Three thousand years after his death, the head of state made an official visit to France

In September 1976, the Paris-Le Bourget Airport was crowded with people. The Republican Guard's guard of honor and various dignitaries lined up, and TV cameras were fixed on the airport runway. Everyone held their breath, waiting for a head of state to visit.

Under the escort of the French Air Force, a plane slowly landed. But the head of state did not walk down the red carpeted staircase. He was carried in front of the crowd in a coffin, carrying an Egyptian passport. The name column read: Ramses II. The occupation column read: King.

Statue of the King | Dominik Knippel / Wikimedia Common

The mummy of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, who died in 1213 BC, is on a "visit" to France.

Statue of Ramses II | Pbuergler / Wikimedia Commons

Empty mausoleum

Ramses II is one of the most famous pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Under his rule, the Egyptian army conquered Syria in the east and Nubia in the south, and the country reached its peak. He ascended the throne at the age of 24 and died at the age of 90. He was one of the longest-serving pharaohs in ancient Egypt. However, the treatment of such a famous pharaoh after his death was somewhat miserable.

Relief depicting Ramses II capturing an enemy soldier | speedster / Wikimedia Commons

Contrary to popular belief, Ramses II, as a pharaoh, was not buried in the pyramid mausoleum complex near the capital Cairo. His mausoleum is located in the "Valley of the Kings" in central Egypt. It is an inconspicuous underground tomb, which is really simple compared to the magnificent pyramids. What's worse is that due to the wrong site selection, the mausoleum is hit by floods almost every year. The tomb passage was silted up by a large amount of silt carried by the river, and the murals in the tomb were completely destroyed. The entire mausoleum is almost empty, and the walls are left with graffiti of "I was here" by tourists from ancient Greece and Rome. Fortunately, the pharaoh's mummy had long been moved away by his descendants, but its whereabouts remained a mystery for a while, and the mystery was not solved until the 19th century.

Ramses II on his chariot | Ahmed88z / Wikimedia Commons

In the 1870s, many tomb relics from the New Kingdom (about 16th to 11th century BC) suddenly appeared on the Egyptian cultural relics market. The cultural relics management department caught the cultural relics dealer and found out the source of the relics after strict interrogation. It turned out to be an unknown tomb near the central city of Luxor. After cultural relics workers and European archaeologists rushed to the scene, they found that the entrance to the tomb was a vertical shaft similar to a cave, and the appearance was extremely secretive. Dozens of coffins were unearthed in the tomb, all of which were royal styles, including the mummy of Ramses II who had been missing for thousands of years.

Entrance to the Royal Tombs | Keith Hazell / Wikimedia Commons

The mummy of Ramses II was dismantled by the famous French archaeologist Maspero. He removed the layers of textiles wrapped around the body and was surprised to find that despite the mummy's 3,000 years of wind and rain and multiple moves, it was still in very good condition. Not only were the facial organs and skin intact, but even the hair was preserved.

The reason why the pharaoh's mummy is so well preserved is that the technicians at that time performed some "cruel" processing on the corpse. They used a long hook to penetrate into the corpse's nasal cavity, poke into the skull, crush the brain, and then let the brain tissue flow out of the nasal cavity. Afterwards, the technicians also poured a resin-like filler into the empty skull and nasal cavity. This ensured that the pharaoh's big nose remained upright thousands of years later, instead of collapsing like the nose of an ordinary mummy.

CT image of the mummy of Ramses II. The arrow points to the filling material | Sahar N.Saleem / American journal of roentgenology (2013)

Mummy for healing

Ramses II's mummy was not taken to Europe like other cultural relics, but was kept in the capital Cairo. It was not until the 1970s that visiting French scholars discovered that the mummy showed signs of decay, indicating that the storage conditions were poor. So the two governments discussed and sent the mummy to France for restoration, which led to the scene of Ramses II flying to Paris. It was this opportunity that allowed us to learn more about the secrets of Ramses II.

After arriving in Paris, the mummy was placed in the Paris Museum of Humanity. Scientists monitored and found that the mummy had a fungal infection, which was then removed by radiation. At the same time, forensic scientists also restored the physical characteristics and cause of death of the mummy. People found that the pharaoh was about 1.7 meters tall and had a hooked nose. The remaining pigment in his hair showed that the pharaoh had red hair when he was alive. In the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, people with red hair were associated with the god of war Set.

Set, the jackal-headed god of war | Jeff Dahl / Wikimedia Commons

In the eyes of the ancient Egyptians, this pharaoh may have divine power. However, this could not resist the erosion of disease. The pharaoh suffered from spinal arthritis, which may be caused by diffuse bone hyperplasia, a common disease in the elderly. Therefore, in the last few decades of his life, the pharaoh could only walk with his body hunched. In the lower jaw, people also found a cavity formed by infection, which suggests that his oral condition was extremely poor before his death. Some scholars even believe that oral infection was the cause of the pharaoh's death.

Giant statue of Ramses II at Abu Simbel Temple | Wikimedia Commons

After the fungal treatment, the mummy of Ramses II flew back to Cairo and was kept in the Egyptian National Museum. Until 2021, he and 20 other pharaohs and queens will move to the new Museum of Egyptian Civilization. For this move, the Egyptian government has prepared a grand ceremony with thousands of people participating.

He was the most dazzling king in Europe, Asia and Africa when he was alive. Even after his death, he was still treated like a head of state when he traveled. I'm sure other emperors and generals would be envious of such treatment.