Expert identifies ancient 'propaganda' praising pharaoh who may have challenged Moses
Ancient "propaganda" that was used to support the Egyptian pharaoh who is believed to be a major character of the Old Testament has been spotted in Paris, according to an expert.
Jean-Guillaume Olette-Pelletier, an Egyptologist from Paris-Sorbonne University and Institut Catholique de Paris, recently spoke with Fox News Digital about his findings, which are set to be published in the coming months.
The expert found the propaganda, which is supportive of Ramesses II, on the 3,300-year-old obelisk that sits in Paris' Place de la Concorde. Olette-Pelletier saw the obelisk up close in 2021 after receiving permission to climb scaffolding to conduct research.
Ramesses II, who was born in 1303 B.C. and died in 1213 B.C., is considered one of the most influential and powerful Egyptian rulers of the New Kingdom.
The Egyptian monarch is often cited as the most likely candidate for the pharaoh mentioned in Exodus, though an explicit name was never given in the Old Testament. The pharaoh is said to have retaliated against Moses and refused his requests in Exodus — resulting in a series of plagues.
Olette-Pelletier called the pro-Ramesses hieroglyphs "propaganda."
He identified seven cryptographies, or codes, which assert Ramesses II's authority from 1280 B.C. on.
"It was a message from Ramesses II to the nobility," the expert said, noting the Egyptian nobility were able to read the codes.
Olette-Pelletier said Ramesses II was born before his father Seti I became pharaoh – and therefore was not conceived by the gods. Not being of divine essence could have hampered his legitimacy to the throne.
"The nobility, able to read cryptographies, might be tempted by an overthrow of power since Ramesses II was not born of theogamy and therefore not divine by birth," Olette-Pelletier said.
The expert added, "[Ramesses II] spent the first two years of his reign emphasizing his divinity with his wife Nefertari by paying homage at Egypt's great shrines, and by buying priests."
"In the process, he changed his name from Usermaatra to Usermaatra Setepenra, [which means] 'chosen of Ra.'"
The obelisk has four sides, and Olette-Pelletier noted that the side that faces the Seine (and was intended to face the Nile) shows Ramesses II "wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt."
The expert also said that Ramesses II "underlined his divine knowledge" by using codes to convey the swaying messages.
"The obelisk also contains hidden texts that show the nobility that he is a legitimate and divine king, thus averting a possible coup d'état," Olette-Pelletier said.
"So, indeed, these are propaganda texts."
The cryptographies also claim that Ramesses II was the "provider of the Nile flood and thus of the country's wealth," according to Olette-Pelletier.
The discovery is one of many finds related to Ramesses II that have been uncovered in the past year.
In September, an ancient sword belonging to Ramesses' military was unearthed in Housh Eissa, a city in Egypt's Beheira Governorate.
In January, Egyptian officials announced they would begin to restore Ramesses II's temple in the Luxor Governorate, the Ramesseum.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
World War II veterans travel to Normandy for emotional D-Day commemoration
Some World War II veterans have landed in France to mark the 81st anniversary of D-Day on Friday. A group of about two dozen veterans who served in Europe and the Pacific traveled back to the once bloody beaches of Normandy, the Associated Press reported. The veterans, who are mostly centenarians, represent the dwindling number of those who were on the front lines defending freedom. About 66,143 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II were alive as of 2024, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The veterans in Normandy are reportedly treated like "rock stars" in the region, being handed notes and hearing many "thank yous." Jack Stowe, a 98-year-old who served in the Navy, told AP he still receives "the sweetest letters" from kids he has met on previous trips. "The French people here, they're so good to us … they want to talk to us, they want to sit down and they want their kids around us," he said. Stowe said he lied about his age, claiming to be 15 years old, in order to join the military following Pearl Harbor in 1941. "People are not going to let it be forgotten, you know, Omaha, these beaches … These stories will go on and on and on," said Stowe. "We have the responsibility to honor these guys who gave us a chance to be alive." Jake Larson, 102, survived machine gunfire while storming Omaha beach on D-Day. "We are the lucky ones … They had no family. We are their family. We have the responsibility to honor these guys who gave us a chance to be alive," Larson told AP. Wally King, a 101-year-old who flew a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter, honored a pilot who flew the same plane alongside his granddaughter. "This will probably be the last Normandy return, when you see the condition of some of us old guys … I hope I'm wrong," King told AP. The Best Defense Foundation began organizing trips to Normandy in 2004. Last year, the nonprofit brought 50 veterans; this year, 23 were on the trip.
