Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Mummy: His Journey to Eternity
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've spent a lot of time talking about Ramses the Great — his battles, his building, his diplomacy, his family. But one thing we've never really touched on is what happened after he died. How did Egypt handle the death of its most powerful pharaoh? Luna: That feels like a whole other story. I mean, he reigned for 66 years — he must have had a massive tomb prepared. Lucas: Absolutely. And it's a story that takes us from the grandeur of his intended burial place to the desperate measures priests took centuries later to protect his mummy. It starts with his tomb, KV7 in the Valley of the Kings, right across from his son Merenptah's tomb, KV8. But KV7 has a bit of a sad history — it was looted in antiquity, and by the time it was officially excavated in the 20th century, it was nearly empty. Luna: Wait, so his actual tomb was robbed? Even with all the security? Lucas: Unfortunately, yes. The Valley of the Kings was a target for tomb robbers almost as soon as the first burials happened. Ramses' tomb was no exception. It was built to be grand — with multiple corridors, pillared halls, a burial chamber with a red granite sarcophagus. But by the time of the 20th Dynasty, just a couple hundred years later, it had been plundered. The priests of Amun, trying to salvage what they could, started moving royal mummies to secret caches. Lucas: And that's where the real adventure begins. In the late 19th century, Egyptologists like Victor Loret and Gaston Maspero discovered a massive cache of mummies at Deir el-Bahri — a cliffside tomb complex that had been used as a hiding place. Inside were dozens of royal mummies, including Ramses the Great, his father Seti I, and many others. Luna: So his mummy survived all that time? That's incredible. Lucas: Yes, but not in perfect condition. When they unwrapped the mummy of Ramses II in 1886, they found that it had been damaged by tomb robbers — they'd broken the arms and legs to get at the jewelry. The priests who re-wrapped it did what they could, but it was a rough state. Still, the mummy was remarkably well-preserved otherwise, with red hair and a distinctive long face. Luna: Red hair? Was that a sign of something? Lucas: Scholars debate that. In ancient Egypt, red hair was sometimes associated with the god Seth, who was often depicted with red hair. But it could also just be natural aging — embalming can darken hair, and sometimes it turns reddish. We're not sure. But his mummy gave us a lot of information. In the 1970s, his mummy was taken to France for conservation, and researchers were able to ct scan it. He was about five-foot-eight, had severe arthritis, poor dental health, and likely died from a combination of old age and infection — possibly from a tooth abscess. He was probably around ninety years old. Luna: That makes the image of him charging into battle at Kadesh even more striking. He was a warrior in his youth, but in old age, he was just a frail man. Lucas: Exactly. And the mummy tells us that story too — the wear on his joints from years of archery and chariot driving. It humanizes him. But there's also a controversy about the mummy's display. For decades, his mummy was — and still is — displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. But some argue that exhibiting a dead body, especially a pharaoh's, is disrespectful. The Egyptian government has been considering moving the royal mummies to a more dignified setting. Luna: Yeah, that's a tough issue. You want people to see history, but you also want to show respect. Lucas: Right. And it's not unique to Egypt. Museums around the world grapple with how to handle human remains. But with Ramses, it's particularly powerful because he was so obsessed with his own legacy. He built temples, statues, and inscriptions to ensure his name would last forever. And in a way, his mummy has done that — but not in the way he intended. He probably expected to rest undisturbed in KV7, not to be unwrapped, examined, and put on display. Luna: I guess all that care he took to protect his name — it worked, just not how he pictured it. Lucas: Exactly. And that brings me to something I wanted to mention. You know, we spend a lot of time here preserving these stories — keeping history alive and accessible. And that takes a bit of support from people who love the show. If you've been enjoying our conversations about North Africa and the ancient world, and you want to help us keep doing this ad-free and independent, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure at all — just a way for listeners who value the show to help us keep going. Luna: Yeah, it's like we're doing our own little version of what the priests did — preserving something important for the future. But way less dramatic, I hope. Lucas: Way less dramatic. Anyway, back to Ramses. After the cache was discovered, the mummies were moved to Cairo. And over the years, there have been several studies. One of the most famous was in 1976, when the mummy