The mummified heads of 2,000 rams were found in the temple of the pharaoh Ramses II, located in the ancient city of Abydos in southern Egypt. The researchers assume that these were vows. Ramses II was the pharaoh who ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1213 BC. The pharaoh built this shrine for Osiris, the god of the underworld. Along with the heads of sheep, mummified figures of dogs, goats, cows, deer and deer were also found. They are believed to have been buried in the shrine during the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled until 30 BC. Abydos is 435 km away from Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Ramses II is the most famous king of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Historians are very interested in learning his life story.
Ramses II’s name means Son of the Sun. His ancestors were not of royal lineage. Ramses’ grandfather, Ramses I, started the 19th dynasty. He was a common soldier and reached this position using his war skills and intelligence. Ramses was born in 1303 BC to Seti and Tuya, the son of Ramses I. Seti was careful to develop his administrative skills by delegating powers and responsibilities to his son at an early age. Ramses became the general of the army at the age of 10 and the crown prince of Egypt at the age of 14. The Greeks called Ramses Ozymandias.
With Seti’s death in 1279 BC, Ramses became Egypt’s supreme pharaoh. Ramses moved Egypt’s administrative center from the traditional capital and ancient city of Thebes to a new city. The name Ramses gave to that city was Pyramises. Ramses ruled for 67 years. Such a long reign is rare in Egyptian history.
The Eighteenth Dynasty, which ruled Egypt before Ramses and his predecessors, often failed to preserve the empire. The famous Emperor Tutankhamun and his father Akhenaten belonged to the Eighteenth Dynasty. Egypt’s vassal dynasty, the Hittites, declared independence during Akhenaten’s reign and turned once morest Egypt. Friction existed between the Hittites in today’s Asia Minor region and the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. The Hittite Empire acquired many trading centers in Syria and Canaan during this time. Kadesh was the most famous of them. An Egyptian army led by Seti once captured Kadesh, but it was later recaptured by the Hittite king Muvatali.
Recapturing Kadesh, however, became Ramses’ innermost resolve. The first thing that was done for that was to subjugate the Sherdan tribe that lived on the banks of the Nile. The Sherdan tribe were allies of the Hittites. After conquering them, Ramses added the rest of them to his army. With this, Ramses began preparations to capture Kadesh. The first step was to invade the land of Canaan. The victory in that battle boosted the confidence of Ramses and his army.
As the next step, the Egyptian army of Ramses marched to Kadesh and this journey through the desert took regarding two months. Meanwhile, just before reaching Kadesh, two Hittite soldiers were captured by the Egyptian army. When they were interrogated, they were informed that the Hittite army was far away.
But it was fraud. Those who came were Muwathali’s spies. Their intention was to distract Ramses and his soldiers and trap them. Believing the spies, Ramses decided to wait for the rest of his army to arrive and camp near Kadesh until then.
But following some time the Hittite army attacked the Egyptian army from behind. Ramses never expected this attack. Only a few soldiers and generals were with Ramses. But they bravely resisted. In the end, the Hittites decided to destroy Ramses and his people. Then Ramses called his Egyptian god Amun and prayed and the rest of the army came there with Ramses by chance. After the war, Ramses returned to Egypt as a great devotee of Amun.
Although Ramses was unable to completely defeat the Hittites, he returned with a great hero’s role. He knew well enough to maintain that pretense. Ramses was a great ruler and diplomat. He signed a peace treaty with the Hittites. This is the first time in the recorded history of the world that such a peace treaty has been signed. A copy of it in hieroglyphics is still in the office of the United Nations today.
Ramses knew that victories and achievements alone were not enough, but only if they reached the hearts of the people would his position as emperor be secured. He publicized his battle victories by painting them in temples elsewhere in Egypt. Many of the pictures were of him chasing the Hittites alone. It was the prototype of later public relations methods.
Not only this, Ramses did not forget to inscribe his name on all the temples and other historical structures built during his time and those built by the ancients. It is safe to say that there is no Egyptian structure that does not bear the name of Ramses. Ramses had eight main wives and many other wives. Hundreds of children were born to him from all of them. The most famous of his queens was the Hittite princess Nefertari.
He also built many buildings to show his immense wealth to the world. He built the world-famous temples of Karnak and Abu Simbel along with Abydos. In many of these places he also installed huge statues of himself. The Ramesseum, the building that houses the tomb of Ramses, is an architectural marvel. It included a library that housed tens of thousands of papyrus scrolls. Ramses died at the age of 96. His mummy was originally placed in Ramesium but was moved by Egyptian priests to some unknown location in ancient times to protect it from robbers. After many explorations, the mummy was rediscovered in 1881.
Content Summary : 2000 mummified sheep heads unearthed in Egypt temple
