Triple Twig (mes) is here the syllabic mes. This is the usual symbol for birth or born; thus the monarch in his name Rameses claims to be born of Ra.
Chair Back (s). The final complement in mes.
Reed (es) es. The final syllable in name Rameses. Some are disposed to render the reed as su, and thus make the name Ramessu. With his name the king associates the remaining hieroglyphs of the cartouche.
The figure with sceptre is the god Amen. On his head he wears a tall hat made up of two long plumes or ostrich feathers. On his chin he wears the long curved beard which indicates his divine nature. A singular custom among the Egyptians was tying a false beard, made of plaited hair, to the end of the chin. It assumed various shapes, to indicate the dignity and position of the wearer. Private individuals wear a small beard about two inches long. That worn by a king was of considerable length, and square at the end; while figures of gods are distinguished by having long beards turned up at the end. The divine beard, the royal beard, and the ordinary beard, are thus easily distinguished.
Amen was the supreme god worshipped at Thebes. He corresponds to Zeus among the Greeks, and Jupiter among the Latins. Rameses associates with his own name that of Amen. The hieroglyphs inside the cartouche are “Ra-mes-es-meri-Amen,” which literally translated mean, “Born of Ra, beloved of Amen.” The king consequently claims descent from the supreme solar deity of Heliopolis, and the favour of the supreme god of Thebes.
“Horus, powerful bull, beloved of Ra, lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of festivals, like his father Ptah-Totanen, son of the sun, Rameses-meri-Amen, powerful bull, like the son of Nut; none can stand before him, lord of the two countries, Ra-user-Ma-sotep-en-Ra, son of the sun, Rameses-meri-Amen.”
On the third face, Rameses calls himself the son of Tum, but here he claims Ptah Totanen as his father.
Ptah, also called Ptah Totanen, was the chief god worshipped at Memphis, and is spoken of as the creator of visible things. Tum is also represented as possessing the creative attribute, and it is not improbable that Ptah and Tum sometimes stand for each other. The obelisk stood before the temple of Tum at Heliopolis, and was probably connected with that deity. That Ptah stands for Tum seems to receive confirmation from the fact that after Ptah’s name comes the figure of a god used as a determinative. This figure has on its head a solar disk, and therefore appears to be intended for a solar deity.
Nut was a sky-goddess, and represents the blue midday sky. She was said to be the mother of Osiris, who is the friend of mankind, and one of the gods much beloved.