# Was King Ramses II of Egypt a "Man Out Of Time"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 14, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496 "2013-07-14T18:24:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/1 "2013-07-14T18:24:32Z")
If Ramses indeed lived to 90, he must have been regarded as a “man out of time”…living at a time when most of his subjects were dead by age 30, he must have been regarded as a god. He lived so long that almost all of his classmates, boyhood friends were long dead by the time he hit 60-and it must have been lonely for him as well. Would Ramses (to an ancient Egyptian) be like a 120 year old man to us, today? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/2 "2013-07-14T18:30:07Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > living at a time when most of his subjects were dead by age 30 Are you sure about that? Remember that average life spans are weighted by a large number of infant deaths. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/3 "2013-07-14T18:48:34Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > If Ramses indeed lived to 90, he must have been regarded as a “man out of time”..living at a time when most of his subjects were dead by age 30, he must have been regarded as a god. > He lived so long that almost all of his classmates, boyhood friends were long dead by the time he hit 60-and it must have been lonely for him as well. > Would Ramses (to an ancient Egyptian) be like a 120 year old man to us, today? It’s an average. If you were high status and got plenty to eat, have a robust immune system, and suffered no mortal injuries or lethal diseases living to 90 would have quite possible. Even if you didn’t get all the social bennies were are lots of tribes and villages with elders in their 70, 80’s and occasionally 90’s. Their genome is more or less the same as ours. There would have been lots of high status people that lived well past 70. Do you think all those Roman and Greek histories were written by men in their 20’s and 30’s? They were often in their 60’s and 70’s when they wrote those. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/4 "2013-07-14T19:26:28Z")
Was there not an Old Kingdom Pharaoh who ruled for something like 90 years? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/5 "2013-07-14T20:07:22Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Was there not an Old Kingdom Pharaoh who ruled for something like 90 years? You’re probably thinking of [Pepi II](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepi_II_Neferkare). The evidence that he really ruled for 94 years isn’t great, but according to Wikipedia there’s good reason to believe he did have a long reign of at least 62 years. He became pharaoh at age 6, so a 94 year reign would mean he died at 100 which seems unlikely but not impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/6 "2013-07-14T22:32:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Are you sure about that? Remember that average life spans are weighted by a large number of infant deaths. People nowadays don’t realize how shockingly routine infant death used to be. In the United States, as recently as 1900, the death rate for newborns was 16.5%. That’s one out of every six births. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/7 "2013-07-14T22:35:36Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > He lived so long that almost all of his classmates His what now? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/8 "2013-07-14T22:40:31Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > His what now? :dubious: He went to high school with Moses. Pretty sure there was a movie about it…I definitely remember [seeing the trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kqqMXWEFs). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/9 "2013-07-15T01:30:30Z")
I have it on good authority that he is a man out of time - specifically, he left his time and in our modern 1980s world as a young billionaire who I assume is incapable of destroying major cities and killing millions. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/10 "2013-07-15T03:46:31Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > He went to high school with Moses. Pretty sure there was a movie about it…I definitely remember [seeing the trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kqqMXWEFs). Oh, internet. Is there anything you can’t do? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/11 "2013-07-15T04:48:40Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > He went to high school with Moses. Pretty sure there was a movie about it…I definitely remember [seeing the trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kqqMXWEFs). Made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/12 "2013-07-15T05:26:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Are you sure about that? Remember that average life spans are weighted by a large number of infant deaths. > [@astro](#): > > It’s an average. If you were high status and got plenty to eat, have a robust immune system, and suffered no mortal injuries or lethal diseases living to 90 would have quite possible. Actually **ralph124c** has the right on this one. Sort of. Infant mortality in ancient Egypt _was_ staggeringly high, but even beyond that average adult life ( i.e. only counting folks that made it through puberty ) expectancy was indeed in the thirties. A combination of widespread disease, chronic malnutrition and constant hard labor wore the peasantry out at an appalling rate. Probably one of the worst civilizations in history for you to live in if you had the misfortune of being born low status. The “sort of” comes in with **astro** ’s qualification. _Wealthy_ Egyptians had the benefit of much better nutrition and a lot less backbreaking labor and would have had a more “normal” lifespan. Ramesses’ courtiers were probably mighty impressed, but not necessarily blown away by his longevity. For a peasantry used to dieing like flies, he might have cut a more godlike figure. Especially considering he was supposed to be, you know, semi-divine ;). Multiple mayfly-like generations of Egyptian peasants would only have ever known his rule. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/13 "2013-07-15T11:48:01Z")
Didn’t they name a rubber after him 3000 years later? Now there’s an accomplishment. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/14 "2013-07-15T16:07:53Z")
Well, he was the man in gauze. (The man in gauze.) ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-king-ramses-ii-of-egypt-a-man-out-of-time/663496/15 "2013-07-15T16:39:37Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Well, he was the man in gauze. > > (The man in gauze.) “Ohh, RAAAAAMseeees …”