King Ramesses II as Child with God Horun

King Ramesses II as Child with God Horun

1-     This granite statue represents king Ramesses II as a child squatting under the protection of a falcon god named god Horun [1].

2-     God Horun was a Palestinian god whose cult entered Egypt in the 18^th dynasty.

3-     As a child the king is shown naked, putting his finger in his mouth and having a side lock of hair symbols of childhood.His head is surmounted by the sun disk of Re and is covered by tight fitting cap.He is holding a plant called the sw in his left hand.

4-     This statue is remarkable and unique because the artist was very clever in expressing the name of the king (Ramesses) through the elements of the statue:

-         The sun disk of Re that surmounts the head represents the part of the name“Re”.

-         The representation of the king as a child refers to the word“ms” that means son.

-         The child king is holding the sw plant represents the pronunciation of “sw”.

All the elements gives the name of “Re”-“ms”-“sw”.

5-  Concerning god Hurun, his face is made out of limestone.The face was found separately in a room adjacent to the room which housed the statue.The face was supposed to be covered by layer of gold leaf. Possibly it was made to replace the original granite face which was destroyed during the transportation of the statue to Tanis. 

6-     On the pedestal, there are hieroglyphic inscriptions :

-         frontal part of the pedestal :

nTr-nfrWsr-MAat-Ra stp.n Ra

the good god "Power is the justice of Re, the Chosen of Re".

-         side of the pedestal :

sA-Ramry-Imn Ra-ms-swmr.n @wln

son of Re "Beloved of Amun, Re-ms-sw", the beloved of god Hulun [2].

7-     Concerning Ramesses II he was one of the great warrior kings in ancient Egypt. He made the first known peace treaty with the Hittite kingdom.

Good Luck

D. Hesham Ezz Eldin

Appendix 1

Brief Historical Background about King Ramesses II 

(1)  Ramesses II is the son of Seti I and Queen Tuya and is the third king of the 19th Dynasty.

(2)  He is a famous king who ruled Egypt for about 66 years, had many wives [3] beside numerous sons and daughters [4].

(3)  He was man of war and a man of peace. As he made many military campaigns, he signed the first known peace treaty in the history with the Hittites Kingdom. 

(4)  He has numerous building projects such as for example :

-         Two temples at Abu Simbel (Great and Small temples).

-         The hypostyle hall at Karnak.

-         additions at the Luxor Temple.

-         Mortuary Temple in western Thebes known as Ramesseum.

-         A mortuary complex at Abydos.

-         The Colossus of Ramesses at Memphis.

(5)  His tomb is in the Valley of the Kings.

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Appendix 2

God Horun

(1)  He is a Canaanite god and son of goddess Astarte. He was god of the herdsmen

(2)  According to a Greek relief, he was the god of the town of Yemnia in Palestine which is located to the west of Jerusalem (Beit Al-Maqdes) near an area known as Beit Hurun.

(3)  His cult entered Egypt during the New Kingdom may be during the time of Amenhotep II because he was described as beloved of Hurun.

(4)  God Hurun was identified with the Egyptian god Horemakhty who took the form of the sphinx of Giza.

(5)  He was represented in two forms; as a falcon and as a sphinx. He was attributed to the Great Sphinx of Giza due to the presence of many Canaanite workers in the area. These workers called the sphinx of Giza as god Hurun. For this reason the sphinx gained its recent name as Abu Al-Hul.

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[1]The statue was discovered at Tanis by Montet in 1934.

[2] In later periods, the letter "L" in the name of god Hulun was replaced by the letter "R" to be Hurun.

[3]Among Ramesses' wives were Nefertari, Queen Istnofret, his two daughters, Binthanath and Merytamon, and the Hittite princess, Maathornefrure.

[4]He has for about 50 sons and between 38 to 45daugters.