Ramses II
Throughout most of its history, ancient Egypt was ruled by kings. People started to call the kings pharaohs sometime between 1554 and 1304 B.C. "Pharaoh" means "big house" in Egyptian. People thought that each pharaoh was Horus, god of the Sky, in human form. This is one reason why the people of Egypt respected the pharaohs.
There have been many great pharaohs in the land of Egypt. One pharaoh that stands out above the rest is Ramses II. Ramses II was pharaoh from 1290 to 1224 B.C. He was the son of Seti, who Ramses ruled with for a few years. Ramses ruled for sixty-six years and two months. Pepi II is the only other pharaoh who ruled longer than that, for ninety-four years. Most of Ramses" fame is because of the battle at Kadesh and for being a great warrior. Ramses II, like all pharaohs, had to have five different names. He was also "Horus," "The One Of Two Gods," "Golden Horus," "The One Of The Reed," and "Son of Ra." Ramses wore a lot of fancy clothes. He wore many golden, jeweled necklaces, bracelets and crowns. One interesting thing is that he had a false beard. The pharaohs wore straight beards because the gods supposedly had beards like that. Ramses held two decorative staffs- a Heka and Nekhaka scepter. The Heka resembles a shepherd"s crook. The Nekhaka looks like a tool the ancient Egyptians use to beat grain.
Battle at Kadesh
The Hittites were a powerful enemy of Ramses II and Egypt. Hattusil III was the king of Hittites. In 1286 B.C. Ramses tried to end Hittite control of Syria. He had heard that the Hittites were going to attack Amurru (located between Egypt & Hittites land in Naharina.) Ramses II wanted Syria for himself, so in 1274 B.C. he assembled four armies of 5,00 men each, and hundreds of chariots. His armies attacked the Hittites in the city of Kadesh. Although the Hittites were forced to retreat on the first day of battle, Ramses went a little overboard the next day. When his army tried to attack the second time, the Hittites forced the Egyptians to retreat, leaving Syria in Hittite control. But Ramses was not one to record his failures, so he tried to forget losing after the first day"s victory.In 1269 Ramses engraved on stone a peace treaty with the Hittite king. It basically said that Ramses got half of Syria, and so did the Hittites. It also said that they would respect each other and help each other in times of war. Later, in keeping with the peace agreement, Ramses married a Hittite king"s daughter.
Children
Ramses had about 110 children. He had at least half boys and half girls. Most of Ramses" wives are unknown. We do know that some of the children"s mothers were Ramses" maids. Three of Ramses" daughters became his wives. Their names were Bit Anoth, Meryamum, and Nebettawy. Ramses" thirteenth son became the king when Ramses died.
Buildings for Ramses
Ramses built the new capital in the Nile Delta. He completed the Great Hall of the Temple of Amon Re at Karnak. This was Egypt"s largest temple, with over 130 columns about eighty feet high. He also built the Abu Simbel temple near the Nile. It has four huge statues of Ramses on the front and one of them has lost its head and shoulders, which are at his feet. They once had to move Abu Simbel"s location because of the flooding of the Nile. Egypt is the only country that has 2 of the 7 wonders of the ancient world: the Pyramids of Giza and the Lighthouse of Alexandra. Although Ramses did not make these, they inspired him to make big buildings like them. Ramses also took credit for many buildings his ancestors had built.
Jews in Egypt
The Jews were once captured by the Egyptians and used as slaves. Who was the pharaoh during this time? It does not say in the Torah (Jewish Bible) and it is not recorded in Egyptian history who it was. Some historians say it could have been Ramses. The makers of the movie "The Ten Commandments", which tells the story of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, are so sure the pharaoh was Ramses that they name the pharaoh in the film Ramses. Ramses did not record any of this, but he hated to record his failures so this doesn"t disprove the theory.
Ramses" Faithful Subjects
Ramses had many workers (and slaves.) There were Brick Makers who made and carried bricks to a building site. The artists made things for Ramses and statues for temples. Painters painted furniture and painted other objects the artists made. There were carpenters who made boats and furniture. The leather tanner cleaned leather and made clothes. The smiths melted gold to make jewelry. Ramses probably liked the smiths best.
After Death: Still Goin"
Ramses" mummified body was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb was looted many times over the years, and his body was found by archeologists in 1881 in the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. The treasures of his tomb were first exhibited in a museum in Cairo. In 1976 an exhibit was dedicated to Ramses in another museum. They wanted Ramses himself in this exhibit, but he had been in many different museums and had started to decay. He was brought to France to have some "special treatment," to preserve his mortal remains.
Conclusion
Ramses was considered one of the great pharaohs of Egypt. He ruled for many years and the buildings that he constructed are still a great attraction in Egypt. He protected his country"s borders and got half of Syria for Egypt. Even though he accomplished many great things for Egypt, I think Ramses was dishonest and was cruel to some people. He took credit for good things he did not do (like buildings or winning battles), and didn"t take credit for some bad things he probably did do (like enslaving the Jews).Bibliography
Hart, Gearge. Eyewitness Books Ancient Egypt New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf,199O.
Lesko, Leonard. "Ancient Egypt." The World Book Encyclapedia.
Tisno, Oliver Ramses II And Egypt. New York, NY: Henry Holt Company, 1996 1