Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses II's Mummy and the Science of Immortality
Transcript
- Lucas: For nearly three thousand years, Ramses II slept in the darkness of KV7 in the Valley of the Kings, wrapped in linen and protected by spells carved into his coffin. He was Usermaatre Setepenre, the living embodiment of Ma'at, and his tomb was designed to ensure his eternal rise with the sun. But in 1974, that eternal silence was broken by a very mundane problem. Luna: What kind of problem could disturb a pharaoh after all that time? Lucas: It started with beetles. The French Egyptologist Bernard Bruyere, who had been excavating in the area, noticed that the wrappings on Ramses’ mummy were infested with tiny insects that were eating the linen and the resin. It was a sign of decay, and for a man whose entire legacy was built on immortality, that was a crisis. So, the Egyptian government made a decision that would seem almost absurd today. Luna: They decided to do what exactly? Lucas: They invited French scientists to take the mummy to Paris for treatment. The idea was simple: send the king of Egypt to the capital of France so that the best conservators could stop the beetle invasion and restore his body to its former glory. It was a gesture of international scientific cooperation, or so the story goes, though some historians suspect it was also a way to showcase French expertise in Egyptology. Luna: That sounds like a huge honor for the mummy. Lucas: It certainly sounded grand at the time. When the mummy arrived at the Institut du Caire in Paris, the conservators didn't just fix the beetles; they took the opportunity to study him closely. For the first time, a pharaoh was examined with such precision not by priests chanting over him, but by doctors measuring his joints and inspecting his teeth. And what they found was quite startling. Luna: What did the doctors see that was so different? Lucas: Ramses was not the agile warrior king he claimed to be in his inscriptions. He was suffering from severe arthritis, particularly in his hips and knees, which would have made walking incredibly painful. His teeth were worn down to the gums, likely from chewing tough bread filled with sand grit, and he had advanced periodontal disease. The man who sat on the throne for sixty-six years was in constant, chronic pain. Luna: So the statues are lying about his physical condition. Lucas: Exactly. The propaganda machine of Kemet painted him as a god-like figure, strong and invincible. But the bones told a different story of a man aging rapidly under the weight of his own ambition. Later, in the 1990s, a team from the University of Montreal used CT scans to dig even deeper. They confirmed that Ramses suffered from ankylosing spondylitis, a rare form of arthritis that causes the vertebrae to fuse together. Luna: That must have made standing up really difficult. Lucas: Imagine trying to lead armies across Syria or attend diplomatic meetings with Hittite princesses while your spine is slowly turning into a single, rigid rod. It adds a whole new layer of tragedy to his reign. He wasn't just ruling; he was enduring. And yet, he managed to build more monuments than any other pharaoh, covering the landscape of Egypt with temples and obelisks that still stand today. Luna: How long was he in Paris before they brought him back? Lucas: He stayed there for nine months, undergoing conservation and extensive medical examination. When he returned to Cairo, he wasn't put back in his tomb immediately. Instead, he was given a place of honor in the Egyptian Museum, where visitors could line up to see the face of the great king. It was a strange reversal: the dead pharaoh became a tourist attraction, staring out at the crowds with glassy eyes. Luna: Did they give him any special treatment upon return? Lucas: They did. According to legend, Ramses was issued a passport, listing his occupation as 'King ' and his cause of death as 'old age.' He even received a visitor card for the museum, allowing him free entry for life. It’s a quirky footnote in history, but it shows how deeply he was embedded in the national consciousness, even in death. Luna: I love that detail about the passport. Lucas: It’s charming, but it also highlights how we view these figures. We don't see them as gods anymore; we see them as people who lived, aged, and died. The science of the mummy has humanized Ramses II in a way that stone statues never could. It reminds us that behind the gold and the hieroglyphs was a man who feared decay just like anyone else. Luna: Do you think he would have liked being studied? Lucas: Probably not in this manner. Ancient Egyptians believed that the body had to remain intact for the Ka and Ba to reunite in the afterlife. Dissecting him, scanning him, and moving him around might have been seen as a violation of sacred trust. Yet, paradoxically, his preservation allowed him to live on in a different way. He is more known today because of that 1974 beetle infestation than he might have been otherwise. Luna: It’s ironic how a pest problem saved his fame. Lucas: Indeed. If the beetles hadn't eaten through those wrappings, we might still only know him as a name on a wall. Instead, we know his height, his bone density, and the specific disease that stole his mobility in his final decades. It’s a reminder that history isn't just written by the victors; it’s preserved by the smallest accidents. Luna: So he’s still in Cairo now? Lucas: Yes, he rests in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo, displayed alongside other royal mummies. You can walk past his glass case and look at the face of the man who conquered Kadesh and signed the first peace treaty in history. He looks peaceful there, frozen in time, but the records tell us he spent his last years fighting pain. Luna: It puts his longevity in a different light. Lucas: It does. Sixty-six years is an extraordinary lifespan for the Bronze Age, but it came at a cost. Every temple he built, every treaty he signed, was done by a man who was physically breaking down. It makes his achievements even more impressive, not less. He ruled through sheer force of will against his own failing body. Luna: That’s a powerful way to end the thought. Lucas: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you know how much detail goes into these reconstructions. Keeping this show ad-free and deeply researched relies on listeners like you who value this kind of intimate look at the past. If today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it really helps keep the archives open. Lucas: Thanks for helping us keep the conversation going. It allows us to dig into these small, human details that big textbooks often miss. We appreciate every bit of support that lets us keep exploring the past without interruption. Luna: It makes a real difference for the quality of the episodes. Lucas: Back to Ramses, I wonder if we’ll ever find proof of how he managed his pain. Did he have herbal remedies? Did his physicians use heat therapy or massage? We have the Edwin Smith Papyrus, but we don’t have his personal medical notes. Maybe they’re still buried in KV7, waiting for another accidental discovery. Luna: Or maybe the beetles already ate them. Lucas: Possibly. But for now, we have the bones, and they tell a story of resilience. Ramses II may have been defeated by his own spine, but he left a legacy that outlasted every disease he contracted. He is still here, watching us, in the quiet of the museum.