Ozymandias: King of Kings

We here at id-iom seem to like Ramesses II or Ozymandias as the Greeks called him as this is our second picture based on one of the greatest pharaohs of the Egyptian Empire. This time I feel I should use the now famous words of Percy Shelley to describe the king of kings:

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

As a side note he lived till around the age of 90/91, most men don’t live that long nowadays and this was 1213 BC. Maybe there is hope for me then…

Cheers

id-iom

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Queen Nefertiti

Queen Nefertiti

In keeping with our ‘anything goes’ style of making pictures today we’ve gone for something of a classical pencil study of the bust of the famous Egyptian queen, Nefertiti, complete with annotated poem about her and fancy gold coloured lettering to give you a clue if you weren’t sure as to her identity.

Like Elgin’s marbles controversy surrounds the famous bust of her that was found on the banks of the Nile in 1912. By 1913 it had been spirited away to Germany and has remained there ever since despite claims by successive Egyptian governments for its return. It’s currently on display in Berlin.

Mainly because of the discovery of the bust she has become an icon in popular culture along with Cleopatra as one of the two famous queens of Ancient Egypt that most people could name. For a lady with such fame that she is still known over 2,000 years later, I thought there would undoubtedly be songs sung in her honour. And I was right. Although my exhaustive search only took me as far as youtube I was probably expecting something a bit better known:

Cheers

id-iom

Title: Queen Nefertiti
Materials: Paint pen and pencil
Size: A4

King Rameses II

King Rameses II

King Rameses II was also known as Ozymandias in Greek which, in the balance of things, are two pretty impressive names. He is often regarded as one of the greatest, most celebrated and most powerful pharaohs of the Egyptian Empire. A feat which I think we can all agree is pretty special considering the history books are littered with failed, feared and hated kings.

So that, in a nuthsell, was my inspiration for this little number. I came across the idea whilst doing a bit of ‘research’ (or, more accurately, viewing random articles on wikipedia) during a slow afternoon when i came across the big man. You might say “That isn’t research” but you’d be wrong. Strictly speaking I was just amusing myself on the internet but inspiration strikes when we least expect it and i’ve read some pretty amazing stuff pressing the random article button. So therefore it was work. Sometimes something a bit different can recharge the old tanks. As it happens I also know a crow called Rameses but that is a different story entirely…

Cheers

id-iom

Title: King Rameses II

Materials: Paint pen, acrylic and charcoal

Size: A4