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Ramesses II

Ramesses II was not born a prince, but the son of a military officer who rose from obscurity to become the first pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty. His grandfather, Ramesses I, was appointed as the successor to Horemheb, and at the age of eleven, the future Ramesses II found himself in the heart of power. When his father, Seti I, ascended the throne, he designated his son as prince regent at the age of fourteen, setting the stage for a reign that would span 66 years and 74 days, the longest recorded in Egyptian history. This early immersion into the machinery of statecraft prepared him for a life that would see him not just as a ruler, but as a living deity worshipped by his people while still alive. The boy who once stood beside his father in the shadows of the palace would eventually cast a shadow so long that it would stretch across millennia, influencing art, literature, and history long after his death.

The Warlord of the Nile

In his second year of reign, Ramesses II decisively defeated the Sherden sea pirates, a formidable force that had been wreaking havoc along Egypt's Mediterranean coast. These pirates, likely from the coast of Ionia or the island of Sardinia, were not merely raiders but skilled mercenaries who had served as auxiliaries to Libyan kings. Ramesses did not merely repel them; he lured them into a trap, ambushing them in a sea battle near the mouth of the Nile and capturing them all in a single action. The defeated Sherden were then integrated into his bodyguard, wearing their distinctive horned helmets and wielding great Naue II swords, a testament to their martial prowess. This victory was just the beginning of a military career that would see him conduct no fewer than 15 campaigns, all resulting in victories, with the notable exception of the Battle of Kadesh, which is generally considered a stalemate. His army, estimated to have totaled some 100,000 men, was a formidable force that he used to strengthen Egyptian influence across the Levant and Nubia.

The Battle That Wasn't

On the 1st of May 1274 BC, Ramesses II arrived at Kadesh, only to find his troops caught in a Hittite ambush. The Hittite chariotry smashed through the second division of his forces, and his camp was attacked. Receiving reinforcements from other Egyptian divisions, the Egyptians counterattacked and routed the Hittites, whose survivors abandoned their chariots and swam the Orontes River to reach the safe city walls. Although left in possession of the battlefield, Ramesses, logistically unable to sustain a long siege, returned to Egypt. The Battle of Kadesh, often dominating the scholarly view of his military prowess, was technically a victory for Ramesses, but the Hittites were the ultimate victors as far as the overall campaign was concerned, since the Egyptians retreated after the battle, and Hittite forces invaded and briefly occupied the Egyptian possessions in the region of Damascus. This stalemate would eventually lead to the first recorded peace treaty in history, the Treaty of Kadesh, concluded in the 21st year of his reign, which settled the disputes over Canaan and marked a turning point in the relationship between Egypt and the Hittite Empire.

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The Architect of Eternity

In the third year of his reign, Ramesses II began the most ambitious building project after the pyramids, which were built almost 1,500 years earlier. He built extensively from the Delta to Nubia, covering the land with buildings in a way no monarch before him had. His new capital, Pi-Ramesses, was dominated by huge temples and his vast residential palace, complete with its own zoo. The temple complex of Abu Simbel, discovered in 1813 by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, was an ego cast into stone, intended to make him not only Egypt's greatest pharaoh but also one of its deities. The Ramesseum, a mortuary temple in western Thebes, was another of his biggest works, featuring an enormous pylon and a hypostyle hall with 39 out of 48 columns still standing. Ramesses insisted that his carvings be deeply engraved into the stone, making them less susceptible to later alteration and more prominent in the Egyptian sun, reflecting his relationship with the sun deity, Ra. His cartouches were prominently displayed even in buildings that he did not construct, ensuring his legacy would endure for eternity.

The King Who Outlived His Children

By the time of his death, aged about 90 years, Ramesses II was suffering from severe dental problems, arthritis, hardening of the arteries, and heart disease. He had made Egypt rich from all the supplies and bounty he had collected from other empires, outliving many of his wives and children and leaving great memorials all over Egypt. Nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses in his honor. His mummy, discovered in 1881 in TT320 inside a reused but ordinary wooden coffin, reveals an aquiline nose and strong jaw, with slightly wavy, red hair that was natural, suggesting he came from a family of redheads. In ancient Egypt, people with red hair were associated with the deity Set, the slayer of Osiris, and thus the enemy of Horus. Ramesses had familiar connections to Set; the name of his father, Seti I, means 'follower of Set,' and Seti's father, Ramesses I, had served as the High Priest of Set under Amenhotep III. His mummy was eventually moved to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo, where it remains on display today.

The Queen and the Sons

The tomb of Nefertari, the most important consort of Ramesses, was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1904. Although it had been looted in ancient times, the tomb's magnificent wall-painting decoration is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of ancient Egyptian art. The astronomical ceiling represents the heavens and is painted in dark blue, with a myriad of golden five-pointed stars. The burial-chamber, known as the Golden Hall, is where the regeneration of the deceased took place, with paintings drawing inspiration from chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of the Dead. In 1995, Professor Kent Weeks rediscovered Tomb KV5, the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which originally contained the mummified remains of some of Ramesses's estimated 52 sons. Approximately 150 corridors and tomb chambers have been located in this tomb as of 2006, and the tomb may contain as many as 200 corridors and chambers. At least four of Ramesses's sons, including Meryatum, Sety, Amun-her-khepeshef, and the King's Principal Son of His Body, the Generalissimo Ramesses, were buried there from inscriptions, ostraca, or canopic jars discovered in the tomb.
Ramesses II was not born a prince, but the son of a military officer who rose from obscurity to become the first pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty. His grandfather, Ramesses I, was appointed as the successor to Horemheb, and at the age of eleven, the future Ramesses II found himself in the heart of power. When his father, Seti I, ascended the throne, he designated his son as prince regent at the age of fourteen, setting the stage for a reign that would span 66 years and 74 days, the longest recorded in Egyptian history. This early immersion into the machinery of statecraft prepared him for a life that would see him not just as a ruler, but as a living deity worshipped by his people while still alive. The boy who once stood beside his father in the shadows of the palace would eventually cast a shadow so long that it would stretch across millennia, influencing art, literature, and history long after his death.

