Chapter Sixteen - Passport to Paris

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Passport to Paris

IN 1976, RAMSES went to France.

Not as a statue.
Not as a relic.
As a person.

His body, still wrapped and royal, was flown from Egypt to Paris for conservation work. He was deteriorating, threatened by fungus and decay, and the Egyptians needed help from French experts to save what was left.

But here’s the catch.
You can’t just fly a Pharaoh.

International law required all travelers to carry valid documentation. And so, three thousand years after he ruled Egypt, Ramses II was issued an official Egyptian passport.

Name: Ramses II
Occupation: King (deceased)

He received full military honors upon arrival.
A royal welcome.
A motorcade.
And a ceremony fit for a head of state.

In death, Ramses still outranked the living.

French scientists examined him like detectives. CT scans, x-rays, and DNA tests. They confirmed his age, his injuries, the arthritis in his spine, and the abscesses in his gums. They saw the man beneath the myth and the myth beneath the man.

And then, when the work was done, they flew him home.

Because Ramses doesn’t belong to any one museum, or nation, or age.

He belongs to history.