Off-white .75 x .5 swatch of burial cloth excavated from the mummy of Ramesses II, commonly referred to as Ramesses the Great, whose reign spanned between 1279 and 1213 BC. This fragment was excised from a larger cloth piece originally acquired from Bonhams London on March 13, 1997. Shows slight fraying on all sides with expected age-toning throughout, otherwise intact. Encapsulated by CAG as deriving from Bonhams London.
Ramesses II (ca. 1303-1213) was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty and is often regarded as one the greatest and most celebrated pharaohs of the New Kingdom, which itself was the most powerful period of ancient Egypt. For the early part of his reign, he focused on building cities, temples, and monuments. After establishing the city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta, he designated it as Egypt's new capital and used it as the main staging point for his campaigns in Syria. Ramesses led several military expeditions into the Levant, a region of Western Asia off the Eastern Mediterranean, where he reasserted Egyptian control over Canaan and Phoenicia. He also led several expeditions into Nubia, all commemorated in temple inscriptions built contemporary to his reign.
The mummy of Ramesses II, discovered in an unmarked wooden coffin in 1881, was unwrapped and examined to reveal an aquiline nose and strong jaw, with sparse patches of hair remaining. At the time of his death, scholars have estimated the Pharaoh to be around age 90, and appearing to have suffered from debilitating arthritis during his later years. Today, Ramesses II is displayed at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo among numerous other kings and queens of antiquity.
