The Ramesseum

The Ramesseum in Luxor

The Ramesseum is the memorial temple (or mortuary temple) of Pharaoh Ramses II (“Ramses the Great”, also written “Ramses” and “Rameses”). It was originally called the “House of Millions of Years of Usermaatra-Setepenra” (the first name of Ramesses II) which joined the city of Thebes in the domain of Amon. 

The present name of the temple, Ramesseum, derives instead from the French Rhamesséion, a term coined by Jean-François Champollion, who visited the ruins of the site in 1829 and identified for the first time the hieroglyphics that make up the names and titles of Ramesses on its walls.

Today relatively little remains of what was once the most impressive temple complex on the west bank of the Nile. The ruins of the temple are located in the Theban necropolis in Upper Egypt, just a few kilometers from the modern city of Luxor; this temple was used as the burial place of the most famous pharaoh of all time.

The construction of The Ramesseum in Luxor

His tomb was built on the hills, but the memorial temple was on the edge of the cultivated area on a canal connecting the Nile and other memorial temples.

The colonnades of the temple, a few pillars, and statues that stand among the ruins scattered between a large promontory and some ponds, outline the original perimeter of the funeral complex. The prestige of this site is now more linked to the name of the sovereign who commissioned it, rather than the actual appearance of the monument. Ramesses II is the best-known name compared to those of the other pharaohs associated with most of the monuments in the vicinity and south of Luxor.

Ramesses II, in addition to being a prolific building commissioner, revalued many already existing monuments. He was the greatest conqueror in the history of Ancient Egypt, in power for sixty-seven years during the New Kingdom (1279-1213 BC). This ruler was responsible for the expansion of the kingdom’s borders to the south, west, and east even as far as present-day Syria. This particular temple was built as a symbol of his power and greatness, it is one of the greatest monuments of the Pharaonic era.

The site later suffered multiple devastations by the pharaohs who succeeded it, but also because of natural phenomena and ultimately after its conversion to a Christian place of worship during the early Christian era. Each of these events has taken a heavy and important tribute from this once magnificent structure, even if the ruins scattered around its perimeter are proof of the magnificence it undoubtedly enjoyed in the past.

The remains of the colossus of Ramesses

The remains of the colossus of Ramesses II lying on the ground where the original statue stood. The statue, presumably 19 meters high, rivaling the Colossi Of Memnon and the statues of Abu Simbel, is the largest independent sculpture ever made in Egypt and one of the largest in the world. Of great value are the decorations on the columns of the great hypostyle hall, which represent the craftsmen at work in the construction of the Ramesseum itself.

Although little remains of this temple, the Ramesseum is still an important destination, especially for those who have a particular interest in the life of Rameses II.

In its time, the Ramesseum was an inspiration for the temple complex of Medinat Habu, commissioned by Ramesses III and now in a better state of preservation. We recommend a visit to the Ramesseum from this site to get a clearer idea of how the Ramesseum should have looked in its original appearance.

When Napoleon Bonaparte arrived, two French engineers identified the Ramesseum as the “Tomb of Ozymandias” or “Palace of Memnon” described by the historian Diodorus Siculus.

The head of one of the two colossal granite statues of Ramses, weighing 7 tons, was transported to England and was christened Young Memnon and placed in the British Museum. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a sonnet entitled Ozymandias, with which the historian had translated into Greek the phrase User-maat-re Step-en-re on the arm of the statue Simbel.

A Franco-Egyptian team has been working on the site since 1991. During the excavations, kitchens, bakeries, and halls outside the temple emerged, as well as a school called “House of Life” where the boys became scribes.