He died long ago. So much so that it is hard to get an idea of ??the magnitude that 3,200 years represent. But “today the sciences anticipate that it is outrageous”, as Ricardo de la Vega wrote in La verbena de la Paloma by maestro Bretón, and thanks to software used in facial reconstructions of criminals, a few days ago we have been able to observe, more than three millennia later, the face of Ramses II.
Actually, it’s not like the police are after him, basically because his exact whereabouts are known: the new Museum of Egyptian Civilization. He is not undocumented either (he was issued a passport in 1976 to enter France, where he was received, by the way, with honors as head of state). No. A team of scientists simply wanted to put a face to that man who wore the double crown of the country of the Nile for more than 65 years. And the length of his reign is just one of many achievements attributed to him. Because the second Ramses in the history of Egypt was a man of records.
On a personal level, his longevity stands out. Historians estimate that he died at an unusual age for his time, beyond the age of 90. For a long time, his subjects were born and died having him as the only sovereign of his lives. Almost eternal.
But perhaps what is most surprising is that he had some 200 wives and concubines and a hundred children. Nine decades go a long way… Although the woman who stole his heart was Nefertari, who obviously died long before him, and to whom he dedicated not only one of the most beautiful hypogea in the Theban necropolis, but also the second temple of Abu Simbel. And here comes another of his milestones. Ramses II was the pharaoh who ordered the erection of the most buildings.
As ruler, he signed the first peace treaty in history, that of Qadesh, with the Hittites. Although when he returned from the war he faked a victory. Thus, he was also a pioneer in political propaganda or in the manipulation of information.
In short, after all this, and much more, who doesn’t want to see the face of this spectacular Egyptian king? The team from Cairo University and Liverpool John Moores University, in charge of the study, show him with a long face, red hair, close-set eyes, an aquiline nose, bushy eyebrows and a wide mouth with a thin upper lip.
This pharaoh is also featured in the traveling exhibition Ramesses the Great and the Pharaohs’ Gold (now at the de Young Museum in San Francisco and starting April 7 at La Villette in Paris). It brings together 180 treasures from ancient Egypt, some of which have left the country for the first time. But perhaps the great attraction of him is the virtual experience Ramses
