Ramesses II

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Ramesses II: one of four external seated statues at Abu Simbel
Cartouches of Ramesses II. The central one reads: "Ram'ses, Rê made him, beloved of Amun.[1]p146

Ramesses II was one of the greatest Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.[2] He was the third Pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. His successors and later Egyptians called him the "Great Ancestor".[3]

When he was 14, Ramesses was appointed successor by his father Seti I.[3] He ruled Egypt from 1279 BC to 1213 BC.[4]p165 This is a total of 66 years and 2 months. It is likely that he died in his 90th or 91st year. On his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings;[5] his body was later moved to a royal cache (hidden wall slot) where it was discovered in 1881. It is now on display in the Cairo Museum.[4]

Ramesses II led several expeditions north into the lands east of the Mediterranean (the location of the modern Israel, Lebanon and Syria). He also led expeditions to the south, into Nubia.


Campaigns and battles[change | change source]

Early in his life, Ramesses went on campaigns to get land back from Nubian and Hittite hands, and to secure Egypt's borders. He also stopped Nubian revolts and ran a campaign in Libya. During Ramesses's reign, the Egyptian army may have included about 100,000 men, a force that he used to strengthen Egyptian influence over neighbouring lands.[6]

Battle against Sherden sea pirates[change | change source]

Relief of Ramesses II on limestone, still with its original colour.

In his second year, Ramesses defeated the Sherden sea pirates. They were causing problems along Egypt's Mediterranean coast by attacking cargo-laden vessels on the sea routes to Egypt.[7]p250 Ramesses posted troops and ships at strategic points along the coast, and allowed the pirates to attack their prey. He then caught them by surprise in a sea battle, capturing them all in a single action.[8]p53 A stele says they came "in their war-ships from the midst of the sea, and none were able to stand before them". Shortly afterwards Sherden are seen in the Pharaoh's body-guard with their horned helmets, round shields and the great Naue II swords.[9]

Peace treaty with the Hittites[change | change source]


The Hittite Mursili III fled to Egypt, after he failed to take his uncle's throne. The uncle, Hattusili III, demanded that Ramesses extradite (send back) his nephew back to Hatti.[10]p74

This caused a crisis between Egypt and Hatti, when Ramesses said he did not know where Mursili was. The two empires came close to war. Eventually, in the twenty-first year of his reign (1258 BC), Ramesses decided to make an agreement with Hattusili III, to end the conflict. The document they agreed is the earliest known peace treaty in world history.[7]p256

The peace treaty was recorded in two versions, one in Egyptian hieroglyphs, the other in Akkadian, using cuneiform script; both versions survive. Such dual-language recording is common to many treaties. This treaty differs from others in that the two language versions are differently worded. Although the majority of the text is identical, the Hittite version claims that the Egyptians came suing for peace, while the Egyptian version claims the reverse.[10]p73–79; 62–64 The treaty was given to the Egyptians in the form of a silver plaque. This 'pocket-book' version was taken back to Egypt, and a copy carved into the Temple of Karnak.

Tomb of Nefertari[change | change source]

Tomb wall depicting Nefertari

The most important and famous of Ramesses' Queen consorts was discovered in 1904.[11] The tomb of Nefertari is extremely important, because its magnificent wall painting is regarded as one of the greatest examples of ancient Egyptian art.

A flight of steps cut out of the rock makes it possible to go to the antechamber. This is decorated with paintings based on chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead. The astronomical ceiling represents the heavens and is painted in dark blue, with many golden five-pointed stars. The east wall of the antechamber is interrupted by a large opening with paintings of Osiris and Anubis. This leads to the side chamber, decorated with offering scenes. A vestibule with paintings shows Nefertari being presented to the gods, who welcome her. On the north wall of the antechamber is the stairway that goes down to the burial chamber. This is a vast quadrangular room covering a surface area of about 90 square metres (970 sq ft), the astronomical ceiling of which is supported by four pillars entirely covered with decoration.

References[change | change source]

  1. Clayton, Peter 1994. Chronology of the Pharaohs. Thames & Hudson.
  2. also known as Ramesses the Great and alternatively transcribed as Ramses and Rameses *Riʕmīsisu; also known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources
  3. 3.0 3.1 Putnan, James 1990. An introduction to Egyptology.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Rice, Michael 1999. Who's who in Ancient Egypt. Routledge.
  5. Christian Leblanc. "Gerard". http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Gerard_Flament/ramstomb.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  6. R. Gabriel, The great armies of antiquity.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Grimal, Nicholas 1992. A history of Ancient Egypt. Blackwell, Oxford. ISBN 0-631-17472-9
  8. Tyldesley, Joyce 2000. Ramesses: Egypt's greatest Pharaoh. London: Viking/Penguin Books.
  9. "The Naue Type II Sword". http://www.eclectichistorian.net/Griffzungenschwert. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Kitchen, Kenneth 1983. Pharaoh triumphant: the life and times of Ramesses II, King of Egypt. London: Aris & Phillips.
  11. Siliotti, Alberto 1994. Egypt: temples, people, gods.