Ramesses II

Ramesses II
Ramesses II
Ramesses the Great ; alternatively transcribed as Ramses and Rameses
	Ramesses II: one of four external seated statues at Abu Simbel.
Pharaoh
Reign	67 years; 1279 BC to 1213 BC
Predecessor	Seti I
Successor	Merneptah
Horus name
Horus name
	Kanakht Merymaa
	Kanakht Merymaa
Nebty name
	Mekkemetwafkhasut
	Mekkemetwafkhasut
Golden Horus
	Userrenput-aanehktu
	Userrenput-aanehktu
Nomen
Consort	Isetnofret, Nefertari; Maathorneferure
Father	Seti I
Mother	Queen Tuya
Born	1303 BC
Died	1213 BC
Burial	KV7
Monuments	Abu Simbel, Ramesseum, ; Luxor,etc.
Dynasty	19th Dynasty

Ramesses II (also known as Ramesses the Great and alternatively transcribed as Ramses and Rameses *Riʕmīsisu) was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often regarded as Egypt's greatest and most powerful pharaoh.^[1] He was born c. 1303 BC, the exact date being unknown (it has been said that he was born on February 22; this is disputed, but in Egypt, many official sources mention this date as Ramesses' birthday). At age fourteen, Ramesses was appointed Prince Regent by his father Seti I.^[2] He is believed to have taken the throne in his early 20s and to have ruled Egypt from 1279 BC to 1213 BC^[3] for a total of 66 years and 2 months, according to Manetho. He was once said to have lived to be 99 years old, but it is more likely that he died in his 90th or 91st year. Ancient Greek writers such as Herodotus attributed his accomplishments to the semi-mythical Sesostris, and he is traditionally believed to have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus due to a tradition started by Eusebius of Caesarea. If he became king in 1279 BC as most Egyptologists today believe, he would have assumed the throne on May 31, 1279 BC based on his known accession date of III Shemu day 27.^[4]^[5] Ramesses II would celebrate an unprecedented total of 14 Sed festivals during his reign--more than any other pharaoh.^[6]

Life

Tablet of treaty between Hattusili III of Hatti and Ramesses II of Egypt, at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

Ramesses II was the third king of the 19th dynasty, and the second child of Seti I and his Queen Tuya. ^[7] His only known sibling was Princess Tia, though in the case of Henutmire, one of his Great Royal Wives, she was the younger sister of Ramesses.

The most memorable of Ramesses' wives was Nefertari. During his long reign, eight women held the title Great Royal Wife (often simultaneously): Nefertari and Isetnofret, whom he married early in his reign; Bintanath, Meritamen and Nebettawy, his own daughters who replaced their mothers Nefertari and Isetnofret when they died or retired; Henutmire; Maathorneferure, Princess of Hatti; another Hittite princess whose name did not survive.^[8]

The writer Terence Gray stated in 1923 that Ramesses II had as many as 20 sons and 20 daughters but scholars today believe his offspring numbered over a hundred in total. In 2004, Dodson and Hilton noted that the monumental evidence "seems to indicate that Ramesses II had around 110 children--[with] 48-50 sons and 40-53 daughters."^[9] His children include Bintanath and Meritamen (princesses and their father's wives), Sethnakhte, Amun-her-khepeshef the king's first born son, Merneptah (who would eventually succeed him as Ramesses' 13th son), and Prince Khaemweset. Ramesses II's second born son, Ramesses B--sometimes called Ramesses Junior--became the crown prince from Year 25 to Year 50 of his father's reign after the death of Amen-her-khepesh.^[10]

In his second year, Ramesses II decisively defeated the Shardana or Sherden sea pirates who were wreaking havoc along Egypt's Mediterranean coast by attacking cargo-ladden vessels travelling the sea routes to Egypt.^[11] The Sherden people came from the coast of Ionia or south-west Turkey, more likely Ionia. Ramesses posted troops and ships at strategic points along the coast and patiently allowed the pirates to attack their prey before skillfully catching them by surprise in a sea battle and capturing them all in one fell swoop.^[12] Ramesses would soon incorporate these skilled mercenaries into his army where they were to play a pivotal role at the battle of Kadesh. As king, Ramesses II led several expeditions north into the lands east of the Mediterranean (the location of the modern Israel, Lebanon and Syria).

