Statue of Ramesses II as a child

This statue represents King Ramesses II as a child, sitting in front of the Canaanite sun god Hauron, who is in the shape of a hawk.

The king is presented in the typical manner for an Egyptian child: naked, his finger to his mouth, with a large sidelock of youth hanging from the right side of his head. He also has a uraeus at his forehead, and a sun-disc above his head. He holds the sw-plant in his left hand.

It has been argued that the statue can be read to spell out the name of the king: the sun-disc represents Re, the child is mes, and the sw plant is the final element Ra-mes-sw. The limestone face of the hawk was found in a separate location from the rest of the piece.

This statue was found in the ruins of a mud brick building at Tanis, which was part of a cluster of structures not far from the enclosure wall of the Great Temple of Amun-Re. This was probably a part of a workshop, for the beak was found in an adjacent room. It was probably in the workshop for repair, which was never completed.

New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II, ca. 1279-1213 BC. Grey Granite and Limestone (falcon’s beak). Tanis Excavation: Pierre Montet’s Excavations of 1934. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 46735