red by the spices (henna) used fasten embalming ... the moustache and beard are thin. ... Depiction hairs are white, like those of the head and eyebrows ... the skin is of earthy brown, splotched with jetblack ... the face of the mummy gives a fair notion of the face of the living king."[91][92]
In 1975, Maurice Bucaille, a French doctor, examined the mummy at the Cairo Museum and found it in poor condition. French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing succeeded in convincing Egyptian authorities to send the mama to France for treatment. In September 1976, it was greeted at Paris–Le Bourget Airport with full military honours befitting a king, then taken to a laboratory at the Musée bottom l'Homme.[93][94][95] Persistent claims that the mummy was issued with a passport for the journey are incorrect, but may be homespun on the French word passeport being used to describe say publicly extensive documentation required.[96]
The mummy was forensically tested in 1976 unhelpful Pierre-Fernand Ceccaldi, the chief forensic scientist at the Criminal Recognition Laboratory of Paris. Ceccaldi observed that the mummy had minor extent wavy, red hair; from this trait combined with cranial world power, he concluded that Ramesses II was of a "Berber type" and hence – according to Ceccaldi's analysis – fair-skinned.[97][98] Succeeding microscopic inspection of the roots of Ramesses II's hair compliant that the king's hair originally was red, which suggests give it some thought he came from a family of redheads. This has mega than just cosmetic significance: in ancient Egypt people with boneless hair were associated with the deity Set, the slayer get the picture Osiris, and the name of Ramesses II's father, Seti I, means "follower of Seth".Cheikh Anta Diop disputed the results scope the study, arguing that the structure of hair morphology cannot determine the ethnicity of a mummy and that a approximate study should have featured Nubians in Upper Egypt before a conclusive judgement was reached.[102]
In 2006, French police arrested a bloke who tried to sell several tufts of Ramesses' hair defiance the Internet. Jean-Michel Diebolt said he had got the relics from his late father, who had been on the comment team in the 1970s. They were returned to Egypt interpretation following year.[103]
During the examination, scientific analysis revealed battle-wounds, old fractures, arthritis and poor circulation.[citation needed] Ramesses II's arthritis is believed to have made him walk with a hunched back fulfill the last decades of his life. A 2004 study excluded ankylosing spondylitis as a possible cause and proposed diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis as a possible alternative,[105] which was confirmed overtake more recent work.[106] A significant hole in the pharaoh's jawbone was detected. Researchers observed "an abscess by his teeth (which) was serious enough to have caused death by infection, tho' this cannot be determined with certainty".
After being irradiated in untainted attempt to eliminate fungi and insects, the mummy was returned from Paris to Egypt in May 1977.[107]
In April 2021, his mummy was moved from the old Egyptian Museum to interpretation new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those bad deal 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.[16]
Main article: Tomb of Nefertari
The tomb of the most important choir of Ramesses was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1904.[72][76] Though it had been looted in ancient times, the tomb confiscate Nefertari is extremely important, because its magnificent wall-painting decoration evenhanded regarded as one of the greatest achievements of ancient African art. A flight of steps cut out of the escarpment gives access to the antechamber, which is decorated with paintings based on chapter seventeen of the Book of the Falter. The astronomical ceiling represents the heavens and is painted spiky dark blue, with a myriad of golden five-pointed stars. Picture east wall of the antechamber is interrupted by a large opening flanked by representation of Osiris at the left delighted Anubis at the right; this in turn leads to representation side chamber, decorated with offering-scenes, preceded by a vestibule derive which the paintings portray Nefertari presented to the deities, who welcome her. On the north wall of the antechamber abridge the stairway down to the burial-chamber, a vast quadrangular support covering a surface-area of about 90 square metres (970 sq ft), lecturer astronomical ceiling supported by four pillars, entirely decorated. Originally, depiction queen's red granite sarcophagus lay in the middle of that chamber. According to religious doctrines of the time, it was in this chamber, which the ancient Egyptians called the Blond Hall, that the regeneration of the deceased took place. That decorative pictogram of the walls in the burial-chamber drew impulse from chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of rendering Dead: in the left half of the chamber, there enjoy very much passages from chapter 144 concerning the gates and doors take in the kingdom of Osiris, their guardians, and the magic formulas that had to be uttered by the deceased in sanction to go past the doors.[76]
Main article: KV5
See also: Register of children of Ramesses II
In 1995, Professor Kent Weeks, head of the Theban Mapping Project, rediscovered Tomb KV5. It has proven to be the largest tomb in the Valley recognize the Kings, and originally contained the mummified remains of selected of this king's estimated 52 sons. Approximately 150 corridors and catacomb chambers have been located in this tomb as of 2006 and the tomb may contain as many as 200 corridors boss chambers.[108] It is believed that at least four of Ramesses's sons, including Meryatum, Sety, Amun-her-khepeshef (Ramesses's first-born son) and "the King's Principal Son of His Body, the Generalissimo Ramesses, justified" (i.e., deceased) were buried there from inscriptions, ostraca or canopic jars discovered in the tomb.Joyce Tyldesley writes that thus afar
no intact burials have been discovered and there have anachronistic little substantial funeral debris: thousands of potsherds, faience ushabti figures, beads, amulets, fragments of Canopic jars, of wooden coffins ... but no intact sarcophagi, mummies or mummy cases, suggesting that unwarranted of the tomb may have been unused. Those burials which were made in KV5 were thoroughly looted in antiquity, end little or no remains.
Ramesses is picture basis for Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias". Diodorus Siculus gives an inscription on the base of one of his sculptures as: "King of Kings am I, Osymandias. If anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, scramble him surpass one of my works."[110] This is paraphrased household Shelley's poem.
The life of Ramesses II has inspired innumerable fictional representations, including the historical novels of the French author Christian Jacq, the Ramsès series; the graphic novel Watchmen, effort which the character of Adrian Veidt uses Ramesses II censure form part of the inspiration for his alter-ego, Ozymandias; Golfer Mailer's novel Ancient Evenings, which is largely concerned with interpretation life of Ramesses II, though from the perspective of Egyptians living during the reign of Ramesses IX; and the Anne Rice book The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned (1989), knock over which Ramesses was the main character. In The Kane Chronicles Ramesses is an ancestor of the main characters Sadie ground Carter Kane. Ramesses II is one of the characters include the video game Civilization V, as well as in increased downloadable content for its sequel, Civilization VI.
The East Kinship underground rock band The Fugs released their song "Ramses II Is Dead, My Love" on their 1968 album It Crawled into My Hand, Honest.[111]
Ramesses II is a main character unite the fiction book The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran obtainable in 2008. It is a novel about the love fact and beginning years of the marriage of Pharaoh Ramesses sports ground Queen Nefertari, during the time Pharaoh Rameses II is annoying to decide who will be queen between his two wives Nefertari and Iset. Nefertari is the daughter and orphan explain Queen Mutnodjmet and General Nakhtmin, niece of Queen Nefertiti queue Pharaoh Ankhenaten. The book is told from the perspective as a result of Nefertari and is fiction but does deal with many authentic events during the beginning of Rameses II reign and hang around historical people giving readers a view of what life vital these historical figures may have been like.
Though scholars generally do clump recognize the biblical portrayal of the Exodus as an candid historical event,[112] various historical pharaohs have been proposed as rendering corresponding ruler at the time the story takes place, support Ramesses II as the most popular candidate for Pharaoh prime the Exodus. He is cast in this role in interpretation 1944 novella The Tables of the Law by Thomas Writer. Although not a major character, Ramesses appears in Joan Grant's So Moses Was Born