Who Was Ozymandias?

Many people are familiar with the name Ozymandias through the famous poem “Ozymandias,” written in 1818 by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (lived 1792 – 1822), but not everyone is aware that Ozymandias was actually a real ancient Egyptian pharaoh. In fact, chances are, you probably learned about Ozymandias in world history class, but you learned about him under a different name.

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem

For those of you who have not read it, the poem “Ozymandias” is a very famous sonnet that was written in 1818 by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley is generally considered to be one of the greatest Romantic poets. He was also the husband of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (lived 1797 – 1851), the author of the classic Gothic novel Frankenstein, and a friend of Lord Byron (lived 1788 – 1824), who is also considered one of the greatest Romantic poets. Here is the full text of Shelley’s poem:

“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.”

The poem is about the ephemeral nature of human power. The idea behind the poem is that this “Ozymandias” was once a great monarch who ruled a mighty empire. He built this Colossus in the desert and gave it this inscription, but now he is long dead, his cities are long gone, his statue is in ruins, and he has been totally forgotten.

It is a dark, powerful message about our human frailty and insignificance. It is a poem that was written to remind us that even those who seem mightiest right now will eventually return to dust and be forgotten and there is nothing anyone can do to avert this fate.

ABOVE: Portrait of the great English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, author of the poem “Oxymandias,” painted by Alfred Clint in 1829

The historical Ozymandias

The message of the poem is only slightly undercut by the identity of the “Ozymandias” in question. You may not recognize the name Ozymandias, but, chances are, you probably learned quite a bit about him in world history class. You see, Ozymandias is one form of the name of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II in Ancient Greek. This form of the name was commonly used in English sources written prior to the twentieth century.

In the early nineteenth century when Shelley wrote this poem, Ramesses II, or “Ozymandias,” was a fairly obscure Egyptian king who was known almost exclusively from sources written in Ancient Greek over a millennium after his death. The growth of the new field of Egyptology and the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, changed all that and, ironically, Ramesses II is much better known today than he was in Shelley’s time two centuries ago.

Ramesses II is renowned today as one of the greatest ancient Egyptian pharaohs. He ruled the Egyptian New Kingdom for sixty-six years. His reign began in 1279 BC and lasted until his death in the summer of 1213 BC. For comparison, as of today, 15 July 2019, Queen Elizabeth II has been the queen of the United Kingdom for 67 years and 185 days. That means Ramesses II’s reign lasted nearly as long as Queen Elizabeth II’s has. (Neither Ramesses II nor Queen Elizabeth II, however, can claim the title of the longest-reigning monarch of all time; that honor belongs to another Egyptian pharaoh, Pepi II, whom I discussed in this article I wrote back in November 2016.)

As a result of his extraordinarily long, prosperous reign, Ramesses II was able to built tons of colossal structures to glorify himself and his empire. Dozens of colossal statues of him have survived. Ramesses II’s most famous construction project today, though, is the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, which was built under his orders between c. 1264 BC and c. 1244 BC. Four seated colossal statues of Ramesses II stand outside the temple.

ABOVE: Photograph of a sculpture of Ramesses II of Egypt, who is known today as one of the greatest Egyptian pharaohs

ABOVE: Photograph of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel, which was built under the orders of Ramesses II between c. 1264 BC and c. 1244 BC

ABOVE: Close-up of the face of one of the four seated colossal sculptures of Ramesses II from the Great Temple of Abu Simbel

ABOVE: Painting of Ramesses II in his chariot charging against armies of Hittites at the Siege of Dapur in 1269 BC from Ramesses II’s temple in Thebes, Egypt

The so-called “Younger Memnon”

Even though there are dozens of surviving depictions of Ramesses II, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Oxymandias” was actually inspired by one specific sculpture of Ramesses II: the so-called “Younger Memnon,” a colossal granite sculpture of Ramesses II created in around 1270 BC or thereabouts that originally stood at the Ramesseum mortuary temple in Thebes, Egypt.

The lower portion of the so-called “Younger Memnon” is still at Thebes, where it was originally erected, but the upper portion of the sculpture, including the head and upper torso, was removed by the British in 1815. The upper portion of the Younger Memnon arrived in Britain in 1818, the same year Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias” was published.

The sculpture was acquired by the British Museum in 1821 and installed in the British Museum’s sculpture gallery in May 1834. (This was not long after the British Museum acquired the Elgin Marbles, a subject which I discussed in this article I published in June 2019.)

The “Younger Memnon” is currently on permanent display in the British Museum. It is regarded as one of the most prized items in the British Museum’s collection and is one of the most famous surviving examples of ancient Egyptian art.

ABOVE: Photograph of the portion of the so-called “Younger Memnon” on display in the British Museum

ABOVE: Another photograph of the portion of the “Younger Memnon” on display in the British Museum, taken from a different angle

ABOVE: Photograph of the lower portion of the so-called “Younger Memnon,” which is still at the Ramesseum in Thebes, Egypt, where it was originally erected

ABOVE: Illustration of the installation of the upper portion of the “Younger Memnon” in the sculpture gallery of the British Museum from May 1834

Diodoros Sikeliotes and Shelley’s inscription

The inscription given by Shelley in his poem is derived from a description found in Book I, chapter 47 of the book The Historical Library, which was written by the ancient Greek historian Diodoros Sikeliotes (lived c. 90 –c. 30 BC). Here is the text of the passage by Diodoros Sikeliotes in the original Ancient Greek:

“Ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν πρώτων τάφων, ἐν οἷς παραδέδοται τὰς παλλακίδας τοῦ Διὸς τεθάφθαι, δέκα σταδίων φησὶν ὑπάρξαι βασιλέως μνῆμα τοῦ προσαγορευθέντος Ὀσυμανδύου. τούτου δὲ κατὰ μὲν τὴν εἴσοδον ὑπάρχειν πυλῶνα λίθου ποικίλου, τὸ μὲν μῆκος δίπλεθρον, τὸ δ’ ὕψος τετταράκοντα καὶ πέντε πηχῶν· διελθόντι δ’ αὐτὸν εἶναι λίθινον περίστυλον τετράγωνον, ἑκάστης πλευρᾶς οὔσης τεττάρων πλέθρων· ὑπηρεῖσθαι δ’ ἀντὶ τῶν κιόνων ζῴδια πηχῶν ἑκκαίδεκα μονόλιθα, τὸν τύπον εἰς τὸν ἀρχαῖον τρόπον εἰργασμένα· τὴν ὀροφήν τε πᾶσαν ἐπὶ πλάτος δυοῖν ὀργυιῶν ὑπάρχειν μονόλιθον, ἀστέρας ἐν κυανῷ καταπεποικιλμένην· ἑξῆς δὲ τοῦ περιστύλου τούτου πάλιν ἑτέραν εἴσοδον καὶ πυλῶνα τὰ μὲν ἀλλὰ παραπλήσιον τῷ προειρημένῳ, γλυφαῖς δὲ παντοίαις περιττότερον εἰργασμένον· παρὰ δὲ τὴν εἴσοδον ἀνδριάντας εἶναι τρεῖς ἐξ ἑνὸς τοὺς πάντας λίθος μέλανος τοῦ Συηνίτου, καὶ τούτων ἕνα μὲν καθήμενον ὑπάρχειν μέγιστον πάντων τῶν κατ’ Αἴγυπτον, οὗ τὸν πόδα μετρούμενον ὑπερβάλλειν τοὺς ἑπτὰ πήχεις, ἑτέρους δὲ δύο πρὸς τοῖς γόνασι, τὸν μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν, τὸν δὲ ἐξ εὐωνύμων, θυγατρὸς καὶ μητρός, τῷ μεγέθει λειπομένους τοῦ προειρημένου. τὸ δ’ ἔργον τοῦτο μὴ μόνον εἶναι κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος ἀποδοχῆς ἄξιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ τέχνῃ θαυμαστὸν καὶ τῇ τοῦ λίθου φύσει διαφέρον, ὡς ἂν ἐν τηλικούτῳ μεγέθει μήτε διαφυάδος μήτε κηλῖδος μηδεμιᾶς θεωρουμένης. ἐπιγεγράφθαι δ’ επ’ αὐτοῦ ‘Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων Ὀσυμανδύας εἰμί. εἰ δέ τις εἰδέναι βούλεται πηλίκος εἰμι καὶ ποῦ κεῖμαι, νικάτω τι τῶν ἐμῶν ἔργων.’ εἶναι δὲ καὶ ἄλλην εἰκόνα τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ καθ’ αὑτὴν πηχῶν εἴκοσι μονόλιθον, ἔχουσαν δὲ τρεῖς βασιλείας ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἃς διασημαίνειν ὅτι καὶ θυγάτηρ καὶ γυνὴ καὶ μήτηρ βασιλέως ὑπῆρξε.”

Here is an English translation of the passage by C. H. Oldfather for the Loeb Classical Library:

“Ten stades from the first tombs, he says, in which, according to tradition, are buried the concubines of Zeus, stands a monument of the king known as Osymandyas. At its entrance there is a pylon, constructed of variegated stone, two plethra in breadth and forty-five cubits high; passing through this one enters a rectangular peristyle, built of stone, four plethra long on each side; it is supported, in place of pillars, by monolithic figures sixteen cubits high, wrought in the ancient manner as to shape; and the entire ceiling, which is two fathoms wide, consists of a single stone, which is highly decorated with stars on a blue field. Beyond this peristyle there is yet another entrance and pylon, in every respect like the one mentioned before, save that it is more richly wrought with every manner of relief; beside the entrance are three statues, each of a single block of black stone from Syene, of which one, that is seated, is the largest of any in Egypt, the foot measuring over seven cubits, while the other two at the knees of this, the one on the right and the other on the left, daughter and mother respectively, are smaller than the one first mentioned. And it is not merely for its size that this work merits approbation, but it is also marvellous by reason of its artistic quality and excellent because of the nature of the stone, since in a block of so great a size there is not a single crack or blemish to be seen. The inscription upon it runs: ‘King of Kings am I, Osymandyas. If anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works.’ There is also another statue of his mother standing alone, a monolith twenty cubits high, and it has three diadems on its head, signifying that she was both daughter and wife and mother of a king.”

Conclusion

Ozymandias is not just a made-up name. It is a form of the Greek name of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, who is much more famous today than he was two hundred years ago when Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote his poem about him. He is known today for his extraordinarily long reign and his impressive building projects, including the Great Temple of Abu Simbel.

The poem “Ozymandias” was inspired by the specific sculpture of Ramesses II known as the “Younger Memnon,” the upper portion of which is now on display in the British Museum. The inscription given in Shelley’s poem is loosely based on the description given by the Greek historian Diodoros Sikeliotes in Book One of his Historical Library.