Ramesses the Great accomplished many things in his life. His main focus before the Battle of Kadesh was building temples, monuments and cities. He built the city of Per-Ramesses in the nile delta as his new capital and main base for the Hittite war. This city was built on the remains of the city of Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos when they took over. This is also where the Temple of Set was located. This was a very significant place for Ramesses because this is where he supposedly harnesed the power of Set, Horus, Re, Amun, and his father Seti.

Wars of Ramesses the Great

Battle of Kadesh

Ramses could not afford to lose this war. So, to assure that he wouldn't, he made a kind of draft that asked the men of Egypt to fight for their country. He also built his new capital, Per-Ramesses. Here he built factories to manufacture weapons, chariots, and shields. Of course, they followed his wishes and manufactured some 1,000 weapons in a week, about 250 chariots in 2 weeks, and 1,000 shields in a week and a half. After these preparations, Ramesses decided to attack territory in the Levant which belonged to a more substantial enemy: the Hittite Empire. At the Second Battle of Kadesh in May 1274 BC towards the end of the Fourth year of his reign, Egyptian forces under his leadership marched through the coastal road through Canaan and south Syria through the Bekaa Valley and approached Kadesh from the south.^[13] Ramesses planned to seize the citadel of Kadesh which belonged to king Muwatallis of the Hittite Empire. The battle almost turned into a disaster as Ramesses was initially tricked by two Bedouin spies in the pay of the Hittites to believe that Muwatallis and his massive army were still 120 miles north of Kadesh. Ramesses II only learned of the true nature of his dire predicament when a subsequent pair of Hittite spies were captured, beaten and forced to reveal the truth before him:

When they had been brought before Pharaoh, His Majesty asked, 'Who are you?' They replied 'We belong to the king of Hatti. He has sent us to spy on you.' Then His Majesty said to them, 'Where is he, the enemy from Hatti? I had heard that he was in the land of Khaleb, north of Tunip.' They replied to His Majesty, 'Lo, the king of Hatti has already arrived, together with the many countries who are supporting him... They are armed with their infantry and their chariots. They have their weapons of war at the ready. They are more numerous than the grains of sand on the beach. Behold, they stand equipped and ready for battle behind the old city of Kadesh.'^[14]

Ramesses had fallen into a well-laid trap by Muwatallis whose thousands of infantry and chariotry were hidden well behind the eastern bank of the Orontes river under the command of the king's brother, Hattusili III. The Egyptian army itself had been divided into four main forces, the Re, Amun, Set and Ptah brigades. Ramses was leading the Set division. They, along with the Ptah division, were separated from the rest of the army by forests and the far side of the Orontes river.^[15] The Re brigade was almost totally destroyed by the surprise initial Hittite chariot attack and Ramesses II had barely enough time to rally his own Set division and secure reinforcements from the Amun division (who were just arriving upon the scene of battle) to turn the tide of battle against the Hittites.

While Ramesses II had in theory 'won' the battle, Muwatallis had effectively won the war since the pharaoh could not secure victory due to his battlefield losses. Ramesses was compelled to retreat south with the Hittite commander Hattusili III relentlessly harrying the Egyptian forces through the Bekaa Valley; the Egyptian province of Upi was also captured according to the Hittite records at Boghazkoy.^[16]

Aftermath

Egypt's sphere of influence was now restricted to Canaan while Syria fell into Hittite hands. Over the ensuing years, Ramesses II would return to campaign against the Hittites and even achieved several spectacular victories (at a time of Hittite weakness due to a dispute over Muwatallis' succession) to briefly capture the cities of Tunip, where no Egyptian soldier had been seen since the time of Thutmose III almost 120 years previously and even Kadesh in his 8th and 9th Years.^[17] However, neither power could decisively defeat the other in battle. Consequently, in the twenty-first year of his reign (1258 BC), Ramses decided to conclude an agreement with the new Hittite king at Kadesh, Hattusili III, to end the conflict. The ensuing document is the earliest known peace treaty in world history.

