RAMESSES II - MYTH AND REALITY
Seated between Amen-Re to his left and Re-Harkhti to his right, the statue of Ramesses II has greeted the rising sun twice a year for the past 3,200 years at Abu Simbel. This is a small part of the reality of Ramesses The Great , arguably the mightiest Pharaoh due t o his military victories and monumental building projects. It interests me for another reason, however. It is difficult to know precisely when his date of birth was, but legend has it that the two dates when the sun shines in the temple at Abu Simbel ie. February 22 and October 22, correspond to his date of birth and then his coronation. He died in 1213 BC and was most probably born in 1303 BC, because he is reputed to have lived to the exceptional age of 90. This post is dedicated to one of my good friends on FB, Wendy Mockus, who has an interest in Egyptian history. For this archaeological dig we are going to visit just one year in his epic lifetime. Yes, you guessed it, we're going to examine our best g...