Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Lost Mummy The Discovery of a Pharaoh
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've covered a lot about Ramses the Great in this series — his temples, his battles, his family, his diplomacy. But there's one very direct connection we haven't really touched: the man himself, his actual body. Or rather, his mummy. Luna: Wait, we actually have Ramses' mummy? I thought most royal tombs were looted. Lucas: They were. By the 21st Dynasty, tomb robbery was a huge problem. The priests of Amun, to protect the bodies of their greatest pharaohs, took a drastic step. They gathered the mummies of Ramses I, Seti I, Ramses II, and others, and hid them in a secret cache. And that cache wasn't discovered until 1881, at Deir el-Bahri — a cliffside tomb complex on the west bank of Thebes. Lucas: The story of its discovery is straight out of an adventure novel. The Egyptian Antiquities Service, under the French scholar Gaston Maspero, had been hunting a family of grave robbers — the Abd el-Rassuls. They'd been selling artifacts on the antiquities market. When they were finally pressured, one of them led an Egyptian official, Emile Brugsch, to the hidden tomb. Luna: Brugsch just went in alone? Lucas: Pretty much. He climbed down a shaft into a narrow chamber, and by lantern light, he found himself surrounded by dozens of coffins and mummies — including Ramses the Great. He later described being overwhelmed. The mummies were still wrapped, still in their original coffins, some with flower garlands still intact. It was an archaeological miracle. Lucas: They had to bring them all out. Over 40 royal mummies were removed — pharaohs, queens, princes. They loaded them onto a boat on the Nile, and the local villagers, hearing what was happening, came out to mourn. Women wailed, men fired guns into the air. They were witnessing their ancestors being taken away. Luna: That's incredibly moving. What did they find when they actually examined Ramses? Lucas: The mummy was in remarkable condition. He was placed in a simple wooden coffin — his original golden sarcophagi had been stolen long before. When they unrolled the linen wrappings in Cairo in 1886, they found a tall man — about 5 foot 7, which was tall for the time — with a narrow face, a prominent nose, a strong jaw, and red hair. Luna: Red hair? Really? I thought ancient Egyptians were mostly dark-haired. Lucas: They were. Ramses' hair had been dyed with henna — a common practice among the elite, maybe even a fashion statement. But some scholars have speculated that he may have naturally had a reddish tint. Either way, it gave him a distinctive look. His skin was still intact, and you could see the wrinkles around his eyes — he died around age 90, after all. Lucas: The autopsy, conducted by the French doctor Antoine-Barthélémy Clot, also known as Clot Bey, noted that the body had been expertly mummified. The brain had been removed through the nose, the internal organs taken out, but the heart was left in place — crucial for the afterlife. His arms were crossed over his chest, a pose that became standard for royal mummies. Luna: Did they learn anything about his health? Like what killed him? Lucas: Yes. In the 1970s, a team including French and Egyptian scientists did a full forensic examination. They took X-rays and later, in 2007, a CT scan. The results were fascinating. He had severe dental problems — abscesses, cavities, worn-down teeth. That would have been painful and likely led to infections. He also had arthritis in his hips and knees, and hardening of the arteries — atherosclerosis. Lucas: But the cause of death? Probably old age and perhaps a heart attack or stroke. There's no evidence of violence. He ruled for 66 years, fathered over 100 children, and simply wore out. The CT scan also showed that his mummy had been damaged by priests during re-wrapping — they broke his nose and dislocated his neck while trying to fit him into a newer coffin. Luna: Oh no, so the iconic hooked nose we see in statues — that might be partly post-mortem damage? Lucas: Possibly. The statues show a prominent nose, but the mummy's nose was flattened. It's hard to separate art from accident. There's also a debate about his hair. Some Egyptologists argue that the red color is purely from henna, but others point to ancient descriptions of the pharaoh having 'bright' hair. We'll probably never know for sure. Lucas: And then there's the mystery of his missing heart. The CT scan revealed that the heart was not present in the chest cavity. It had been removed by embalmers — unusual for a king. Some think it was misplaced, others that it was deliberately taken as a relic. The heart was considered the seat of intelligence and emotion, so its absence is a big deal. Luna: Maybe a priest kept it as a souvenir? That would be a weird relic to have lying around. Lucas: Stranger things have happened. The mummy itself has had quite a journey. After its discovery, it was put on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. But in 1981, officials noticed it was deteriorating — fungal growth, insect damage. They had it restored and kept in a climate-controlled case. Now it's part of the Royal Mummy Hall at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, where it lies alongside other pharaohs. Lucas: It's incredible that we can look at his face, see his teeth, even know what he ate. Analysis of his stomach contents showed traces of cheese, maybe. He lived on bread, beer, vegetables, and meat — a royal diet, but not a healthy one by modern standards. Luna: So the great warrior pharaoh was basically a guy with bad teeth and a bad back. Makes him oddly human. Lucas: Exactly. And it connects us to him in a way that even the grandest temples cannot. Lucas: You know, it's moments like this — when a mummy reveals the person behind the legend — that remind me why we do these deep dives. And I'll be honest: episodes like this, with all the research and travel to sources, only exist because of a small group of listeners who chip in monthly. Luna: Yeah, it's a labor of love, and we keep it ad-free. That's rare in podcasting. Lucas: If you've ever thought about supporting the show, there's a simple way: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. A handful of listeners already make this possible, and every bit helps us keep exploring stories like Ramses' mummy. No pressure, just if it feels right. Luna: And it genuinely makes a difference. Back to the mummy — what about the other pharaohs in that cache? Did they find any of Ramses' relatives? Lucas: Yes — they found Seti I, Ramses' father, in the same cache. And Ramses III, and many others. The cache was a who's who of New Kingdom royalty. But Ramses II was the star. His mummy has become an icon. It's even gone abroad — in 1976, it was sent to Paris for conservation. The French gave it a full military escort, treating it like a visiting head of state. Luna: A pharaoh getting a state visit 3,000 years later. He would've loved that. Lucas: Probably. He was never one for modesty. But there's also a poignant side: when the mummy arrived in Paris, a team of scientists took the opportunity to study it thoroughly. They used a scanning electron microscope, took samples of the wrappings, analyzed the resins. They even reconstructed his face in a forensic sculpture. So now we have a pretty good idea of what he looked like in his prime. Luna: That's wild. So we might know him better than any other ancient figure. Lucas: Arguably yes. We know his height, his bone structure, his ailments. We know he was left-handed — the way his arms were crossed suggests that. We know he had a prominent overbite. It's almost like meeting him in person. And yet, there's still so much we don't know — like why his mummy was so hastily re-wrapped in the cache, or why his heart is missing. Those questions keep the mystery alive. Luna: It's a good reminder that even with all our science, ancient Egypt still holds secrets. Lucas: Absolutely. And maybe that's the most fitting legacy for the man who built so much to last. Even his own body, carefully preserved for eternity, still has stories it won't fully tell.