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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Relief of Rameses II

There are two 𓏻 different types of reliefs; raised and sunken reliefs. In a raised relief, the images project upward from the rock, while in a sunken relief, the images are carved within the rock.

Most of the time, especially for temple and royal inscriptions, the Egyptians π“†Žπ“π“€€π“π“ͺ chose to to raised reliefs because it was less likely to be completely washed out by the sun 𓇳𓏺! Sunken reliefs were mainly used when time was of the essence, because sunken reliefs took less time to carve or when the rock was too hard/dense. Sunken reliefs actually became more popular starting with the 18th Dynasty.

Full Relief of Rameses II at the Brooklyn Museum.

This relief shows Rameses II π“‡³π“„Šπ“§π“‡³π“‰π“ˆ–. What is interesting is the hieroglyphs are sunken reliefs, while the images 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 of the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 are raised reliefs.

Usually reliefs were either one or the other, however, this relief has both sunken and raised aspects to it! Many of his titles/cartouches are used in this relief.

Close-Up of the Hieroglyphs.

π“ŽŸπ“‡Ώπ“‡Ώ β€œlord of the two lands”
π“‡³π“„Šπ“§π“‡³π“‰π“ˆ– Rameses II (Usermaatre – throne name)

π“ŽŸπ“ˆπ“₯ β€œlord of appearances”
π“©π“›π“ˆ˜π“„Ÿπ“‹΄π“‡“ Rameses II (Ramessu mery-Amun – birth name)

π“ŒΊπ“©π“›π“„Ÿπ“‹΄π“‡“ – Rameses II (Ramessu mery-Amun – birth name variant)