Tag: rameses ii

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Egyptian Artifacts

Limestone Ushabtis of Rameses II’s Officials

Here are a couple of limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures that belonged to three ๐“ผ different officials who served during the reign of Rameses II. While faience ๐“‹ฃ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ธ๐“ผ ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures are the most commonly found (because they are easier to mass produce and there needed to be 300+ of them in a tomb), limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures are not a rare find from New Kingdom burials. I love how most of these still contain some original paint – the black ๐“†Ž๐“…“ paint around the eyes ๐“น๐“ฆ is in stark contrast to the white ๐“Œ‰๐“†“๐“‡ณ limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ and it looks so cool!

These ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ figures all have inscriptions ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ on them. The purpose of the inscription ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ was to guide the ushabti ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ on its role in serving the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰! All of these contain spells mentioning the god ๐“Šน Osiris ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ, which is common because Osirisโ€™ ๐“น๐“Šจ๐“€ญ realm was the Duat ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰ (afterlife).

Fun Fact! There are two ๐“ป ways to write ushabti in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช:

๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ – ลกwbtj – the earlier word that was used in Egypt.
๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พ – wลกbtj – the โ€œnewerโ€ form of the word. This is where the Egyptological term of โ€œushabtiโ€ or โ€œshabtiโ€ (both are correct terms to use) originated from!

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Egyptian Artifacts

Wooden Ushabti of Rameses II

This is a Wooden ๐“†ฑ๐“๐“บ Ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ of Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– (New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c. 1292-1190 B.C.E.).

Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– was arguably one of Egyptโ€™s ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š– greatest builders, and his face/cartouche can be found pretty much everywhere you look in a museum (this is why his cartouches are good to learn – you will see them a lot).

Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ was plundered in the 20th Dynasty, and only three ๐“ผ of his wooden ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ figures remain! In 1049 B.C.E., the High Priest of Amun ordered Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– mummy ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ be moved from his original tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ and to the Royal Cache, a place where many royal ๐“‹พ mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช were re-buried in order to protect the mummies ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ๐“ช from tomb robbers.

While the provenance of this ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is unknown, it is assumed that it was originally from Rameses IIโ€™s ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– original tomb ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰ (KV 7).

The text ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ on the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ is a version of the โ€œShabti Spellโ€ from Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead. This spell gives the ushabti ๐“†ท๐“„ฟ๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ฎ๐“€พ the power to complete tasks (farming, manual labor, etc) for the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ in the Field of Reeds ๐“‡๐“๐“ˆ…๐“‡‹๐“„ฟ๐“‚‹๐“…ฑ๐“†ฐ๐“Š–.

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Egyptian Artifacts

Foundation Deposit Brick of Rameses II

Foundation Deposit Brick of Rameses II at The MET

This beautiful ๐“„ค faience ๐“‹ฃ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ธ๐“ผ piece is a foundation deposit brick with the cartouche of pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– written on it (19th Dynasty, c. 1279โ€“1213 B.C.E.). I chose this piece for today, because Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– is thought to possibly be the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the Exodus – there are many theories as to who the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป was that is mentioned in The Bible by Moses. The pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the Exodus is only referred to as โ€œthe pharaohโ€ in The Bible and not by name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–, so historians and religious scholars can only make inferences based on The Bible and archaeological evidence.

It is all so fascinating and based on my research, I believe that the evidence lines up to Rameses II ๐“‡ณ๐“„Š๐“ง๐“‡ณ๐“‰๐“ˆ– being the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป of the Exodus. Some of the specific references made in the text of Exodus seems to line up really well with the 19th Dynasty time period. Some scholars disagree and think the Exodus happened at a later time period, some believe it happened earlier.

Why would there be no historical record of the Exodus in writings ๐“Ÿ๐“›๐“ฅ from Egypt ๐“†Ž๐“…“๐“๐“Š–? Egyptian writing was full of propaganda and only the good stuff was mentioned. Something like the Exodus would have been kept on the down-low.

Foundation deposit bricks were ceremonial offerings that were placed at the corners of buildings, courts, temples ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰๐“ฆ , tombs ๐“‡‹๐“ซ๐“Šƒ๐“‰๐“ฆ, and pretty much the foundation of any building. They can almost be thought of as the ancient version of a ground-breaking ceremony. The foundation deposit bricks usually contained the cartouche of the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป that the building was constructed under on it! Iโ€™m the early dynastic times, foundation deposits took the form of pottery, but later evolved into different versions of what you see pictured ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“!