Egypt archaeologists refute Ramses II-Exodus connection

Salwa Samir

Apr 23, 2023

The sarcophagus of Pharaoh Ramses II is displayed on the opening day of the exhibition titled "Ramses the Great, the Gold of the Pharaohs" at the Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France, April 7, 2023. — Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images

CAIRO — A temporary exhibition titled “Ramses the Great, the Gold of the Pharaohs” is taking place in Paris from April 7 to Sept. 6, showcasing the sarcophagus of Ramses II, aka Ramses the Great, third king of the 19th Dynasty whose reign (1279-1213 B.C.) was the second-longest in Egyptian history.

The exhibition in Paris is part of its international tour and comes after having made two stops in the United States since November 2021. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is organizing this traveling exhibition to promote tourism to Egypt.

The Ramses II sarcophagus, however, was not displayed in Houston or San Francisco. Egypt offered to display it in Paris as a token of appreciation for the European country that treated the king’s mummy for a fungal infection in 1976.

When many Western and Israeli media covered the exhibition, they allegedly claimed that Ramses was the “Pharaoh of the Exodus,” a notion that is strongly rejected by Egyptian archaeologists.