Ramses The Great - Ozymandias
by Mark Tisdale
Title
Ramses The Great - Ozymandias
Artist
Mark Tisdale
Medium
Photograph - Black And White Photo
Description
Getting up in the dead of night to catch a bus to see the ancient ruins at Abu Simbel was entirely worthwhile. Just from an artistic perspective, seeing the work of sculptors from the 13th century BC is an amazing experience. But seeing something on the scale of this Nubian Monument to Ramses The Great is one of those rare moments in ones life. While it's not apparent in this close-up of the face of Ramses II, these statues to him are literally colossi as they were carved from a mountain that faced Nubia, a reminder to Egypt's neighbors about the strength of Egypt's great king.
There's also not a time I look at this mighty bust to a well remembered but long dead king that I'm not reminded of Percy Shelley's 1818 poem Ozymandias (and Ozymandias is the Greek name from Ramses II).
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'
Note: Abu Simbel is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site
Uploaded
January 5th, 2013
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