Tag: rameses ii

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Egyptian Artifacts

Statue of Rameses II

This statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ of Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ is one of the largest Egyptian artifacts in the British Museum. The piece is definitely grand, and is even more beautiful ๐“„ค in person. Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ was Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– most prolific builder, so it makes sense that objects made in his likeness are also grand!

Nicole (me) with the Statue of Rameses II at the British Museum

Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ came to the throne after the death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ of his father Seti I ๐“‡ณ๐“ฆ๐“ , and ruled Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– as pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป for about 67 years. He was the third pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the 19th Dynasty, and is often referred to as โ€œRameses The Greatโ€ because he built ๐“๐“‚ค๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“€ง more monuments than any other pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป and ruled longer than any other pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป.

The monuments attributed to Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ are some of the best preserved in all of Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– – it seems that he got his wish to be remembered even so long after his death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ built ๐“๐“‚ค๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“€ง as much as he could so he could ensure that his name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– lived on. He also usurped a lot of other previous pharaohsโ€™ ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ monuments too!

Geology time!!!! This statue ๐“„š๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ was cut from pink/gray granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ. Granite ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“ˆ–๐“Œณ๐“ฟ is an extremely strong rock ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‚‹๐“ˆ™ and resistant to weathering due to its high quartz content (hence why it is used to make countertops in modern times), so that is why the details on this are so well preserved.

This piece was excavated by Belzoni and was originally from Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ mortuary temple ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰ at Thebes ๐“Œ€๐“๐“Š– (aka the Ramesseum).

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Egyptian Artifacts

What’s in a Name?

Whatโ€™s in a name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–?! To the ancient Egyptians ๐“†Ž๐“๐“€€๐“๐“ช, a personโ€™s name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– was everything!

In order to exist, a human needed to have five ๐“พ essential elements: the body ๐“Ž›๐“‚๐“„ผ, the shadow ๐“†„๐“๐“…ฑ๐“‹ผ, the Ba ๐“…ก๐“ค (impression an individual makes on others – everything except the physical body), the Ka (soul/life force) ๐“‚“๐“ค, and the name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–. A name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– was considered the essential part of the person because the other four ๐“ฝ elements could not exist without the name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–. I find this entire concept absolutely fascinating and Iโ€™m not going to lie, it has made me appreciate my own name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–.

If a person wanted to survive after death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ, not only was mummification essential, but even more so was preserving the name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–. This is why pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ and others who could afford to do so had their name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– carved everywhere – they wanted to survive after they died ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. If a name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– was hacked away or forgotten, it meant that the person was deprived of their entire existence. This is why the names ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“ฅ of pharaohs ๐“‰๐“‰ป๐“ฆ like Hatshepsut ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“Žน๐“๐“„‚๐“๐“€ผ๐“ช, Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Tutankhamun ๐“‡‹๐“ ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“‹น๐“‹พ๐“‰บ๐“‡“ were either left off of official Kingโ€™s lists or removed from their monuments.

Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ has his name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– literally everywhere and his cartouche is the most commonly found one! He really wanted to ensure that he survived after he died ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ! This cartouche from the British Museum is one of Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ and I think it is so beautifully ๐“„ค carved!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Limestone Ushabtis of Rameses II’s Officials

Here are a couple of limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures that belonged to three ๐“ผ different officials who served during the reign of Rameses II. While faience ๐“‹ฃ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ธ๐“ผ ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures are the most commonly found (because they are easier to mass produce and there needed to be 300+ of them in a tomb), limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures are not a rare find from New Kingdom burials. I love how most of these still contain some original paint – the black ๐“†Ž๐“…“ paint around the eyes ๐“น๐“ฆ is in stark contrast to the white ๐“Œ‰๐“†“๐“‡ณ limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ and it looks so cool!

These ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures all have inscriptions ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ on them. The purpose of the inscription ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ was to guide the ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ on its role in serving the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰! All of these contain spells mentioning the god ๐“Šน Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ, which is common because Osirisโ€™ ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ realm was the Duat ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ (afterlife).

Fun Fact! There are two ๐“ป ways to write ushabti in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช:

๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ – ลกwbtj – the earlier word that was used in Egypt.
๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ – wลกbtj – the โ€œnewerโ€ form of the word. This is where the Egyptological term of โ€œushabtiโ€ or โ€œshabtiโ€ (both are correct terms to use) originated from!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Wooden Ushabti of Rameses II

This is a Wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ Ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ of Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– (New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c. 1292-1190 B.C.E.).

Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– was arguably one of Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– greatest builders, and his face/cartouche can be found pretty much everywhere you look in a museum (this is why his cartouches are good to learn – you will see them a lot).

Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ was plundered in the 20th Dynasty, and only three ๐“ผ of his wooden ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ figures remain! In 1049 B.C.E., the High Priest of Amun ordered Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– mummy ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ be moved from his original tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ and to the Royal Cache, a place where many royal ๐“‹พ mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช were re-buried in order to protect the mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช from tomb robbers.

While the provenance of this ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is unknown, it is assumed that it was originally from Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– original tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ (KV 7).

The text ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ on the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is a version of the โ€œShabti Spellโ€ from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. This spell gives the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ the power to complete tasks (farming, manual labor, etc) for the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ in the Field of Reeds ๐“‡๐“๐“ˆ…๐“‡‹๐“„ฟ๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“†ฐ๐“Š–.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Foundation Deposit Brick of Rameses II

Foundation Deposit Brick of Rameses II at The MET

This beautiful ๐“„ค faience ๐“‹ฃ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ธ๐“ผ piece is a foundation deposit brick with the cartouche of pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– written on it (19th Dynasty, c. 1279โ€“1213 B.C.E.). I chose this piece for today, because Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– is thought to possibly be the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the Exodus – there are many theories as to who the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป was that is mentioned in The Bible by Moses. The pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the Exodus is only referred to as โ€œthe pharaohโ€ in The Bible and not by name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–, so historians and religious scholars can only make inferences based on The Bible and archaeological evidence.

It is all so fascinating and based on my research, I believe that the evidence lines up to Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– being the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the Exodus. Some of the specific references made in the text of Exodus seems to line up really well with the 19th Dynasty time period. Some scholars disagree and think the Exodus happened at a later time period, some believe it happened earlier.

Why would there be no historical record of the Exodus in writings ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ from Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–? Egyptian writing was full of propaganda and only the good stuff was mentioned. Something like the Exodus would have been kept on the down-low.

Foundation deposit bricks were ceremonial offerings that were placed at the corners of buildings, courts, temples ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰๐“ฆ , tombs ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰๐“ฆ, and pretty much the foundation of any building. They can almost be thought of as the ancient version of a ground-breaking ceremony. The foundation deposit bricks usually contained the cartouche of the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป that the building was constructed under on it! Iโ€™m the early dynastic times, foundation deposits took the form of pottery, but later evolved into different versions of what you see pictured ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“!