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Ramesses II's name in hieroglyphs: his two cartouches read sign by sign
13 October 2026
Ramesses II wrote his name in two cartouches. The first holds his throne name, Usermaatre Setepenre, 'the justice of Ra is strong, chosen of Ra'. The second holds his birth name, Ramesses Meryamun, 'Ra is the one who bore him, beloved of Amun'. Both hold the sun disc of Ra, and the pair usually stands side by side, each ring after its own title.
He ruled Egypt for 66 years, from about 1279 to 1213 BC, and built or inscribed more monuments than almost any other king. Learn these two rings and you will find him in Egypt and in museums from London to Turin.
The throne name puts Ra first and reads him last
The throne name sits after the sedge and the bee, the title 'king of Upper and Lower Egypt'. Its core is three signs, written in honour order with the god at the top.
- Sun disc: rꜥ, Ra, written first but read last
- Head and neck of a canine: wsr, 'strong'
- Seated goddess with a feather: mꜣꜥt, Maat, 'justice, right order'
- Adze and ripple of water: stp-n, 'chosen of', so Setepenre is stp-n-rꜥ, 'chosen of Ra'
The birth name says Ra bore him
The birth name follows the duck and the sun, sꜣ-rꜥ, 'son of Ra'. In transliteration it is rꜥ-ms-sw, said Ra-mes-su.
Meryamun, 'beloved of Amun', usually shares the ring. Amun's name, the reed, the game board and the ripple of water, moves to the front out of respect, and a canal writes mr, 'beloved'.
- Sun disc: rꜥ, Ra
- Three fox skins tied together: ms, 'born'
- Folded cloth: s, confirming the end of ms
- Sedge: sw, 'him'
His names became a model for later kings
Like his father Seti I's throne name, Menmaatre, his joins Maat and Ra. Ramesses III later took Usermaatre for himself, adding Meryamun where Ramesses II had Setepenre, and nine later kings carried the name Ramesses.
The Greeks heard Usermaatre as Ozymandias. Diodorus Siculus, writing in the first century BC, described a giant statue inscribed with that name at a Theban temple usually identified as the Ramesseum, and Shelley's poem of 1818 took the name from him. Cuneiform letters found at the Hittite capital, Hattusa, give his full name as Wasmuriya Satepnaria Riamessesa Maiamana.
He also made sure the names would last. Many of his reliefs are cut deep into the stone, in sunk relief, which is hard to recarve, and he had his cartouches added to statues and temples of earlier kings.
His names cover temples from Abu Simbel to Memphis
At Abu Simbel the façade spells the throne name as a giant rebus: above the door, the falcon-headed Ra-Horakhty holds the user sign in one hand and a figure of Maat in the other.
At Karnak, the Great Hypostyle Hall shows the change of style: Seti I's northern half in fine raised relief, Ramesses' southern half mostly in deep sunk relief, with cartouches running round the columns. At Luxor Temple, the obelisk outside the pylon is covered with his names and titles. Its twin has stood in the Place de la Concorde in Paris since 1836.
At Memphis, his limestone colossus lies on its back, with his cartouches carved on the body. A granite colossus of Ramesses stands in the atrium of the Grand Egyptian Museum, and his mummy lies in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.
His names travelled to London, Turin and Rome
The British Museum holds the Younger Memnon, the upper half of a colossal statue from the Ramesseum, with his cartouches carved on it, and a damaged king list from his temple at Abydos. The Museo Egizio in Turin has a black granite seated Ramesses with his names on the throne. In Rome, the Flaminio obelisk in Piazza del Popolo, begun by his father and finished by Ramesses, carries both their names.
Questions
Is it Ramesses, Rameses or Ramses?
All three are spellings of the same name, rꜥ-ms-sw. Egyptologists mostly write Ramesses. Ramses is common in French, German and popular books.
Why does Ramesses II have so many cartouches on one wall?
Royal texts repeat the two names after the king's titles and again in the caption beside each figure of him, so one temple scene can hold several pairs.
Is Ramesses II the pharaoh of the Exodus?
Films often cast him that way, but no Egyptian text or excavation links him to the Exodus, and many historians argue that no Ramesside king fits the biblical story.
How did Ramesses II die?
Probably of old age, at about 90. His mummy shows severe arthritis, hardened arteries and a serious dental abscess, though which of these, if any, killed him cannot be told.
Glossary
- birth name
- The name a king was given at birth, written in the second cartouche after the title "son of Ra". Egyptologists also call it the nomen.
- cartouche
- An oval ring drawn around a royal name, a loop of rope tied at one end. Kings wrote their two main names in cartouches.
- hypostyle hall
- A temple hall whose roof stood on many columns, like the great hall at Karnak with its 134 columns.
- Lower Egypt
- The north of Egypt, the flat Nile Delta from around Memphis to the sea. It is called lower because it is downstream.
- Maat
- Truth, justice and the right order of the world, shown as a goddess with an ostrich feather on her head. Kings claimed to uphold it.
- obelisk
- A tall, four-sided stone pillar with a pointed top, usually set up in pairs before a temple and carved with the king's names.
- pylon
- The huge gateway of a temple: two sloping towers with a door between them, carved with scenes of the king.
- rebus
- Writing a word with the picture of something that sounds the same. Hieroglyphs used this to write sounds.
- relief
- A carving on a flat surface. In raised relief the background is cut away. In sunk relief the figures are cut into the stone.
- temple
- The house of a god, where priests served the god's statue. Temples for dead kings kept up their offerings after death.
- throne name
- The name a king took when he came to the throne, written in the first cartouche after the title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt". Egyptologists also call it the prenomen.
- transliteration
- Writing Egyptian in Latin letters, one letter for each sound sign, such as ꜥnḫ for ankh. Egyptologists say the words with an e between consonants.
People in this article
Where to see it
- Abu Simbel site
- Karnak Temple site
- Luxor Temple site
- Memphis (Mit Rahina) site
- Grand Egyptian Museum museum
- National Museum of Egyptian Civilization museum
- Ramesseum site
- British Museum, London museum
- Museo Egizio, Turin museum
- Egyptian obelisks of Rome site
- Abydos site
Sources
More to read
- Hatshepsut's name in hieroglyphs: her two cartouches and where to see them Hatshepsut's name in hieroglyphics: her two cartouches, Maatkare and Hatshepsut, read sign by sign, the erased ovals, and where to see them.
- Thutmose I in hieroglyphs: Aakheperkare and Thutmose, sign by sign Thutmose I's name in hieroglyphics: throne name Aakheperkare and birth name Thutmose read sign by sign, his coronation decree, and where to see them.
- Khafre's name in hieroglyphs: his cartouche, sign by sign Khafre's cartouche in hieroglyphics: its three signs read one by one, his Horus name Userib, and the statues at Giza and Cairo that carry his name.