A figure with an undulating surface, called _set_, is the usual emblem of a foreign country. The undulating surface probably indicates the hills and valleys of those foreign lands around Egypt, such as Nubia, Arabia Petra, Canaan, Phœnicia, etc. These countries, in comparison with the flat land of Egypt, were countries of hills and valleys. This hieroglyph for foreign lands occurs in this column immediately above the first nomen. Cartouche with nomen: "Ra-mes-es Meri Amen." [Illustration] FIGURE WITH HAWK'S HEAD is Ra. On his head he wears the _aten_, or solar disk, and in his hand holds the _ankh_, or key of life. TRIPLE TWIG (=mes=) is here the syllabic _mes_. This is the usual symbol for _birth_ or _born_; thus the monarch in his name _Rameses_ claims to be _born of Ra_. CHAIR BACK (=s=). The final complement in _mes_. REED (=es=) _es_. The final syllable in name Rameses. Some are disposed to render the reed as _su_, and thus make the name Ramessu. With his name the king associates the remaining hieroglyphs of the cartouche. The figure with sceptre is the god Amen. On his head he wears a tall hat made up of two long plumes or ostrich feathers. On his chin he wears the long curved beard which indicates his divine nature. A singular custom among the Egyptians was tying a false beard, made of plaited hair, to the end of the chin. It assumed various shapes, to indicate the dignity and position of the wearer. Private individuals wear a small beard about two inches long. That worn by a king was of considerable length, and square at the end; while figures of gods are distinguished by having long beards turned up at the end. The divine beard, the royal beard, and the ordinary beard, are thus easily distinguished. Amen was the supreme god worshipped at Thebes. He corresponds to Zeus among the Greeks, and Jupiter among the Latins. Rameses associates with his own name that of Amen. The hieroglyphs inside the cartouche are "Ra-mes-es-meri-Amen," which literally translated mean, "Born of Ra, beloved of Amen." The king consequently claims descent from the supreme solar deity of Heliopolis, and the favour of the supreme god of Thebes. _First side.--Left hand._ "Horus, powerful bull, beloved of Ra, lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of festivals, like his father Ptah-Totanen, son of the sun, Rameses-meri-Amen, powerful bull, like the son of Nut; none can stand before him, lord of the two countries, Ra-user-Ma-sotep-en-Ra, son of the sun, Rameses-meri-Amen." On the third face, Rameses calls himself the son of Tum, but here he claims Ptah Totanen as his father.