was sent to France for restoration. It received a passport — occupation: King. They gave it a state welcome at the airport, with a military guard. That's how much Ramses still commands respect. Luna: Wait, a passport? That's hilarious and surreal. Lucas: It's true. The passport listed his date of birth as around 1303 BCE. And he was treated as a visiting dignitary. French scientists spent months working on him, treating fungal growths and stabilizing the linen. They also took X-rays that revealed a lot about his health. He had a calcified aorta, which indicates atherosclerosis — a sign he might have had heart disease. And his teeth were a mess, with abscesses that could have killed him. Luna: So a toothache might have felled the greatest pharaoh? That's oddly human. Lucas: Right? And yet, he still lived into his nineties. That's impressive for any era. But the mummy has also become a symbol of the ethical debates in archaeology. Should we put it back in the tomb? Should we store it and not display it? For now, it's in a controlled environment in Cairo, but there are plans for the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization to house the royal mummies in a more respectful setting, like a mummy hall that feels like a tomb. Lucas: The story of Ramses' mummy is also the story of how Egyptology evolved. In the 19th century, it was common to unwrap mummies for entertainment. Now, we use CT scans and DNA analysis without disturbing the wrappings. Conservation has become the priority. Luna: It sounds like his mummy is almost as eventful as his life. Lucas: It really is. And we can't talk about his mummy without mentioning the other cache — the one in the tomb of Amenhotep II, KV35, where several other royal mummies were hidden. That one was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898. But Deir el-Bahri was the big one for Ramses. When they found it, the mummies were in a chaotic state — piled on top of each other, with inscriptions hastily written on the coffins to identify them. It was a last-ditch effort by High Priest Pinedjem I, around 1000 BCE, to save the royal ancestors from total destruction. Luna: So the priests really cared that much about preserving the past. Lucas: They did. They saw themselves as guardians of Ma'at — cosmic order. If the pharaoh's body was destroyed, it could disrupt the balance. So they risked moving these heavy coffins through the mountains in the dead of night, hoping to keep them secret. Lucas: And it worked, for over two thousand years. The cache at Deir el-Bahri wasn't discovered until the 1870s, when a local family started secretly selling artifacts from it. That led to the Egyptian Antiquities Service stepping in, and eventually Maspero and Loret excavated it properly. Luna: So if it weren't for those priests, we'd have no mummy of Ramses at all. Lucas: Exactly. We'd have his empty tomb, maybe a few fragments. So in a way, the story of his mummy is a testament to the resilience of ancient Egyptian culture — and to our own modern curiosity. It's a thread that connects us directly to a man who lived 3,300 years ago. You can look at his face, see the shape of his nose, the line of his jaw. It's humbling. Luna: I think I understand now why people feel so drawn to him. It's not just the power — it's that we can still reach out and touch something real from his time. Lucas: Exactly. And his mummy continues to teach us. Even recent studies using CT scans have helped us understand the mummification process itself — how they removed the brain, the organs, the use of resins. Ramses is like a textbook of Egyptian funerary practices. Luna: All preserved in the one man who wanted his name to last forever. Lucas: He got his wish — just not the way he planned. But that's history for you. It never works out quite as expected. Luna: So what's next for his mummy? Is it still being studied? Lucas: There aren't active studies happening right now, but it's frequently conserved. And there's always talk about new technology that could reveal more without damage. For instance, DNA analysis might tell us about his genetic lineage, but it's controversial because you have to sample the mummy. So far, Egyptian authorities have been cautious. But the mummy's presence in the museum continues to attract millions of visitors. In 2021, there was a grand parade moving the royal mummies to the new National Museum of Egyptian Civilization — the Pharaohs' Golden Parade. Ramses was a star of that procession. Luna: I saw videos of that. The mummies were carried in special vehicles with nitrogen gas to preserve them. It was like a state funeral. Lucas: It really was. And it shows how much reverence remains. So even in death, Ramses the Great still commands the stage. Not bad for a man who died in his nineties from an infected tooth. Luna: I'll never look at a dentist the same way again. Lucas: Neither will I. Anyway, that's the story of Ramses II's mummy — a journey from the Valley of the Kings to a secret cache, to the museum halls of Cairo. Next time, we'll talk about another hidden aspect of his reign.