Ramesses II also campaigned south of the first cataract into Nubia.

Min Festival

This ancient festival, dating back to pre-dynastic Egypt,^[18] was still very popular during Ramesses II's time. It was connected with the worship of the king and was carried out in the last month of the summer.^[19] The festival was carried out by the king himself, followed by his wife, royal family, and the court.^[19] When the king entered the sanctuary of the god Min, he brought offerings and burning incense.^[19] Then, the standing god was carried out of the temple on a shield carried by 22 priests.^[19] In front of the statue of the god there were also two small seated statues of the pharaoh. In front of the god Min there was a large ceremonial procession that included dancers and priests. In front of them was a king with a white bull that was wearing a solar disc between its horns.^[19] When the god arrived at the end of the procession, he is given sacrificial offerings from the pharaoh. At the end of the festival, the pharaoh was given a bundle of cereal that symbolised fertility.^[19]

Building activity and monuments

In contrast to the buildings of other pharaohs, many of the monuments from the reign of Ramesses II are well preserved. There are accounts of his glory hewn on stone, statues, remains of palaces and temples, most notable the Ramesseum in the western Thebes and the rock temples of Abu Simbel. He covered the land from the Delta to Nubia with buildings in a way no king before him had done.^[20] He also founded a new capital city in the Delta during his reign called Pi-Ramesses; it had previously served as a summer palace during Seti I's reign.

He constructed many impressive monuments, including the renowned archeological complex of Abu Simbel, and the mortuary temple known as the Ramesseum. It is said that there are more statues of him in existence than of any other Egyptian pharaoh, not surprising as he was the second-longest reigning Pharaoh of Egypt after Pepi II. Rameses may have used art as a means of propaganda and his victories over foreigners are depicted on numerous temple reliefs while he had more colossal statues than any other pharaoh. He also usurped many existing statues by inscribing his own cartouche on them. Many of these building projects date from his early years and it appears that there was considerable economic decline towards the end of his long 66-year reign. The colossal statue of Ramesses II was reconstructed and erected on Ramses Square in Cairo in 1955. In August 2006, contractors moved the 3,200-year-old statue of him from Ramesses Square to save it from exhaust fumes that were causing the 83-ton statue to deteriorate.^[21] The statue was originally taken from a temple in Memphis. The new site will be located near the future Grand Egyptian Museum.

Ramesseum

Ever since the 19th century, the temple complex known as the Ramesseum, which was built by Ramesses II between Qurna and the desert, has been known by this name. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus marveled at his gigantic and famous temple which is now no more than a few ruins.

Oriented northwest and southeast, the temple itself was preceded by two courts. An enormous pylon stood before the first court, with the royal palace at the left and the gigantic statue of the king looming up at the back.^[19] Only fragments of the base and torso remain of the syenite statue of the enthroned pharaoh, 17 meters high and weighing more than 1000 tons. The scenes of the great pharaoh and his army triumphing over the Hittite forces fleeing before Kadesh, represented in line with the canons of the "epic poem of Pentaur", can still be made out of the pylon.^[19] Remains of the second court include part of the internal facade of the pylon and a portion of the Osiride portico on the right.^[19] Scenes of war and the rout the Hittites at Kadesh are repeated on the walls.^[19] In the upper registers, feast and honor of the phallic god Min, god of fertility.^[19]On the opposite side of the court the few Osiride pillars and columns still left can furnish an idea of the original grandeur.^[19]

