Cruise on the River Nile – Memphis – My Travel and Language Experience

Ramesses II in Memphis

Ramesses II is probably the most well known pharaoh, next to Tutankhamun. So I was very excited to learn about the greatest pharaoh to ever live.

Ramesses II reigned 1279–1213 BC and is also known as Ramesses the Great. He was the third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Egypt. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. Ramesses II led several military expeditions and built extensively throughout Egypt and Nubia. By the time of his death, aged about 90 years, Ramesses was suffering from severe dental problems and was plagued by arthritis and hardening of the arteries. He had made Egypt rich from all the supplies and riches he had collected from other empires. He outlived many of his wives and children and left great memorials all over Egypt. Nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses in his honour.
Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. The ruins of ancient Memphis have yielded a large number of sculptures representing Pharaoh Ramesses II. Within the museum in Memphis is a giant statue of the pharaoh carved of monumental limestone, about 10 meters in length. Because the base and feet of the sculpture are broken off from the rest of the body, it is currently displayed lying on its back. Some of the colors are still partially preserved, but the beauty of this statue lies in its flawless detail of the complex and subtle forms of human anatomy. (Wikipedia of Ramesses II and Memphis.)

DSC_0033 (3) — The colossus of Ramesses II

After our visit to Saqqara, we went to the open air museum of Memphis, which was very impressive, especially the colossus of Ramesses II really took my breath away. This great king lived until his 90th year, even now a great feat. I can only imagine the prestige this pharaoh had to have had in his Golden Age. You can learn so much more about him (and if you are interested in Egyptian history, please do) but I can’t explain it all in these posts. I will include some more on Ramesses II in other posts, since this won’t be the last time we hear of him.

Very well preserved

And look at the detail of his head

The complex also houses some very interesting statues and even a sphinx. This was the first sphinx I ever saw in real live, but nothing compared to the one in Giza. Other than that, in the pictures below and on other posts, you will see some birds. My parents are fervent bird watchers, and I like to dabble in it as well. We saw a lot of birds in Egypt which we don’t often see at home, so we also took a lot of pictures of them. I will include the best and coolest in here too.
Now I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves, they are breathtaking.