This is how Pharaoh's face was reconstructed from the days of the Exodus, when he was 45 years old • Watch

January 15, 2023   

The face of Ramses II, who is identified as the pharaoh of the Exodus, about whom we read in the book of Exodus this week - has been reconstructed from his mummified remains. A team led by Professor Caroline Wilkinson, Director of the Facial Laboratory at Liverpool John Moores University, and Sahar Salim, Professor of Radiology at Cairo University - reconstructed what the pharaoh would have looked like at the age of 45, and at the age of 90 at his death, using advanced techniques. The mummy of Ramses II, who was king of Egypt from 1213 to 1279 BC, is on display at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in the ancient city of Fustat, now part of Cairo. The mummy itself was discovered in 1881 near Luxor in southern Egypt. As part of the reconstruction of his face, Prof. Salim prepared a virtual 3D model of his head and skull, from data from scanning thousands of X-rays that were assembled into a 3D image - which Wilkinson used. "The facial features of Ramses II were produced through 3D facial reconstruction and then through a 3D facial description process," explained Wilkinson, who used computer software used in criminal investigations to reconstruct the face of the man who ruled Egypt for 66 years. In the video, you can see what he looked like when he was 90 years old, and then when he was in his mid-life.