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“King of Kings am I, Osymandyas. If anyone would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works.”

As reported by Diodorus Siculus · Library of History 1.47.4, reporting a statue inscription (trans. C. H. Oldfather, 1933)

Context The Greek historian Diodorus, writing in the 1st century BCE, gives this as the inscription on a colossal statue at the tomb of Osymandyas, usually identified with the Ramesseum.

Portrait of Ramesses II
Ramesses IIEgypt · c. 1303–1213 BC
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