Ramses II The Great
Ramses II was the third king of Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty. He ruled for just over 66 years, from about 1279 to 1213 BCE, in the thirteenth century BCE. Egypt’s rule had grown from its own southern line at the First Cataract all the way up the Nile (through Nubia) to the Fourth Cataract. It also included the Levant, which encompassed Palestine, the Mediterranean coast, and Syria.
The sun-worshiping Akhenaten lost some of his Levantine possessions. The last pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, Horemhab, chose a military partner to take over when he died because he didn’t have an heir of his own. This king, Ramses I, only ruled for sixteen months, but his stubborn son, Sethos I, fought in the Levant and put down a revolt in Nubia. Ramses II then inherited the whole Nubian kingdom and many of their holdings in the Levant.
The family had military roots and came from the eastern delta area of Avaris, which was on the main road to the Levant. People mostly remember Ramses II for his fights, his huge building projects, and his large family. Egypt and the Hittite Empire, which was based in Anatolia (now Turkey) and controlled north Syria and claimed central Syria, were at odds with each other in the Levant. These were the most well-known wars.
Ramses II had a small amount of success on his first journey in the fourth year of his reign (around 1276–1275 BCE). However, near the strategic center of Qadesh on the River Orontes, which Ramses planned to take during his second journey in year 5 (around 1275–1274 BCE), the Hittite king set a trap for him. At the famous Battle of Qadesh, the young pharaoh barely escaped.
The Pharaohs never accepted defeat or loss. Instead, they used the walls of Egypt’s great temples to create a rich literary and artistic record of their bravery. In later wars in Syria, no one really won.
In the end, both powers signed a peace pact and started working together. Ramses built big new temples and beautiful additions to old ones in important cities to honor the gods during his sixty-year rule. In addition, Ramses had almost every temple repaired in his honor.
Ramses II built a brand-new royal city in the eastern delta to compete with the old ones at Memphis (near modern-day Cairo) and Thebes (at modern-day Luxor). Along the Nile Valley between the First and Fourth Cataracts, south of Egypt, there were a number of temples built in his honor.
During his long rule, Ramses II had eight main queens. These included Nefertari, Istnofret (who was the mother of his successor), four princess queens who were his own children, and two Hittite princesses. Other consorts, only briefly described in the texts, remain unaccounted for.
He had more than 50 girls and about 50 sons. The Egyptians had a strong belief in an afterlife, which led them to spend a lot of money on very fancy graves and funeral furniture. As a result, Ramses II had his own large corridor tomb dug deep into the rock in Thebes’ Valley of the Kings. He also built a huge underground mausoleum across from his own tomb, where many of his kids were buried.
Under Ramses II, the military worked hard to keep their usual firm control over the Nubian Nile (First through Fourth Cataracts). As part of his training to be a king, Ramses put down a small revolt in northern Nubia, just south of the First Cataract.
Long afterwards, the Viceroy of Nubia, the pharaoh’s regular state ruler of these southern lands, put down other rebellions in the area. Otherwise, an enforced peace would have ensued. It was important for Egypt to rule the area for two reasons: to mine the gold that was found in the deserts in the east between the Nile and the Red Sea, and to keep an eye on the trade that went downriver from central Africa to the north.
Along the Nile, both important and minor chiefdoms (like Irem) had to pay taxes. Eventually, some of the people who lived there may have moved south, out of Egyptian control, leaving fewer people to work the fields along the river and pay taxes.
In both Egypt and Nubia, Ramses II stressed how important the gods of Egypt were and how he was their agent on earth. We can categorize the temples he constructed in Nubia into three groups.
First, the Beit el-Wali temple honors Amun, the state god of Egypt, and the Quban temple honors the local falcon god, constructed during the transition from his father’s rule to his own. You can find temples dedicated to Ramses II as the “Lord of Nubia” at Aksha, near the Second Cataract; for Amun, at Amarah West; and for Amun, between the Second and Third Cataracts and below the Fourth Cataract.
Second, there are the beautiful twin temples at Abu Simbel for the king (as Amun and Re) and Queen Nefertari (as Hathor), and at Derr, the king as the sun god Re. All of these sites are far north of Aksha. Third, two more temples were built for the king, Amun and Re. They live in Wadies-Sebua and Gerf Hussein, both in northern Nubia. This reign imprinted the concept of royal dominance on the Nubian landscape.
Also Read: The Amazing Timeline Of the Middle Kingdom Pharaohs
