original tomb, and probably carried from place to place till finally
deposited in the cave where it was so recently discovered.
In 1886, the mummy of this king, the “great Rameses,” the “Sesostris” of
the Greeks, was unwound, and showed the body of what must have been a
robust old man. The features revealed to view are thus described by
Maspero: “The head is long and small in proportion to the body. The top
of the skull is quite bare. On the temple there are a few sparse hairs, but at
the poll the hair is quite thick, forming smooth, straight locks about two
inches in length. White at the time of death, they have been dyed a light
yellow by the spices used in embalmment. The forehead is low and
narrow; the brow-ridge prominent; the eye-brows are thick and white; the
eyes are small and close together; the nose is long, thin, arched like the
noses of the Bourbons; the temples are sunk; the cheek-bones very
prominent; the ears round, standing far out from the head, and pierced, like
those of a woman, for the wearing of earrings; the jaw-bone is massive and
strong; the chin very prominent; the mouth small, but thick-lipped; the
teeth worn and very brittle, but white and well preserved. The moustache
and beard are thin. They seem to have been kept shaven during life, but
were probably allowed to grow during the king’s last illness, or they may
have grown after death. The hairs are white, like those of the head and
eyebrows, but are harsh and bristly, and a tenth of an inch in length. The
skin is of an earthy-brown, streaked with black. Finally, it may be said, the
face of the mummy gives a fair idea of the face of the living king. The
expression is unintellectual, perhaps slightly animal; but even under the
somewhat grotesque disguise of mummification there is plainly to be seen
an air of sovereign majesty, of resolve, and of pride.”
Both on his father’s and his mother’s side it has been pretty clearly shown
that Rameses had Chaldean or Mesopotamian blood in his veins to such a
degree that he might be called an Assyrian. This fact is thought to throw
light on Isaiah 52:4.
(5.) The Pharaoh of the Exodus was probably Menephtah I., the
fourteenth and eldest surviving son of Rameses II. He resided at Zoan,
where he had the various interviews with Moses and Aaron recorded in the
book of Exodus. His mummy was not among those found at Deir
el-Bahari. It is still a question, however, whether Seti II. or his father
Menephtah was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Some think the balance of
evidence to be in favour of the former, whose reign it is known began