New Kingdom Egypt: Tutankhamun, Ramesses II, The Rosetta Stone & The Book of the Dead

By the end of the lecture you should be able to:
- Recognize the reigns and historical roles of Tutankhamun and Ramesses II.
- Recall the three scripts and overall purpose of the Rosetta Stone.
- Describe the nature and typical contents of the “Book of the Dead.”

Tomb Location & Discovery
- Found in the $\textit{Valley of the Kings}$ .
- Unique because it was never plundered; all grave goods were intact, providing an unprecedented archaeological snapshot of 18th-dynasty wealth.
Political / Religious Role
- Reigned during the late 18th Dynasty.
- Not famous for military conquests or gigantic monuments, but
- Reversed the radical monotheistic reforms of Akhenaten.
- Helped restore traditional Egyptian polytheism (precursor to Ramesses II’s full revival).
Burial Details & Riches
- Body placed inside three nested coffins (matryoshka-doll style).
- Innermost coffin: $\approx240\ \text{lb}$ of solid gold.
- Trove included jewelry, chariots, statues, throne, and the iconic gold funerary mask.
Lasting Impact
- “Tutmania” of the 1920s (Howard Carter’s discovery) reshaped public interest in Egyptology.
- Provides modern scholars rare, undisturbed data on royal burial customs.

Chronology & Reputation
- Ruled during the 19th Dynasty, several decades after Tut.
- Known for longevity (≈ 66 years on throne), prolific building, and self-promotion.
Abu Simbel Temple Complex
- Entrance flanked by four seated colossi of Ramesses II, each $\approx65\ \text{ft}$ tall.
- All four are the same king—a deliberate statement of power.
- Family members (e.g.
  - Nefertari—principal wife—stands sculpted by his leg.
  - Smaller figures of children and secondary wives appear near the feet.)
- Solar Alignment
- Twice yearly, sunrise penetrates the temple’s axis, illuminating inner sanctuary statues—engineering feat signaling cosmic legitimacy.
Broader Achievements
- Military campaigns (esp. Battle of Kadesh) and massive construction projects (Ramesseum, Pi-Ramesses capital).
- Cemented the political and religious restoration begun under Tutankhamun.

Physical Description
- Granodiorite stele with three horizontal text bands:
1. Top: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
2. Middle: Demotic script.
3. Bottom: Ancient Greek.
Historical Context
- Text = royal decree honoring Ptolemy V ( $c.\,196\ \text{BCE}$ ).
Decipherment Breakthrough
- Scholars already understood Greek, but not the two Egyptian scripts.
- Key insight: proper names were enclosed in cartouches; spotting “Ptolemy” and later “Cleopatra” in Demotic created a sound-value bridge.
- Full decipherment (Champollion, $1822\text{–}1824$ ) took $\approx3$ years.
Modern Legacy
- Entire field of Egyptology owes its textual foundation to this stone.
- Inspired modern language-learning software branded “Rosetta.”

Material
- Papyrus: thick, fiber-rich paper made from reeds; durable in Egypt’s arid climate.
Nature of the “Book”
- Not a single canonical volume; each deceased received a customized scroll.
- Contents: spells, hymns, vignettes, passwords meant to guide and protect the soul through the afterlife’s trials.
Example: Book of the Dead of Hunefer
- Papyrus scene divided into three registers (horizontal bands):
1. Anubis leads Hunefer to the Hall of Two Truths.
2. Weighing of the Heart
  - Heart placed on one side of a scale; feather of Ma’at (truth) on the other.
  - Amit crouches nearby, waiting to devour the soul if heart > feather.
  - Judging scene determines moral worthiness.
3. Having passed, Hunefer is presented by Horus to Osiris (seated on throne, white Atef-crown, flanked by Isis & Nephthys) to enter eternal life.
Significance
- Illustrates Egyptian concepts of morality, cosmic order (Ma’at), and post-mortem judgment.

Anubis: jackal-headed, weighs hearts, protects mummies.
Amit: part crocodile, lion, hippo; devours unworthy hearts, preventing afterlife.
Horus: falcon-headed sky god, legitimizes kingship, escorts righteous souls.
Osiris: green-skinned king of the dead; grants resurrection.

Religious Restoration
- Tutankhamun & Ramesses II both reversed earlier monotheistic or heterodox trends, reaffirming traditional gods and rituals.
Monumentality vs. Intact Tomb
- Tutankhamun = modest political impact, but unrivaled grave goods due to tomb’s intact state.
- Ramesses II = grand public monuments, colossal self-images, solar-lit temple engineering.
Literacy & Decipherment
- Rosetta Stone parallels King Tut’s tomb: each opened a “sealed box” of knowledge—one textual, one material.
Ethical Implications
- Book of the Dead emphasizes personal ethics: heart must be lighter than truth’s feather; no wealth or power (even Ramesses’) overrides Ma’at.

Tutankhamun’s innermost coffin mass: $240\ \text{lb}$ of gold.
Abu Simbel seated colossi height: $65\ \text{ft}$ each.
Rosetta Stone decipherment duration: $\approx3\ \text{years}$ from breakthrough to completion.

❒ Locate the Valley of the Kings and explain why Tut’s tomb is exceptional.
❒ Identify the three scripts on the Rosetta Stone and outline the decipherment method.
❒ Sketch or describe the weighing-of-the-heart scene (gods + symbolism).
❒ Differentiate the historical footprints of Tutankhamun vs. Ramesses II.
❒ List at least three protective/ritual purposes of the Book of the Dead.

(End of notes)