Ramesses II

Early life

Ramesses II was the third king of Egypt's 19th Dynasty, in the New Kingdom. He was the son of Seti I and Queen Tuya and, according to World History Encyclopedia, began accompanying his father on military campaigns at about the age of 14. He came to the throne around 1279 BCE and reigned for about 66 years.

War and peace with the Hittites

Early in his reign Ramesses campaigned against the Hittites, Egypt's rivals in the Levant. Around 1274 BCE he led an army of roughly 20,000 men against the Hittite king Muwatalli II at Kadesh, in present-day Syria. Surprised by a Hittite attack, the Egyptian force came close to defeat before Ramesses rallied it. He celebrated the battle as a great victory on temple walls, but Muwatalli also claimed success, and many historians regard the result as closer to a draw.

Years later, around 1258 BCE, Ramesses and Muwatalli's successor Hattusili III agreed a peace treaty. It is often described as the earliest known peace treaty.

Builder king

Ramesses was one of Egypt's most energetic builders. He founded a new capital, Pi-Ramesses, in the eastern Delta near the older city of Avaris, which also served as a military base. At Thebes he built the Ramesseum, his memorial temple, where a colossal granite statue of him once stood at an entrance; its upper part, removed in 1816 by Henry Salt and Giovanni Belzoni, has been in the British Museum since 1819. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus recorded an inscription there using the name "Ozymandias," derived from his throne name Usermaatra, which indirectly inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley's 1817 sonnet.

In Nubia, which Egypt then controlled, he had two temples cut into the rock at Abu Simbel. The facade of the Great Temple is fronted by four seated colossal statues of the king, each around 21 metres high.

Family and death

Nefertari was his first and favoured queen; after her death Isetnefret and later several of his daughters held the position of queen. He is reported to have fathered around 96 sons and 60 daughters. He lived to an advanced age, and examination of his mummy shows arthritis, dental problems and hardened arteries, suggesting death from old age or heart failure.

Legacy

Ramesses is often popularly identified with the pharaoh of the biblical Exodus, but World History Encyclopedia notes there is no historical or archaeological evidence for this link, which was popularised by films such as The Ten Commandments (1956). Some scholars see him as more skilled at propaganda than at government; others point to the stability and prosperity of his long reign.

His monuments shaped the modern world's image of ancient Egypt. When the Aswan High Dam threatened to flood Nubia, UNESCO launched an international campaign in 1960 that dismantled the Abu Simbel temples and reconstructed them away from the rising water. The Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae were inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1979.