Scattered remains of the two statues of the seated king can also be seen, one in pink granite and the other in black granite, which once flanked the entrance to the temple.^[19] Thirty-nine out of the forty-eight columns in the great hypostyle hall (m 41x 31) still stand in the central rows. They are decorated with the usual scenes of the king before various gods. Part of the ceiling decorated with gold stars on a blue ground has also been preserved.^[19] The sons and daughters of Ramesses appear in the procession on the few walls left. The sanctuary was composed of three consecutive rooms, with eight columns and the tetrastyle cell.^[19] Part of the first room, with the ceiling decorated with astral scenes, and few remains of the second room are all that is left. Vast storerooms built in mud bricks stretched out around the temple.^[19] Traces of a school for scribes were found among the ruins.

A temple of Seti I, of which nothing is now left but the foundations, once stood to the right of the hypostyle hall. It consisted of a peristyle court with two chapel shrines. The entire complex was enclosed in mud brick walls which started at the gigantic southeast pylon.

Abu Simbel

The great temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel was discovered in 1813 by the famous Swiss Orientalist and traveler Ludwig Burckhardt. However, four years passed before anyone could enter the temple, because an enormous pile of sand almost completely covered the facade and its colossal statues, blocking the entranceway. This feat was achieved by the great Paduan explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni, who managed to penetrate the interior on 4 August 1817.^[22]

The Great Temple at Abu Simbel, which took about twenty years to build was completed around year 24 of the reign of Ramesses the Great (which corresponds to 1265 BC). It was dedicated to the gods Amun Ra, Ra Harakhti, and Ptah, as well as to the deified Ramesses himself.^[22]

Four colossal 20 meter statues of the pharaoh with the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt decorate the facade of the temple which is 35 meters wide and is topped by a frieze.^[19] This latter is crowned by a bas-relief representing two images of the king worshiping Ra Harakhti, whose statue stands in a large niche.^[22] This god is holding the hieroglyph user in his right hand and a feather while Ma'at (the goddess of truth and justice) is on his left; this is nothing less than a gigantic cryptogram for Ramesses II's throne name, User-Maat-Re.

Next to the legs of the colossi, there are other statues no higher than the knees of the pharaoh.^[22] These depict Nefertari, Ramesses's chief wife and queen mother Mut-Tuy, princes Amun-her-khepeshef, Ramesses, and the princesses Bintanath, Nebettawy and Meritamen.

The temple is complex in structure and quite unusual because of its many side chambers. The hypostyle hall (sometimes also called pronaos) is 18 meters long and 16,7 meters wide and is supported by eight huge Osirid pillars depicting the deified Ramesses linked to the god Osiris, the god of the Underworld, to indicate the everlasting nature of the pharaoh. The colossal statues along the left-hand wall bear the white crown of Upper Egypt, while those on the opposite side are wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt(pschent).^[22] The bas-reliefs on the walls of the pronaos depict battle scenes in the military campaigns the ruler waged. Much of the sculpture is given to the Battle of Kadesh, on the Orontes river in present-day Syria, in which the Egyptian king fought against the Hittites.^[19] The most famous relief shows the king on his chariot shooting arrows against his fleeing enemies, who are being taken prisoner.^[19] From the hypostyle hall, one enters the second pillared hall, which has four pillars decorated with beautiful scenes of offerings to the gods. This hall gives access to a transverse vestibule in the middle of which is the entrance to the sanctuary. Here, on a black wall, are rock cut sculptures of four seated figures: Ra Harakhti, the deified king Rameses, and the gods Amun Ra and Ptah. Ra Harakhti, Amun Ra and Ptah were the main divinities in that period and their cult centers were at Heliopolis, Thebes and Memphis respectively.^[22]

