For centuries, travelers from as far back to Greek and Roman days up to the present have been fascinated by the monuments from lost Egyptian civilizations buried in sand.  The fascination with Egyptian antiquities led to the looting of tombs, temples and buried cities.  The looting reached a peak in the 19^th  century with a brisk trade to enrich European collections.  One of the figures in the trade was an Italian born stage performer, Giovanni Battista Belzoni.  His interest in hydraulics brought him to Egypt where he attempted to sell a waterwheel he invented.  When that enterprise failed, he turned to the exploration of ancient treasures scattered in the Egyptian desert sands.

 

Belzoni heard of a gigantic granite head of a king called Young Memmon which was regarded as one of the “most beautiful and perfect pieces of Egyptian sculpture that can be seen throughout the whole country” (The Land of the Pharaohs, p. 17)  The  half-buried statue, which was actually of Ramses II, weighed over seven tons, was nine feet high and seven feet wide.  Previous attempted to remove it from the sand had not succeeded.

 

Belzoni put his knowledge of hydraulics to the task with a crudely built cart and local laborers.  After several days, it was hauled up onto the bank of the Nile, where weeks later it was hoisted onto a ship for transport to England.  In England, the statue was a sensation.

 

Belzoni and other Europeans continued to hunt for Egyptian treasures and made several important finds.  Egyptians, who showed little regard for their heritage, rivaled the foreigners in the destruction and looting of ancient sites.

Ramses II reigned from 1279 to 1212 B.C. and was the third king of the 19^th Dynasty.  He was the son of Seti I.  During his reign, Ramses II fought to recontrol territories in Africa and western Asia.  He fought the Hittites of Asia Minor and waged battle at Kadesh in northern Syria.  In 1258 B.C. a treaty was signed dividing the contested lands and Ramses II married the daughter of the Hittite king. 

Monuments constructed during the rule of Ramses II are Abu Simbel, Temple of Amon at at-Karnak and the mortuary temple at Thebes known as the Rasmesseum.

 Ramses II is reputed to be the pharaoh confronted by Moses in the book of Exodus.  Exodus describes the many cruelties of Ramses II such as the slaying of male newborn Hebrews as well as the labors of the Hebrew slaves, which included the making of bricks for the building of Egyptian cities and monuments.  The tasks of the Hebrew slaves are referred to in the Torah “ But the king of Egypt said to them, “ ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you distract the people from their tasks? Get to your labors!’ And Pharaoh continued, ‘The people of the land are already so numerous and you would have them cease from their labors!’  That same day Pharaoh charged the taskmasters and foremen of the people saying, ‘You shall no longer provide the people with straw for making bricks as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves.  But impose upon them the same quota of bricks as they have been making heretofore; do not reduce it, for they are shirkers……’” (Exodus 5: 4-8)

 Tanakh- The Holy Scriptures,The New JPS Translation Accoring to the Traditional Hebrew Text, The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia & Jerusalem, 1985, p90-91