My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Day 09 → A photo you took
This is my favourite of pharaohs, Ramesses II, known also as Ramesses the Great (the link takes you to his wiki page, but as I did my degree on this dude I must add in the whole "wikipedia is not a source, do not source wikipedia!"). The picture was taken at Luxor Temple when I was there in December.
I have to say that I adore Ramesses a tiny bit due to Christian Jacq's books about him and also because the major battle that he is known for is the Battle of Kadesh in which he sorta, didn't win...but he advertises it with such great spin in that he technically did not lose either, and by advertising, I mean chiselling it into great big blocks of stone in his many temples. Ramesses II, Spin Doctoring since around 1303 BC.
Also, the quote in the subject bit is from Shelley's poem Ozymandias. Ozymandias being another name for Ramesses. Here it is in its entirety:
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.
This is my favourite of pharaohs, Ramesses II, known also as Ramesses the Great (the link takes you to his wiki page, but as I did my degree on this dude I must add in the whole "wikipedia is not a source, do not source wikipedia!"). The picture was taken at Luxor Temple when I was there in December.
I have to say that I adore Ramesses a tiny bit due to Christian Jacq's books about him and also because the major battle that he is known for is the Battle of Kadesh in which he sorta, didn't win...but he advertises it with such great spin in that he technically did not lose either, and by advertising, I mean chiselling it into great big blocks of stone in his many temples. Ramesses II, Spin Doctoring since around 1303 BC.
Also, the quote in the subject bit is from Shelley's poem Ozymandias. Ozymandias being another name for Ramesses. Here it is in its entirety:
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.