The axis of the temple was positioned by the ancient Egyptian architects in such a way that twice a year on October 20 and February 20, the rays of the sun would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the sculpture on the back wall, except for the statue of Ptah, the god connected with the Underworld, who always remained in the dark.^[22]^[19] It is quite logical to assume that these dates had some relation to a great event, such as the jubilee celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the pharaoh's rule. In fact, according to calculations made on the basis of the heliacal rising of the star Sirius (Sothis) and inscriptions found by archaeologists, this date must have been October 22. This image of the king was enhanced and revitalized by the energy of the solar star, and the deified Ramesses Great could take his place next to Amun Ra and Ra Harakhti.^[22]

The temple of Hathor and Nefertari, also known as the Small Temple, was built about one hundred meters northeast of the temple of Ramesses II and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari. This was in fact the first time in ancient Egyptian history that a temple was dedicated to a queen.^[22] The rock-cut facade is decorated with two groups of colossi that are separated by the large gateway. The statues, slightly more than ten meters high, are of the king and his queen. On the other side of the portal are two statues of the king, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt (south colossus) and the double crown (north colossus); these are flanked by statues of the queen and the king. What is truly surprising is that for the only time in Egyptian art, the statues of the king and his consort are equal in size.^[22] Traditionally, the statues of the queens stood next to those of the pharaoh, but were never taller than his knees. This exception to such a long standing rule bears witness to the special importance attached to Nefertari by Ramesses, who went to Abu Simbel with his beloved wife in the 24th year of his reign. As the Great temple of the king, there are small statues of princes and princesses next to their parents. In this case they are positioned symmetrically: on the south side (at left as you face the gateway) are, from left to right, princes Meryatum and Meryre, princesses Merytamun and Henttawi, and princes Rahirwenemef and Amun-her-khepeshef, while on the north side the same figures are in reverse order. The plan of the Small Temple is a simplified version of that of the Great Temple.

The gods Set (left) and Horus (right) adoring Ramesses in the small temple at Abu Simbel

As the larger temple dedicated to the king, the hypostyle hall or pronaos is supported by six pillars; in this case, however, they are not Osirid pillars depicting the king, but are decorated with scenes with the queen playing the sinistrum (an instrument sacred to the goddess Hathor), together with the gods Horus, Khnum, Khonsu, and Thoth, and the goddesses Hathor, Isis, Maat, Mut of Asher, Satis and Taweret; in one scene Ramesses is presenting flowers or burning incense.^[22] The capitals of the pillars bear the face of the goddess Hathor; this type of column is known as Hathoric. The bas-reliefs in the pillared hall illustrate the deification of the king, the destruction of his enemies in the north and south (in this scene the king is accompanied by his wife), and the queen making offerings to the goddess Hathor and Mut.^[19] The hypostyle hall is followed by a vestibule, access to which is given by three large doors. On the south and the north walls of this chamber there are two graceful and poetic bes-reliefs of the king and his consort presenting papyrus plants to Hathor, who is depicted as a cow on a boat sailing in a thicket of papyri. On the west wall, Ramesses II and Nefertari are depicted making offerings to god Horus and the divinities of the Cataracts - Satis, Anubis and Khnum.

The rock cut sanctuary and the two side chambers are connected to the transverse vestibule and are aligned with the axis of the temple. The bas-reliefs on the side walls of the small sanctuary represent scenes of offerings to various gods made either by the pharaoh or the queen.^[22] On the back wall, which lies to the west along the axis of the temple, there is a niche in which Hathor, as a divine cow, seems to be coming out of the mountain: the goddess is depicted as the Mistress of the temple dedicated to her and to queen Nefertari, who is intimately linked to the goddess.^[22] Each temple has its own priest that represents the king in daily religious ceremonies. In theory, the Pharaoh should be the only celebrant in daily religious ceremonies performed in different temples throughout Egypt. In reality, the high priest also played that role. To reach that position, an extensive education in art and science was necessary, like the one pharaoh had. Reading, writing, engineering, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, space measurement, time calculations, were all part of this learning. The priests of Heliopolis, for example, became guardians of sacred knowledge and earned the reputation of wise men.

