The Long-Lost Sarcophagus Of One Of The Greatest Egyptian Pharaohs Was Recently Identified

One of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt was Ramses II, who ruled during the 13th century B.C.E. He is credited with the expansion of Egypt’s territory into the region now known as Syria.
He is also known for fathering over 100 children and was laid to rest in one of the most elaborate coffins ever created during the civilization’s existence.
However, the 19th Dynasty pharaoh’s grand granite sarcophagus had never been identified until now.
In 2009, a piece of a sarcophagus was found in the ancient necropolis of Abydos. At the time, experts believed that the stone coffin held two different people at different times.
One of the occupants was a high priest named Menkheperre, who lived around 1000 B.C.E. The other person’s identity remained a mystery. Archaeologists only knew that they were a figure of high status from the Egyptian New Kingdom.
Recently, an Egyptologist from Sorbonne University in France, Frédéric Payraudeau, reexamined the inscriptions on the sarcophagus fragment.
He realized that the hieroglyphs displayed Ramses’ name, which meant Ramses himself once occupied the sarcophagus.
The king’s reign lasted around 67 years. During that time, he had many temples built throughout the region, and many were marked with his name. He even added his name to structures that were erected before his rule.
When Ramses died in 1213 B.C.E., he left behind plenty of monuments and artifacts for our archaeological record.

jkraft5 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
He was buried at the Valley of Kings in a gilded wooden coffin placed inside an alabaster sarcophagus, which was then entombed in a larger granite sarcophagus.
Later on, the coffin was stolen, and looters broke the alabaster sarcophagus. The granite sarcophagus was reused by Menkheperre.
Robbers ransacked the Valley of Kings many times during the 19th Dynasty. As a result, royals were forced to reuse funerary objects.
In 1881, Ramses’ mummy and coffin were uncovered in the temple complex Deir el-Bahari. The complex contained the remains of 50 other royal members, including his father, Seti I.
Since then, Ramses’ mummy and his gold coffin have been exhibited in museums around the world. It is unclear whether the sarcophagus will go on display as well.
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