The Warlord of the Nile

In his second year of reign, Ramesses II decisively defeated the Sherden sea pirates, a formidable force that had been wreaking havoc along Egypt's Mediterranean coast. These pirates, likely from the coast of Ionia or the island of Sardinia, were not merely raiders but skilled mercenaries who had served as auxiliaries to Libyan kings. Ramesses did not merely repel them; he lured them into a trap, ambushing them in a sea battle near the mouth of the Nile and capturing them all in a single action. The defeated Sherden were then integrated into his bodyguard, wearing their distinctive horned helmets and wielding great Naue II swords, a testament to their martial prowess. This victory was just the beginning of a military career that would see him conduct no fewer than 15 campaigns, all resulting in victories, with the notable exception of the Battle of Kadesh, which is generally considered a stalemate. His army, estimated to have totaled some 100,000 men, was a formidable force that he used to strengthen Egyptian influence across the Levant and Nubia.

The Battle That Wasn't

On the 1st of May 1274 BC, Ramesses II arrived at Kadesh, only to find his troops caught in a Hittite ambush. The Hittite chariotry smashed through the second division of his forces, and his camp was attacked. Receiving reinforcements from other Egyptian divisions, the Egyptians counterattacked and routed the Hittites, whose survivors abandoned their chariots and swam the Orontes River to reach the safe city walls. Although left in possession of the battlefield, Ramesses, logistically unable to sustain a long siege, returned to Egypt. The Battle of Kadesh, often dominating the scholarly view of his military prowess, was technically a victory for Ramesses, but the Hittites were the ultimate victors as far as the overall campaign was concerned, since the Egyptians retreated after the battle, and Hittite forces invaded and briefly occupied the Egyptian possessions in the region of Damascus. This stalemate would eventually lead to the first recorded peace treaty in history, the Treaty of Kadesh, concluded in the 21st year of his reign, which settled the disputes over Canaan and marked a turning point in the relationship between Egypt and the Hittite Empire.

The Architect of Eternity

In the third year of his reign, Ramesses II began the most ambitious building project after the pyramids, which were built almost 1,500 years earlier. He built extensively from the Delta to Nubia, covering the land with buildings in a way no monarch before him had. His new capital, Pi-Ramesses, was dominated by huge temples and his vast residential palace, complete with its own zoo. The temple complex of Abu Simbel, discovered in 1813 by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, was an ego cast into stone, intended to make him not only Egypt's greatest pharaoh but also one of its deities. The Ramesseum, a mortuary temple in western Thebes, was another of his biggest works, featuring an enormous pylon and a hypostyle hall with 39 out of 48 columns still standing. Ramesses insisted that his carvings be deeply engraved into the stone, making them less susceptible to later alteration and more prominent in the Egyptian sun, reflecting his relationship with the sun deity, Ra. His cartouches were prominently displayed even in buildings that he did not construct, ensuring his legacy would endure for eternity.

The King Who Outlived His Children

By the time of his death, aged about 90 years, Ramesses II was suffering from severe dental problems, arthritis, hardening of the arteries, and heart disease. He had made Egypt rich from all the supplies and bounty he had collected from other empires, outliving many of his wives and children and leaving great memorials all over Egypt. Nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses in his honor. His mummy, discovered in 1881 in TT320 inside a reused but ordinary wooden coffin, reveals an aquiline nose and strong jaw, with slightly wavy, red hair that was natural, suggesting he came from a family of redheads. In ancient Egypt, people with red hair were associated with the deity Set, the slayer of Osiris, and thus the enemy of Horus. Ramesses had familiar connections to Set; the name of his father, Seti I, means 'follower of Set,' and Seti's father, Ramesses I, had served as the High Priest of Set under Amenhotep III. His mummy was eventually moved to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo, where it remains on display today.

The Queen and the Sons

The tomb of Nefertari, the most important consort of Ramesses, was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1904. Although it had been looted in ancient times, the tomb's magnificent wall-painting decoration is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of ancient Egyptian art. The astronomical ceiling represents the heavens and is painted in dark blue, with a myriad of golden five-pointed stars. The burial-chamber, known as the Golden Hall, is where the regeneration of the deceased took place, with paintings drawing inspiration from chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of the Dead. In 1995, Professor Kent Weeks rediscovered Tomb KV5, the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings, which originally contained the mummified remains of some of Ramesses's estimated 52 sons. Approximately 150 corridors and tomb chambers have been located in this tomb as of 2006, and the tomb may contain as many as 200 corridors and chambers. At least four of Ramesses's sons, including Meryatum, Sety, Amun-her-khepeshef, and the King's Principal Son of His Body, the Generalissimo Ramesses, were buried there from inscriptions, ostraca, or canopic jars discovered in the tomb.