Tomb of Nefertari

The tomb of Nefertari, the most important and famous consort of Ramesses was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1904.^[22]^[19] Although it had been looted in ancient times, the tomb of Nefertari is extremely important, because its magnificent wall painting decoration is surely to be regarded as one of the greatest achievements of ancient Egyptian art.^[22] A flight of steps cut out of the rock gives access to the antechamber, which is decorated with paintings based on Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead.^[22] This astronomical ceiling represents the heavens and is painted in dark blue, with a myriad of golden five-pointed stars. The east wall of the antechamber is interrupted by a large opening flanked by representation of Osiris at left and Anubis at right; this in turn leads to the side chamber, decorated with offering scenes, preceded by a vestibule in which the paintings portray Nefertari being presented to the gods who welcome her. On the north wall of the antechamber is the stairway that goes down to the burial chamber.^[22] This latter is a vast quadrengular room covering a surface area about 90 square meters, the astronomical ceiling of which is supported by four pillars entirely covered with decoration. Originally, the queen's red granite sarcophagus lay in the middle of this chamber.^[22] According to religious doctrines of the time, it was in this chamber, which the ancient Egyptians called the "golden hall" that the regeneration of the deceased took place. This decorative pictogram of the walls in the burial chamber drew inspirations from chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of the Dead: in the left half of the chamber, there are passages from chapter 144 concerning the gates and doors of the kingdom of Osiris, their guardians, and the magic formulas that had to be uttered by the deceased in order to go past the doors.^[22]

Mummy

Ramesses II was buried in the Valley of the Kings on the western bank of Thebes in egypt, in KV7, but his mummy was later moved to the mummy cache at Deir el-Bahri, where it was found in 1881. In 1885, it was placed in Cairo's Egyptian Museum where it remains as of 2007.

The pharaoh's mummy features a hooked nose and strong jaw, and is of above average height for an ancient Egyptian, standing some five feet, seven inches.^[23] His successor was ultimately to be his thirteenth son: Merneptah.

In 1974, Cairo Museum Egyptologists noticed that the mummy's condition was rapidly deteriorating. They decided to fly Rameses II's mummy to Paris for examination. Ramesses II was issued an Egyptian passport that listed his occupation as "King (deceased)." According to a Discovery Channel documentary, the mummy was received at a Paris airport with the full military honours befitting a king.

A remarkable incident took place in the early 20th century regarding Ramesses' mummy, when a temperature change caused the tendons in the arm of the mummy to contract, resulting on a sudden movement of the arm, and causing obvious panic among the present. This story is often cited by those who believe in the "mummy's curse".^{[citation needed]} According to some versions, some people even threw themselves from the museum's windows trying to "escape" from the "resurrected" mummy.^{[citation needed]}

In Paris, Ramesses' mummy was diagnosed and treated for a fungal infection. During the examination, scientific analysis revealed battle wounds and old fractures, as well as the pharaoh's arthritis and poor circulation.

File:Sadat-Ramesses.jpg

President Sadat visiting Ramesses II's mummy.

For the last decades of his life, Ramesses II was essentially crippled with arthritis and walked with a hunched back,^[24] and a recent study excluded ankylosing spondylitis as a possible cause of the pharaoh's arthritis.^[25] A significant hole in the pharaoh's mandible was detected while "an abscess by his teeth was serious enough to have caused death by infection, although this cannot be determined with certainty."^[26] Microscopic inspection of the roots of Ramesses II's hair revealed that the king may have been a redhead.^[27] After Ramesses' mummy returned to Egypt, it was visited by the late President Anwar Sadat and his wife.

The results of the study were edited by L. Balout, C. Roubet and C. Desroches-Noblecourt, and was titled 'La Momie de Ramsès II: Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (1985).' Balout and Roubet concluded that the "the anthropological study and the microscopic analysis" of the pharaoh's hair showed that Ramses II was "a fair-skinned man related to the Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterranean peoples, or briefly, of the Berber of Africa."

