The Rammessium - the Mortuary Temple of Ramses the Great, and the Ozymandias

As I walked across the courtyard Of the Rammessium, the Mortuary Temple of Ramses the Great, a mortuary temple created by Ramses so that his name would live for millions of years, another set of Osiris statues

loomed towards me in solemn silence, I realized all their heads were missing, and yet with their arms crossed holding both the flail and scepter they still affected me with their majesty and presence. 

A singular large head carved from granite appears to have dropped into the courtyard beneath their feet, it sits slightly lob-sided, and I stopped to gaze on the beautiful face of Ramses, the whisper of a smile touches the corners of a perfectly formed mouth.  I decided that the poet Shelley was wrong when he wrote in his poem ‘Ozymandias’ that the face of Ramses portrayed a sneer of cold command, with a frown and wrinkled lip, the romance of the period he lived in had created an impression of a king that was nothing like the face that gazed back at me, there was no sneer of haughty command that his poem described, so I smiled back at Ramses and I felt he acknowledged my affection. Standing there I suddenly realized that I wasn’t alone, an elderly attendant  had come to stand beside me, he then walked towards  the head, he pointed and gestured to my camera,  his hands telling me what his words could not, he created an imaginary frame with his hands around the head, all the time pointing to my camera, a large grin  then escaped on his face and the laughter lines crinkled around his eyes, ‘Action!’ he suddenly declared,  I was so surprised I had to laugh, it seemed so comical to find my own film director, come action scene camera assistant within the grounds of a temple, and so having taken my photo I followed  him with good humor  to see all that he wanted to show me.

He took me up a flight of steps at the side of the Osiris Statues and pointed to the Back of a Granite seated statue, and carved into the cartouche of Ramses was the Name ' Belzoni 1816.' Giovanni Belzonni had taken this head that had fallen off the statue under instructions from a diplomat called Salt, who then sold the head to the British Museum where it is still on display today, the photograph above is the twin head taken from the statue that sits on the opposite side of the steps.