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Fox News
French report identifies Muslim Brotherhood threat as Ted Cruz seeks US terror designation for group
French President Emmanuel Macron has asked his ministers to come up with responsive measures after a "government-commissioned" report determined that the Muslim Brotherhood poses a danger to "the fabric of society and republican institutions" in France. Though the French government stated it would not publish its full report, Reuters said it "accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of waging a covert campaign via local proxies to subvert France's secular values and institutions." That campaign is said to focus on local government, schools and mosques as a means to influence change on local and national levels, particularly regarding issues of gender equality and secularism. The report's claim that "the reality of this threat, even if it is long-term and does not involve violent action, highlights the risk of damage to the fabric of society and republican institutions." Christopher Holton, senior analyst and director for state outreach at the Center for Security Policy, told Fox News Digital that the French internal security service report "came as a surprise," given that European intelligence agencies "have been in denial about the Islamization of Europe" for "a quarter-century or so." "The Muslim Brotherhood is one of the most influential organizations in the entire Islamic world," Holton said. "This report acknowledges that, and that's something that no official government report in the West that I'm aware of has really acknowledged. "They don't conceal their philosophy. They don't conceal their plans. They're pretty transparent," Holton said of the Muslim Brotherhood, pointing to the final portion of the group's motto, which he said is "Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." There is less transparency, however, about various groups' affiliations with the Muslim Brotherhood. However, the French intelligence report claims that the Muslims of France are the "national branch" of the Muslim Brotherhood. Politico reported the group called the accusations "unfounded." Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital that "the Muslim Brotherhood's model is pretty similar across Europe." Because of its "mixture of open association and clandestine connections," Mendoza says, "it is difficult to know the exact degree of Muslim Brotherhood penetration." Mendoza says the Muslim Brotherhood today "is therefore a particular menace for European Muslim communities as it seeks to radicalize religious thought, and for European countries because it is interested in a separate identity for European Muslims within states." Mendoza said this is "part of the reason we are seeing increased sectarianization within European societies." The Muslim Brotherhood's presence in the U.S. is coming under increased scrutiny once again. Earlier this week Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., announced on X, "In the coming days, I will be circulating and re-introducing a modernized version of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act, which I have been pushing for my entire Senate career." Cruz said that "the Muslim Brotherhood used the Biden administration to consolidate and deepen their influence, but the Trump administration and Republican Congress can no longer afford to avoid the threat they pose to Americans and American national security." In April, Jordan outlawed the group and in so doing joined several other countries where it was banned or restricted. Those countries, according to an Al Arabiya report, include Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
What it takes to clean industrial soot and grime from a Pittsburgh church's murals
MILLVALE, Pa. (AP) — How do you conserve 80-year-old murals that have accumulated decades' worth of soot, salt and other deterioration? Slowly and carefully, using everything from scientific analysis to seaweed extract to everyday tools — like cosmetic sponges and shish kebab sticks. That was the approach taken by a conservation team as they labored on a section of murals at St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church near Pittsburgh. The walls and ceiling of the church are covered with an acclaimed set of murals painted by the late Croatian American artist Maxo Vanka in 1937 and 1941. They mix religious imagery with dramatic depictions of war, immigrant life, industrial hardship and moral contrasts — justice and injustice, greed and generosity. The Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka has been working for the past 15 years to conserve the paintings, one section at a time. Over the past three years, a crew of 16 has worked intensively on the upper church. From January through May, that work focused on the upper-right walls and ceiling — including an Old Testament panorama featuring Moses and portraits of St. Matthew and St. Mark. The workers cleaned off grime, extracted corrosive salts, carefully reattached peeling paint and delicately added pigments where they had been lost. 'I found art conservation to be a good mix between art appreciation and science,' said Naomi Ruiz, a wall paintings conservator overseeing this year's work. The project began in January, when workers installed a 32-foot-high (9.8-meter-high) scaffold to provide close-up access to the murals. Cleaning off decades of pollution In the initial days, the conservation team brushed and vacuumed off surface dirt and soot. Then they used wet cosmetic sponges and thin cotton swabs to clean surfaces and grooves. Much of the grime, they surmise, resulted from day-to-day atmospheric pollution, ranging from Pittsburgh's once thriving steel mills to nearby highway traffic. The challenges are greater on one side of the church, which is damaged from exposure to more sunlight, which means more fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity. Workers used fine tools to reach inside smaller indentations. Before long, they'd gone through thousands of soot-covered sponges. Soon, the workers began to see the images becoming clearer, with gray sections returned to the original white painted by Vanka. 'It's really fascinating, especially to see from below, a lot of these details that were lost coming back, and seeing what his initial vision was,' conservation technician Christina Cichra said. Chemistry, color and cleaning Workers also cleaned the aluminum leaf that forms backgrounds, as in the arch-shaped one behind St. Mark and St. Matthew. They used a solution with neutral pH — neither alkaline nor acidic, both of which would damage the material. Parts of the aluminum leaf have deteriorated entirely. The team's original idea was to replace those sections with new leaf, but it was too shiny and didn't match. After some experimentation, they decided on a mixture of watercolor and other materials. 'This was able to give us the right amount of sheen and tone to blend in with the original aluminum leafing,' Ruiz said. To remedy paint loss, the crew used pastels and watercolors to fill in certain areas, while retaining Vanka's original brushstrokes. The team took a conservative approach, filling in only where necessary and using materials that can easily be removed, in case they or later conservators decide a different approach is needed. A primary goal is to reveal as much as possible of the original art. Salts, poultices and seaweed A major challenge is posed by sulfate salts, which occur naturally but can be especially prevalent where there is more air pollution, Ruiz said. The salts react with moisture in the walls and cause deterioration. The crew attached poultices — bandage-like containers of fine cellulose fibers — to affected spots. One type of chemical compound in the poultice leeches out the salts, a process repeated several times. Still more poultices were applied, this time with a different compound that strengthens the plaster. In some areas, paint had curled, flaked or cracked. Workers gently reattached it with funori, an adhesive derived from a seaweed, and use a tacking iron to help secure the paint. The preservation society, meanwhile, has worked with the parish on improvements such as roof repairs and a new climate control system to help prevent future damage from the elements. It's conservation, not restoration Ruiz prefers not to use the word 'restoration' for the project, although some of the work technically fits that category. She said 'conservation' is a more comprehensive term, which includes everything from documentation to preventive care while making Vanka's original work as visible as possible. 'We want to really reveal what he did,' Ruiz said. 'That's what's most important to us.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
