Rameses II: A Lesson In Time Photograph

Countless times have I trawled through the British Museum’s Ancient Egyptian gallery, camera slung on the shoulder, notebook and pen in hand and eyes brimming with the insatiable curiosity of a child and, each time, at the end of my explorations I find that my sentiments are spent in sunken poignancy. Amongst the mausoleum of stones depicting some of the greatest and unsurpassed examples of leadership that human civilisation has ever known, I am left wracked with pity. Statues that were proudly and pretentiously born out of hardness nearly always succeed in inflicting a malady of softheartedness in my own self. Why you might ask? Let me explain. Take our dear old Rameses II as a case in point, the longest living pharaoh to have ever reigned over Ancient Egypt’s Dynastic timeline, he was said to be quite the ostentatious monarch, forever obsessed with securing an enduring legacy of his time as ruler through commissioning grand and complex monuments in his name. The stone statues of his image were designed not only to solidify his status as great pharaoh both to his subjects and enemies alike but, he believed by doing so would confer him with god-like powers and reverence. Power was the currency on which dear old Rameses based his entire existence upon and he sought to propagate and protect that title for all eternity. Did he achieve his ambitions? Yes and no. We speak of his exploits to this day but he is no more. His rule is no more. Nothing remains of the world that he had so ferociously pursued and built in life. All that we can touch of the Ramesesian kingdom are the lifeless stones pulled out of their site of origins and encased in a foreign museum that he in his wildest dreams would never have foreseen. The pity that I spoke of earlier stems from this very act of the mercilessness of time, it spares no one. Stones will fall into ruin and rulers sent into the quagmire of oblivion, what then, you ask, is the point of Life if only to return and disappear into the pool of the Cosmos? Dear Friend, please do not be so harsh on yourself. May I suggest a short exercise – even our dear old Rameses might have indulged in this during the days of his innocence, before his attentions were forced elsewhere. You are to rise very early, just before the whisper of first light. Wrap up warm, I would hate to think I was responsible for giving you a cold! Now step out into your garden and stand there, as still as you can be. In a few moments the world will begin to ruffle new colours and music will pour fourth from unseen flutists hidden in the trees. Remain still. Stiller… Stiller… And then, there it is! A rising wave of warmth. As you feel it you come to know that you can never truly die after gazing upon such beauty that has touched your lips like a supreme secret… Photograph: © Masufa Khatun | Mazzy Khatun Photo Stories | Rameses The Great II (1303-1213 BC) | British Museum | London | UK 2014

Photography:Color on Other

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:19.7 W x 31.5 H x 0.4 D in

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