This bust оf Ramesses II, ruler of Egypt 1279-1212 вс, is from the Ramesseum, his mortuary temple at Thebes. It is one of the largest pieces of Egyptian sculpture in the British Museum and weighs 7.25 tons.
This mammoth fragment, representing an idealized image of Ramesses as a young man, is the upper part of a seated statue originally in the second court of the temple. This huge image is part of a long tradition of celebrating and marking the power of the pharaoh through raising monumental statues.
The head was brought to Britain in 1818 and provided the inspiration for the poem Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley:
... 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works ye mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck ...
From the Ramesseum mortuary temple at Thebes,
Egypt, 19th Dynasty c. 1250 ВС
Ht 2.668 m
Henry Salt Collection
This mammoth fragment, representing an idealized image of Ramesses as a young man, is the upper part of a seated statue originally in the second court of the temple. This huge image is part of a long tradition of celebrating and marking the power of the pharaoh through raising monumental statues.
The head was brought to Britain in 1818 and provided the inspiration for the poem Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley:
... 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works ye mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck ...
From the Ramesseum mortuary temple at Thebes,
Egypt, 19th Dynasty c. 1250 ВС
Ht 2.668 m
Henry Salt Collection