The Pharaoh Sails to Orion: Cryptographic Challenge No. 5
The Pharaoh Sails to Orion: Cryptographic Challenge No. 5
And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Ramses II also known as Rameses or Ozymandias in Greek sources and Percy Shelley's sonnet is considered the greatest, most celebrated and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. He ruled for 66 years and imposed his will and military prowess over his neighbors, hence the well deserved title of King of Kings. The Treaty of Kadesh (1274 BC) between Ramses II and the Hittites is among the first documented treaties in the world. Another amazing fact about this treaty is that both sides' versions have survived. And this is where we get to today's cryptographic challenge. Your challenge is to decipher the characters in which the treaty is written, the hieroglyphics, and get the coded message from the following image. Fortunately, Jean-Francois Champollion has already done much of the work of deciphering hieroglyphics some 200 years ago using the Rosetta stone.
