The reign of Rameses II. is one of the most memorable in the Egyptian series; the extant monuments of his greatness far surpass in number those of any other monarch. He has been considered to be the Sesostris of the Greeks; and the paintings recording his victories over European tribes, some of which we shall have to describe hereafter, confirm this identification. At the same time, however, it must be remembered, that the Sesostris of Manethon belongs to the Twelfth, but Rameses II. to the Eighteenth or Nineteenth Dynasty, and that it is probable that the Greeks, under the one name of Sesostris, combined the exploits of the whole Eighteenth Dynasty, attributing to the most memorable Monarch of that series, deeds in which many others had a share. The conquests of Rameses II. are recorded on the temples at Siboua, Ibrim, Girscheh Hassan, and Derri, which were erected by his orders—on the small temple at Ipsambul, which was built by his Queen-at Silsilis on two Stela-at Luxor, and on the Rameseion (the Memnonium and tomb of Osymandyas of the Greeks). At Ipsambul, the conquered people of the Northern nations (Khita) resemble Tátars, with single locks of hair, clear complexions, and coloured garments; while there are also representations of the people of the South, Kush or Æthiopia, the Shohé and the Barbar races. Two wives of this monarch are mentioned on the monuments, with twentythree sons and seven daughters. His reign is said to have lasted sixtysix years-from B.C. 1565 to B.C. 1499. The Museum head was removed in 1815 by Belzoni at the suggestion of Mr. Burckhardt and Mr. Salt, then British Consul in Egypt, from the temple, commonly called the Memnonium, at Thebes. It had been repeatedly observed and described by former travellers, and several attempts had been previously made to remove it to Europe. Belzoni found it lying on the ground, broken, and with its face upwards. (If Norden is to be trusted, when he saw it in 1737, it was reposing with its face downwards.) After difficulties which remind us of Mr. Layard's account of the removal of the Great Bull from the Mounds of Nimrúd, Belzoni succeeded in moving the statue to the river side, and in conveying it in safety to Alexandria. This statue deserves to take the first rank among the works of Egyptian art. The actual height of the fragment is nearly nine feet, and that of the whole figure when entire was probably not less than twenty-three feet. The countenance has an expression of great beauty, and the whole colossal form is pervaded by that calm majesty so characteristic of Egyptian sculpture. It represents a young man, with a broad and well-defined chest, and a beard which, united in one mass, adheres to the chin; a singular form observable in many of the monuments of Egypt, which has led Belzoni to suppose that the ancient people wore their beards in cases. On either side the head descends an appendage resembling the full flowing wig of the English judges; while on the head itself is what has been usually called a Modius, or corn-measure, the not uncommon headdress of the Egyptian and Syrian rulers. On the head-dress at the back are other sculptures, the hawk's feather, and various plants, all of them probably conveying to the initiated symbolical memorials of the rank and dignity of the personage who bore them. This fragment has been called the Head of Memnon, because it was found within the precincts of the building which it was formerly the fashion, though wrongly, to call the Memnonium. Sir G. Wilkinson has carefully examined on the spot what is known about this building, and is of opinion that besides other smaller and less important ruins, there are two principal groups remaining, to which the name of Memnonium has been applied. The first is a vast pile, with two gigantic propylæa, and a series of inner courts varying in size, the larger being the first as you enter. Within this, still exist the fragments of what Diodorus has no doubt rightly called the largest statue in Egypt. Of the portion which remains, the breadth across the shoulders is 20 feet 4 inches, and the height from the neck to the elbow is 14 feet 4 inches. Sir Gardner Wilkinson has calculated that the whole mass when entire must have weighed about 887 tons, three times that of the largest obelisk at Karnak. This building is probably that which is called by Diodorus the Tomb of Osymandyas. The statue we have described above, was brought from this edifice.' The word Memnon is perhaps a corruption of Miammen, and this building is almost certainly that called by Strabo the Memnonium. The second building is an inferior mass of ruins, possibly the site of another temple, in front of which are still seated the two great colossi, which are the wonder of modern, as they have been of ancient travellers. The Easternmost of the two is shown by Sir G. Wilkinson to have been the Vocal Memnon of Strabo, which was said every morning to emit a sound like the snapping of a harpstring when the first rays of the sun fell upon it. These colossi are about 60 feet above the plain, including 10 feet, the height of their pedestals. 1 It has also been conjectured that the Memnon of the Greeks is the Egyptian monarch Amenophis III., who reigned about B.C. 1430. |