Ramesses II: The Great Pharaoh of Egypt
Ramesses II (c. 1303–1213 BCE), also known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and one of the most powerful, most famous, and most prolific pharaohs in Egyptian history. He ruled Egypt for sixty-six years, from 1279 to 1213 BCE, longer than almost any other pharaoh, and he left behind more monuments, more statues, more inscriptions, and more children than any other ruler of Egypt. He is the pharaoh of the biblical Exodus (in some interpretations), the husband of the famous queen Nefertari, and the hero of the Battle of Kadesh, one of the earliest battles for which we have a detailed tactical record. The ancient Greeks called him Ozymandias, and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s famous sonnet “Ozymandias” used his ruined statue as a symbol of the transience of earthly power.
This page is a complete guide to Ramesses II’s life and legacy. It links back to the Egyptian Pharaohs cluster, the Ancient Egypt pillar, and the Mummification and the Afterlife cluster.
The Early Life of Ramesses
Ramesses II was born around 1303 BCE, the son of Seti I, a pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty, and Queen Tuya. The family was of relatively humble origin — Seti’s father, Ramesses I, had been a military officer who was chosen to succeed the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Ramesses was educated as a prince, and at the age of fourteen he was appointed regent by his father, who led the army in the Syrian wars.
In 1279 BCE, Seti I died and Ramesses became pharaoh at the age of about twenty-four. He took the throne name Usermaatre Setepenre (“Powerful is the Justice of Ra, Chosen of Ra”) and the shorter form Ramessu (Ramesses), meaning “Ra has fashioned him.” He was crowned at Thebes, the religious capital of Egypt, in a ceremony attended by the high priests of Amun.
The Battle of Kadesh
Ramesses’ most famous military exploit was the Battle of Kadesh, fought in 1274 BCE against the Hittite king Muwatalli II. The battle was fought near the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River in Syria, and it was the culmination of a long war between Egypt and the Hittite Empire over control of Syria-Palestine.
According to the Egyptian account (preserved in the inscriptions of Ramesses at Karnak, Luxor, and the Ramesseum, and on the walls of the temple of Abu Simbel), Ramesses was caught by the Hittites while on the march and was almost captured. He fought his way out with a small force, saved the Egyptian army from destruction, and was personally responsible for the Egyptian victory. According to the Hittite account (preserved in the Hittite archives at Hattusa), the Hittites had the better of the day, and the Egyptians were forced to withdraw.
The battle ended in a tactical draw, and the war was concluded in 1258 BCE by a peace treaty — the earliest known surviving peace treaty in the world. The treaty was inscribed on silver tablets, copies of which were preserved both in Egypt and in Hattusa. The famous peace of Ramesses is now displayed in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums and the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The Building Program of Ramesses
Ramesses was one of the most prolific builders in Egyptian history. He built more monuments, more temples, more statues, and more obelisks than any other pharaoh. The most important of his monuments were:
-
The Ramesseum, the great mortuary temple of Ramesses on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes. The Ramesseum was the model for the biblical Treasury of Pharaoh and for the Tomb of Agamemnon described by the Greek poet. The fallen colossus of the Ramesseum inspired Shelley’s famous sonnet “Ozymandias.”
-
Abu Simbel, the great rock-cut temple in the south of Egypt, built for Ramesses and his queen Nefertari. Abu Simbel was moved in the 1960s to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser, in one of the great engineering feats of the twentieth century.
-
The Pi-Ramesses, the new capital that Ramesses built in the eastern Nile delta, in the region of the old Hyksos capital of Avaris. The capital was later abandoned during the decline of the New Kingdom, and its location was a mystery until the twentieth century, when it was finally identified by the Italian Egyptologist Labib Habachi.
-
The additions to Karnak and Luxor, the great temples of Thebes. Ramesses added the great hypostyle hall of Karnak, with its 134 massive columns, and the famous peristyle court of Luxor.
-
Statues of Ramesses survive all over Egypt, including the famous colossal statue in the Ramesseum, the seated colossi at Luxor, the standing colossus at Memphis, and the great statue now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The Family of Ramesses
Ramesses was famous for his enormous family. He had eight principal wives, including the famous queen Nefertari, whose tomb (QV66) in the Valley of the Queens is one of the most beautifully decorated in Egypt. He had more than 100 children, the most of any pharaoh in Egyptian history. His son Khaemwaset was a famous priest and archaeologist who helped restore many of the older monuments. His son Merneptah succeeded him on the throne and was probably the pharaoh of the Exodus.
The Death of Ramesses
Ramesses died around 1213 BCE, at the age of about ninety, after a reign of sixty-six years. He was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, but his body was later moved to a hiding place in Deir el-Bahari, where it was discovered in 1881. The mummy is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and the famous scientific examination of the mummy in 1976 revealed that Ramesses was a red-haired man, about 1.71 meters (5 feet 7 inches) tall, with a strong jaw and a hooked nose.
The Legacy of Ramesses
Ramesses was the most famous pharaoh of his own time, and he has remained the most famous pharaoh of all time. The Greek historian Herodotus called him Ozymandias, and his ruined statue inspired the famous sonnet by Shelley. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus called him the greatest of the pharaohs, and his reign is the climax of the New Kingdom. The legendary wealth and power of the pharaohs of Egypt, as known to the modern world, is largely the legacy of Ramesses the Great.
The modern Egyptian government has restored many of Ramesses’ monuments, and the colossal statue of Ramesses in Cairo is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Egypt. The mummy of Ramesses, on display in the Egyptian Museum, is one of the most visited exhibits in the world.