Note 108 — Chapter XVI · ABOU SIMBEL.

The late Vicomte E. de Rougé, in a letter to M. Guigniaut on the discoveries at Tanis, believes that he detects the Semitic type in the portraits of Rameses II and Seti I; and even conjectures that the Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty may have descended from Hyksos ancestors: “L’origine de la famille des Ramsès nous est jusqu’ ici complétement inconnue; sa prédilection pour le dieu Set ou Sutech, qui éclate des l’abord par le nom de Seti I (Sethos), ainsi que d’autres indices, pouvaient déjà engager à la reporter vers la Basse Égypte. Nous savions même que Ramsès II avait épousé une fille du Prince de Khet, quand le traité de l’an 22 eut ramené la paix entre les deux pays. Le profil très-décidément sémitique de Séti et de Ramsès se distinguait nettement des figures ordinal res de nos Pharaons Thébains.” (See “Revue Archéologique”, vol. ix, A.D. 1864.) In the course of the same letter, M. de Rougé adverts to the magnificent restoration of the temple of Sutech at Tanis (San), by Rameses II and to the curious fact that the god is there represented with the peculiar head-dress worn elsewhere by the Prince of Kheta.

It is to be remembered, however, that the patron deity of Rameses II was Amen-Ra. His homage of Sutech (which might possibly have been a concession to his Khetan wife) seems to have been confined almost exclusively to Tanis, where Ma-at-iri-neferu-Ra may be supposed to have resided.