Upon its release in 1998, the animated feature film The Prince of Egypt (link to the trailer) became an instant classic. Inspired by Cecile B. de Mille’s The Ten Commandments, the DreamWorks classic tells the story of the Israelite Exodus and their time in Egypt through the lens of the life of Moses. We will explore how the film presents Egypt to its audience.

Opening The Prince of Egypt

The film opens with an impressive shot of a sphinx and shows the huge work force during a construction project. We see monumental buildings, but also realise the high human cost of construction. Many of the workers appear to be working against their will. In contrast, the Egyptian palace and its royalty at Memphis stands in vast glory and luxury. The palace here is of stone, whereas Egyptians built their actual palaces out of mudbrick (1). Today, most of the ancient city of Memphis lies buried underneath modern Cairo.

Moses becomes the brother of Ramesses

Next, we meet Moses (adult voice by Val Kilmer) as a young baby. His mother, Yocheved (Ofra Haza), takes him, places him in a basket, and floats him down the Nile. Eventually, the wife of Pharaoh finds him to raise him as their own – alongside Ramesses (that is, Ramesses II) (Ralph Fiennes), son of the Pharaoh, Sety (Patrick Stewart).

The wife of Pharaoh and Sety adopt Moses into the royal family as their son and Moses grows up in the royal palace. Ramesses, his older brother, is competitive, a source of contention between the brothers throughout the film. A chariot race with Moses showcases Ramesses’ determination in full swing. Making their way through a temple (?), young Ramesses races on his chariot in action, while a scene on the wall depicts Sety I likewise on a chariot.

Moses at the Royal Palace

In a scene of Moses talking with Sety at the palace, we can marvel at the riverine environment in the background. A large statue of the king is in the foreground. Perhaps it’s a nod to the larger-than-life statue of Ramesses II found near the Temple of Ptah at Memphis?

Mighty Ramesses

Ramesses is depicted with a lock of hair on his right side. By showing a lock of hair on an otherwise shaven head, Egyptian art identifies a young individual.

The famous king-list of Sety I from his temple at Abydos also shows Ramesses II. On the far left, Sety wears the blue crown and then Ramesses stands before several registers with names of kings. Amazingly, his head is also shown shaved except for the lock on the side!

Eventually, Ramesses becomes the King of the Exodus (2) and Moses realises his biological lineage is not Egyptian, but Israelite. An exiled Moses returns to Egypt to demand the release of his peoples, the Israelites.

As Ramesses travels down the Nile on his royal boat, Moses calls to him from the shore. He demands Ramesses to release “his people” from Egyptian control. Ramesses, seated here on a gilded seat (a throne?) under a wooden canopy, denounces Moses for this demand. The boat seems to be papyroform in shape like a model of a boat from the tomb of Meketre (see photo above). 

Egyptian Art in 2D

After helping an enslaved Israelite, Tzipporah (Michelle Pfeiffer), escape the palace, Moses learns the truth about his background through his biological sister, Miriam (Sandra Bullock). Returning to the palace, he begins to grapple with this ‘new’ truth and falls asleep. 

The film renders this vivid dream episode according to Egyptian two-dimensional artistic conventions (see video above). Over several registers, we see Moses running away from the king and his guards. It seems he is reliving the opening sequence of the film! It’s a treat to see this scene rendered this way as it brings alive what is (to us) an alternative way of depicting the world.

Akhenaten in the Prince of Egypt

A curious inclusion in the dream scene is the throne name of Akhenaten enclosed in a cartouche. Akhenaten lived about 75 years before Ramesses II. His name occurs on registers to the left and right of a seated statue of Osiris. It reads in translation:

“The perfect one of the manifestations of Re, the unique one of Re” (3).

The Royal Family under the Aten

We also witness further elements of Akhenaten’s time before Moses begins to dream. He looks upon a scene of the royal family that receives the warmth of the Aten sun disk and its rays. Akhenaten elevated the Aten to the highest position in Egyptian religion. In this scene, the Aten sustains the royal family with his radiant rays, modelled with hands at the end. It’s a scene synonymous with the Amarna Period, when Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their children were often displayed this way.

Yet, here, it is the family of Sety, who sits together with his wife and Ramesses and Moses. As Sety I was actively engaged in destroying what was left from the Amarna Period, it is odd to find this scene in the film.

Moses’ plight

After Moses accidentally kills an Egyptian overseer, he flees into the Sinai Peninsula. He removes his sandals, bracelets, armlets, and wig – all typical Egyptian items. The result: he sheds his Egyptian connections symbolically. We get to see his sandal up-close with two foreign men depicted (see photo below).

Scenes in Egyptian art show royal figures stepping on foreigners, as a means to have power over them. We see the same motif on the sandals of Tutankhamun. Here, an Asiatic and a Nubian are depicted along with the Nine Bows (these are representative of all foreigners across the world). In later times, even private individuals put this motif on foot cases around their dead bodies.

Tossing his wig, Moses also reveals his natural hair below. It was not uncommon for high status Egyptians to have shaved heads, something which we can imagine for Ramesses in the film. In contrast, Moses did not shave his head (a hint perhaps to his foreignness). Hair was an important indicator of status and both men and women used elaborate wigs to do so. 

Once Moses sheds himself of his Egyptian identity, he then begins to wear colourful robes. Likewise do the Israelites and the people he stays with in the Sinai. The Egyptians, in contrast, are often shown wearing white garments. In many tombs, Egyptians also depicted persons from Syria-Palestine with such colourful robes (e.g., the tomb of Khnumhotep at Beni Hasan).

Ancient Egypt and the Prince of Egypt

According to the IMDB, the producers consulted with many experts about key aspects of the film. This indeed is reflected well throughout and I have mentioned some similarities above. Of course, there are some inconsistencies (e.g., inclusion of Akhenaten’s name), though they don’t take away from the overall experience. The Nile Scribes tackled the veracity of the Exodus in our review of the “documentary” Patterns of Evidence: The Exodus. So I thought it more prudent to focus on how the film engages with ancient Egypt. 

My Rating

Notes

1. We wrote about this element in more detail in our review of Riley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings – see here.
2. The biblical account does not provide the name of the Egyptian king.
3. Leprohon, R.J. 2013. The Great Name. Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary. Atlanta: SBL Press – page 104. 

All photos are courtesy of the author unless otherwise indicated. The cover photo comes from Rotten Tomatoes.