Moses, Ramses and Seti
Information & Facts
about the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille
movie "The Ten Commandments"
The 1956 Cecil B.
DeMille movie "The Ten Commandments"
Anyone who has seen the 1956 Cecil B.
DeMille movie "The Ten Commandments" starring Charlton Heston as
Moses, Yul Brynner as Ramses II and Cedric Hardwicke as Seti will try to
relate the story to fact. However, the movie takes some facts with some
fiction and mixes them together to arrive at the story depicted in the
film. Which confuses the life out of anyone who is studying Ancient
Egyptian history!
Who were the
Pharaohs Seti I and Ramses the Great?
"The Ten Commandments" movie portrays the
Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs Seti I and Ramses II, also known as
Ramses the Great. Fact or Fiction?
-
Seti I was the second
pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty in the Ancient Egyptian period
referred to as the New Kingdom
-
Seti I ruled between 1290
BC – 1279 BC
-
Ramses the Great succeeded
Seti I to the throne and was therefore the third Pharaoh of the
Nineteenth dynasty in the New Kingdom
-
Ramses the Great ruled
between 1279 BC – 1213 BC
-
These two Pharaohs featured
strongly in the movie "The Ten Commandments"
-
But who was Moses?
Who was Moses?
Who was Moses? What elements of this story
relate to Egyptian facts and the myths from Ancient Egyptian religion?
Moses was portrayed as being
brought up in the royal family but then he is cast out
-
No person fits this
situation in the royal court of Seti. However, there was a Prince
Tuthmose, the eldest son of pharaoh Amenhotep III, who mysteriously
disappears from all records. Could he have been the factual origin of
the Biblical character Moses?
-
The name of this prince -
Thutmose - is very similar to Moses
The religion of Ancient
Egypt was a polytheistic religion (with many gods). There was just one
short period of monotheism (the worship of one god), during the reign of
Akhenaten - who became known as
the Heretic Pharaoh.
-
Akhenaten was the second son
of pharaoh Amenhotep III, the younger brother of Prince Thutmose
-
Some have even claimed that
Moses was in fact Akhenaten, others that Moses was a follower of the god
Aten
In the "The Ten
Commandments" movie Moses is portrayed as the son of the sister of the
Pharaoh Seti who was found in the bulrushes.
-
In the creation myth, or
Cosmogony, Isis hides her son Horus in the marshes, raising him in
secret until he is strong enough to challenge the evil god Set
-
In the movie Moses is hidden
in the bulrushes and eventually challenges Pharaoh
The 10 plagues visited upon
Egypt
-
The Egyptian Ipuwer papyrus,
which dates back to the much earlier Old Kingdom period, describes a
series of calamities befalling Egypt, including a river turned to blood.
Could this document be interpreted as an Egyptian account of the Plagues
of Egypt?
The Ten Commandments are
given to Moses by God.
-
The Ten Commandments are
similar in content to the 'Declaration of Innocence', Spell 125 in the
Book of the Dead, which consists of
denials such as "I have not killed, I have not robbed and I have not
lied" which are found in the Book of the Dead
The answer to the question
who was Moses is clearly open to speculation, but never the less, an
extremely interesting subject to debate.
Moses, Ramses and Seti
Each section of this Ancient Egyptian website addresses all topics and
provides interesting facts and information about the Golden Age of
Pharaohs and of Moses, Ramses and Seti. The Sitemap provides full details
of all of the information and facts provided about the fascinating subject
of the Ancient Egyptian Kings - their life, family, reign, dynasty,
important dates and events and accomplishments.
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