Ramesses II Rules Egypt
Ramesses II, often called Ramesses the Great, became pharaoh of Egypt around 1279 BCE and ruled for about 66 years, one of the longest reigns in Egyptian history. His rule is remembered for its monumental building projects, its large-scale military campaigns, and a carefully managed royal image that made him the most celebrated pharaoh of later generations. Dates for his reign vary slightly between chronologies, and 1279 BCE is the one most commonly used.
He belonged to the Nineteenth Dynasty, founded by his grandfather Ramesses I, a military officer who came to the throne with no royal bloodline. Ramesses II's father, Seti I, restored Egyptian prestige abroad after the upheavals of the Amarna period and campaigned in Syria and Canaan. Ramesses was involved in government and warfare as a young man and inherited a wealthy, stable kingdom. Its main rival was the Hittite empire, which contested control of the Levant.
The best-known episode of his military career is the Battle of Kadesh, fought in Syria around his fifth year as king. Egyptian forces were caught off guard by Hittite chariots, and Ramesses rallied his troops to avoid disaster. Egyptian inscriptions portray the day as a personal triumph and repeated the account on several temple walls. Most historians regard the battle as inconclusive at best. Around 1259 BCE, after years of further conflict, Ramesses and the Hittite king concluded a peace treaty. It survives in both Egyptian and Hittite versions and is often cited as one of the earliest known international peace agreements.
Ramesses channeled his wealth into construction on a vast scale. He founded a new capital, Pi-Ramesses, in the Delta, expanded the temples at Karnak and Luxor, built his mortuary temple known as the Ramesseum, and completed or took over many earlier monuments. In Nubia he commissioned the temples at Abu Simbel, carved into a sandstone cliff and fronted by four colossal seated statues of himself. A smaller neighboring temple honored his chief wife, Nefertari. He is believed to have had many wives and a very large number of children, and he outlived several of his heirs.
His legacy was lasting. Later pharaohs, including several named Ramesses, sought to emulate him. In the 1960s, Abu Simbel was cut into blocks and moved to higher ground in an international rescue effort, as the rising waters behind the Aswan High Dam threatened to submerge it. His mummy, recovered in the nineteenth century, is now in Cairo. Ramesses is also frequently linked to the pharaoh of the Exodus story, though the Bible does not name him and historians remain divided over whether any such connection can be established.