Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Mummy and the Secret of the Royal Cache
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Ramses the Great's monuments, his wars, his family — but we haven't actually talked about what happened to him after he died. And I think the story of his mummy is one of the most dramatic in all of Egyptian archaeology. Luna: Oh, I've heard bits of that — something about priests hiding him in a secret cache? Lucas: Exactly. Ramses died around 1213 BCE, after 66 years on the throne. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings, in a tomb — KV7 — that was built for him. But within a few generations, tomb robbing had become such a problem that the priests of Amun had to take drastic action. They started moving royal mummies from their original tombs to hidden caches. Lucas: And Ramses' mummy wasn't moved just once. Over the centuries, it was moved several times. The last move was to a tomb complex in Deir el-Bahri — modern designation TT320 — which became a sort of royal mummy hideout. It held the bodies of some of the most famous pharaohs of the New Kingdom: Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Thutmose III, Seti I, and Ramses himself. Luna: Wait — so they were all just piled in there together? Lucas: More or less. They were carefully re-wrapped and placed in side chambers with inscriptions identifying them. The cache was sealed up around the 21st Dynasty, and then it stayed hidden for nearly 3,000 years. It was only rediscovered in 1881 — not by archaeologists, but by a local family who had been secretly looting it for years. Luna: How did archaeologists finally find out about it? Lucas: That's the really wild part. The Egyptian Antiquities Service had been tracking a stream of high-quality antiquities appearing on the black market — items clearly from royal tombs. They suspected there was a major undiscovered cache. So they put the Rassoul brothers — a local family — under surveillance. Eventually, one brother, Ahmed Abd el-Rassoul, broke under interrogation and led them to the tomb. Lucas: When the Egyptologist Émile Brugsch was lowered into the shaft by rope, he found himself in a narrow chamber filled with coffins and mummies. He later wrote that he was nearly overcome by the smell of dust and ancient resin. In total, they recovered 40 mummies, including some of the greatest pharaohs of Egypt. Luna: And Ramses' mummy was among them. Lucas: It was indeed. The mummies were loaded onto a boat on the Nile, and word spread along the riverbanks. Villagers came out to watch the 'pharaoh's boat' pass by. Many of the women wailed and tore their hair in mourning — they believed the spirits of the kings were being disturbed. One account says the men fired rifles into the air in salute. Lucas: Once the mummies arrived in Cairo, they were taken to the Egyptian Museum. And then, in 1886, the director of the Antiquities Service, Gaston Maspero, decided to unwrap Ramses the Great himself — in front of an audience of dignitaries and scholars. Luna: That seems so invasive by modern standards. Lucas: Absolutely. But at the time, it was considered a scientific necessity. Maspero described the process carefully. The outer wrappings were in excellent condition — layers of linen coated in resin. As they peeled them away, they found amulets and objects placed between the layers. Finally, they reached the face. Maspero wrote that Ramses had a 'noble and beautiful' profile, with a hooked nose and a strong jaw. Lucas: What really struck everyone was the hair — it was white, but originally it had been dyed red with henna. That matched the description in some ancient texts that Ramses had red hair, which in Egypt was associated with the god Seth. It was a physical confirmation of something we'd only read about. Luna: So Ramses really did have red hair. Lucas: He did. And the mummy showed other things too. He was about 1.7 meters tall — average for the time. His teeth were badly worn, with abscesses, which must have caused him a lot of pain. He also had severe arthritis in his hips and spine — no surprise for a man who lived into his 90s. And there were signs of hardening of the arteries in his legs. Luna: So the great warrior pharaoh ended up with a bad back and toothaches. Lucas: Exactly. But here's the thing — despite all that, his mummy is remarkably well-preserved. The embalmers did an incredible job. His hands are crossed over his chest, holding ceremonial scepters. The whole body was packed with linen to give it a lifelike shape. It's a testament to the skill of Egyptian mummification at its peak. Lucas: Now, one of the most fascinating chapters in Ramses' afterlife came in 1976. His mummy was showing signs of fungal decay — it had been damaged by moisture and handling over the decades. So the Egyptian government sent it to Paris for conservation. The mummy was given a passport — occupation: 'King ' — and flown to France. Luna: He got a passport? That's hilarious. Lucas: It is. And in Paris, scientists subjected the mummy to X-rays and other non-invasive tests. They confirmed the arthritis, the dental problems, and the red hair. They also found that his nose had been packed with small bones and resin to restore its shape — probably done by the embalmers. Then they treated the mummy with gamma radiation to kill the fungus. He was returned to Cairo in 1977, now in a climate-controlled case. Lucas: More recently, in 2021, Ramses' mummy was part of the 'Pharaohs' Golden Parade' — a spectacular event where 22 royal mummies were moved from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat. Each mummy was placed in a special nitrogen-filled case and carried in order of reign. Ramses was near the end. Luna: I watched that online. It was surreal seeing modern military honors for ancient kings. Lucas: It really was. And it raises an interesting ethical point. Are these mummies scientific specimens, or are they the actual bodies of once-living people who should be left undisturbed? The Egyptian government argues that proper display and conservation allows people to connect with history. But some archaeologists and indigenous groups have criticized the display of human remains. Luna: It's a tough question. I think there's a middle ground — respectful display with educational context. Lucas: I think so too. And it's worth remembering that the ancient Egyptians believed that as long as the body was preserved, the soul could continue to live in the afterlife. They called the mummy the sah, and they performed the 'Opening of the Mouth' ritual to restore its senses. In a strange way, by preserving Ramses' body for thousands of years and studying it, we've almost fulfilled that ancient wish — even if not in the way they imagined. Lucas: You know, speaking of preserving things — if this episode has been worth a small cup of coffee to you, there's a link in the show notes. It's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That kind of listener support is what keeps this show ad-free and lets us keep digging into these deep historical rabbit holes. Luna: Absolutely. Every little bit helps us keep the research going. Lucas: So back to Ramses — one final thought. When I think about his mummy, I'm struck by the irony. Ramses built the biggest statues, the most temples, the longest-lasting monuments. But in the end, it's his actual body — fragile, human, arthritic — that has perhaps taught us the most about who he really was. Not a god, not a legend, but a man who lived and died, and whose body refused to be forgotten. Luna: It's a very human ending for someone who tried so hard to be divine.