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SETI I.

RAMESES II.

Rameses II., the renowned soldier, son of Seti I., known to the Greeks as Sesostris. The oppression of the Israelites, probably begun by Seti I., was continued under Rameses II. In the sixth year of his reign, however, Moses was born. The mummy of Rameses II. was found deposited in a coffin of the twenty-first dynasty, like that of Rameses I. This gave rise to doubts as to which particular Rameses was enclosed, but on unwrapping the mummy an inscription was found, explaining that the original coffin had been accidentally broken, and leaving no doubt that this was Rameses II. Most striking, when compared with the mummy of Seti I., is the astonishing resemblance between father and son. The nose, mouth, chin, all the features are the same, but in the father they are more refined than in the son. Rameses II. was over six feet in height, and we see by the breadth of his chest and the squareness of his shoulders that he must have been a man of great bodily strength. Professor Maspero, in his official report, describes the body as that of a vigorous and robust old man, with white and well-preserved teeth, white hair and eyebrows, long and slender hands and feet, stained with henna, and ears pierced for the reception of ear-rings. Rameses II. reigned sixty-six years, and was nearly a hundred years old at the time of his death. He exhibited great zeal as a builder, and was a patron of science and art. It was he who built the Ramesseum at Thebes, and presented it with a library. He also built the Pylons and Hall of Columns of the Temple of Luxor, and a score of minor temples in Egypt and Nubia, and made the marvellous rock-cut temples at Abousimbel.