THE LIFE OF RAMESSESS THE GREAT

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The coffin found in tomb KV55. The mummy case found under the niche was the first example of the royal "rishi" style ever found in the Valley of the Kings that originally had both the internal and external surfaces covered with gold leaf.

Compiled by Tony High

Pages in this article: [ THE LIFE OF RAMESSESS THE GREAT ]

Prenomen: Usermaatre-setepenre
Nomen: Ramesses (meryamun)

Who was the figure in history, penned by John Gardener Wilkinson as "Ramesses the Great"? Ramesses was an Egyptian king born circa.1304 BC during the reign of Horemheb and known as Usermaatre, Sa Re, Ramesses Meryamun, which translates as Powerful in truth is Re, Son of Re, Ramesses beloved of Amun.

Ramesses was born to the royal couple Seti I and his queen Tuya. He would go on to inherit the throne from his father to become the 3rd king of the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom. The first attested reference to a person known as Rameses outside of Egyptological circles was in Biblical texts, namely Genesis 47:11, Exodus 1:11 and Numbers 33.3.5. Indeed, over the centuries he has been phonetically referred to as Rhampsintus, Remphus, Rapsaces, Rhamsesis and Rhamses. No matter what the pronunciation attributed to him, Ramesses would go on to rule his beloved Egypt for a total of 67 years, making him one of the most enduring and famous pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.

So, what do we know about the life of Ramesses?

Physical characteristics

Ignoring the official statuary image of Ramesses as the ideal model of manhood, what did the man look like?

Ramesses II at the Luxor Temple Examination of the body has revealed that Ramesses had a long, narrow, oval face dominated by a large beaky nose. Slightly bulging almond-shaped eyes and a small squarish chin with somewhat fleshy lips. He was tall for the period; he stood 5ft 8"’ when the average height in dynastic Egypt was no more than 5ft 3"’ which, according to text, made him an extremely strong tall young man whose height gave him an imposing bearing and authority over others. His hair colour was also unusual, as it was a reddish auburn colour, the same as the god Seth's, with a fiery temper to match!

Sir Grafton Elliot Smith also deduced that Ramesses's facial features showed traces of Asiatic characters, which was also seen in Seti I and in Ramesses's son Merenptah. All three appeared less typically Egyptian than their predecessors of the 18th Dynasty, suggesting that inter-racial marriages were common during this period.

James Henry Breasted is quick to draw attention to Ramesses's human failings, writing, "He [Ramesses] was inordinately vain … he loved ease and pleasure and gave himself up without restraint to voluptuous enjoyments [with] an enormous harem … living in magnificence that even surpasses that of Amenhotep III." His lambaste continues describing how the living god became human, "Falling into senile decay … never rousing from lethargy into which he had fallen, to the detriment of his country".

"In person he was tall and handsome, with features of dreamy almost effeminate beauty – in no way suggestive of the manly traits he certainly possessed" James Henry Breasted

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