The
Colossus of Ramesses is an enormous statue
carved in limestone. It is about 10m (33.8
ft) long, even though it has no feet.
It has a museum built around it because
it is so big, and it weighs so much that
to this day the statue lays on its back.
It was found near the south gate of the
temple of Ptah in 1820. Mohammad Ali donated
the statue to the British Museum, but
it was so big that it never made it out
of the country. The statue is wonderfully
carved, and most people have no idea how
it was made. The colossus is an incredible
piece of work. Ramesses is portrayed in
the prone position, but the piece is unfinished.
Ramesses
II (also known as Ramesses the Great and
alternatively transcribed as Ramses and
Rameses) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the
nineteenth dynasty. He lived from ca.
1302 BC to 1213 BC and reigned from either
1279 BC to 1213 BC or 1290 BC to 1224
BC. He ruled for a total of 66 years and
2 months, becoming pharaoh in his early
20s and dying in his ninetieth year. Ancient
Greek writers (such as Herodotus) ascribed
his accomplishments to the semi-mythical
Sesostris. He is widely believed to have
been the Pharaoh of the Exodus. He was
the third king of the 19th dynasty, and
the son of Seti I and his Queen Tuya.
The most memorable of Ramesses' wives
was Nefertari. Others among his wives
were Isisnofret and Maathorneferure, Princess
of Hatti. The writer Terence Gray stated
in 1923 that Ramesses II had as many as
200 sons and 200 daughters; more recent
scholars, however, believe his offspring,
while numerous, were far fewer, somewhere
around 90. His children include Bintah
(Bintanath) (princess and her father's
wife), Setakht (Sethnakhte), the Pharaoh
Merneptah (who succeeded him), and prince
Khaemweset.
|
|
