1000 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



reasons for this siippositiou are that the land of Goshen in which 

 the Israelites settled when they migrated to Egypt' is also called the 

 land of Ramses, and that one of the cities which the Israelites built 

 while in bondage was named Ramses.^ As Kamses I reigned only for 

 a short time, it is assumed that these names are connected with Ram- 

 ses II, whose reign extended over sixty-six years in the thirteenth 

 century B. C. (1348-1281 B. C); and who was not only the most war- 

 like but also the greatest builder among the Egyptian kings. The 

 cities Pithom and Ramses which the Hebrews built for Pharaoh are 

 thought to have been situated in the modern Wadi Tumilat. Pithom 

 was identified in 1883 with Tell el-Maskutah in the east of this Wadi 

 at the railroad station Ramses. Besides the building of these two 

 cities and numerous temples, Ramses II seems also to have undertaken 

 the continuation of the canal of the Wadi Tumilat to the Bitter Lakes, 

 and the cutting through of the rising ground between them and the 

 Red Sea, which connection between the Nile and the Red Sea was 

 the true iirecursor of the Suez Canal. ^ The bust, which is taken from 

 a sitting statue, represents him beardless with a helmet on hi.s head. 

 The original, of black granite, is in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities 

 in Turin, Italy. 



Cast of a relief of Ramses II. — Photographs of the mummy of 

 Ramses II. The mummy was discovered iu July, 1881. The plioto- 

 graphs were taken immediately after the unwinding of the mummy in 

 June, 1880.^ 



' Genesis xlvii, 6. 



2 Exodus i, 11. 



3 Compare Adolf Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt, p. 27. 



■• Century Magazine, May, 1887. This mummy is in many ways the finest ever 

 discovered and is of surpassing interest. Professor Maspero describes it as follows: 

 ''The head is long, and small in proportion to the body. The top of the skull is quite 

 hare. On the temples there are a few sparse hairs, but at the poll the hair is quite 

 thick, forming smooth straight locks about 5 centimeters 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 eyebrows are thick 

 and white; the eyes are small and close together; the nose is long, thin, arched like 

 the noses of the Bourbons, and slightly crushed at the tip by the pressure of bandages. 

 The temples are sunken; 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 jawbone is massive and strong; the chin very prominent; the mouth small, but 

 thick-lipped and fall of some kind of black paste. This iiaste being partly cut 

 away with the scissors disclosed some much worn and brittle teeth, which, moreover, 

 are white and well preserved. The mustache and beard are thin. They seemed to 

 have been kept shaven during life, but were probably allowed to grow during the 

 king's 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 from 2 to 3 millimeters in 

 length. The skin is of earthy brown, spotted 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 intellectual, perhaps slightly animal, but even tinder the somewhat grotesque dis- 

 guise of mumification, there is plainly to be seen an air of sovereign majesty, of 

 resolve and of pride." 