Tomb KV5

In 1995, Professor Kent Weeks, head of the Theban Mapping Project rediscovered Tomb KV5. It has proven to be the largest tomb in the Valley of the Kings which originally contained the mummified remains of some of this king'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.^[28] It is believed that at least 4 of Ramesses' sons including Meryatum, Sety, Amun-her-khepeshef (Ramesses' first born son) and "the King's Principal Son of His Body, the Generalissimo Ramesses, justified" (ie: deceased) were buried there from inscriptions, ostracas or canopic jars discovered in the tomb.^[29] Joyce Tyldesley writes that thus far

"no intact burials have been discovered and there have been little substantial funeral debris: thousands of potsherds, faience shabti figures, beads, amulets, fragments of Canopic jars, of wooden coffins...but no intact sarcophagi, mummies or mummy cases, suggesting that much of the tomb may have been unused. Those burials which were made in KV5 were thoroughly looted in antiquity, leaving little or no remains."^[30]

Pharaoh of Exodus

At least as early as Eusebius of Caesarea ^{[citation needed]}, Ramesses II was identified with the pharaoh of whom the Biblical figure Moses demanded his people be released from slavery.

This identification has often been disputed, though the evidence for another solution is likewise inconclusive:

Critics point out that Ramesses II was not drowned in the Sea. Although the Exodus account makes no specific claim that the pharaoh was with his army when they were "swept ... into the sea,"^[31] the account in Psalm 136 does claim both Pharaoh and his army were destroyed at the sea.^[32]

Critics of the theory also emphasize that there is nothing in the archaeological records from the time of Ramesses' reign to confirm the existence of the Plagues of Egypt. However, this is not surprising since few pharaohs wished to record natural disasters or military defeats in the same manner that their rivals documented these events (as in the Biblical narratives). For instance, after the serious Egyptian military setback at the Battle of Kadesh, Hittite archives uncovered in Boghazkoy reveal that "a humiliated Ramesses [was] forced to retreat from Kadesh in ignominious defeat" and abandon the border provinces of Amurru and Upi to the control of his Hittite rival without the benefit of a formal truce.^[33] By contrast, no inconvenient references to Ramesses' loss of Amurru or Upi are preserved in the Egyptian records. Ramesses instead falsely claims that the "Hittite king sent a letter to the Egyptian camp pleading for peace. Negotiators were summoned and a truce was agreed, although Ramesses, still claiming an Egyptian victory...refused to sign a formal treaty. Ramesses [then] returned home to enjoy his personal triumph."^[34]

The dates now ascribed to Ramesses' reign by most modern scholars do not match the internal biblical chronology regarding the date of the Exodus, and the now commonplace view is that the Pharaoh mentioned is not Ramesses.

In the 1960s and 1970s, several scholars such as George Mendenhall^[35] associated the Israelite's arrival in Canaan more closely with the Hapiru mentioned in the Amarna letters which date to the reign of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten and in the Hittite treaties with Ramesses II.

Most scholars today, however, view the Hapiru or Apiru instead as bandits who attacked the trade and royal caravans that travelled along the coastal roads of Canaan. Ramesses II's late 13th century BC stela in Beth Shan mentions two conquered peoples who came to "make obeisance to him" in his city of Raameses or Pi-Ramesses but mentions neither the building of the city nor, as some have written, the Israelites or Hapiru".^[36]

The Bible states that the Israelites toiled in slavery and built "for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Ra'amses" in the Egyptian Delta.^[37] The latter is probably a reference to the city of Pi-Ramesse Aa-nakhtu or the "House of Ramesses, Great-of-Victories"--i.e. ancient Pi-Ramesses (modern day Qantir) --which had been Seti I's summer retreat.^[38] Ramesses II greatly enlarged this city both as his principal northern capital and as an important forward base for his military campaigns into the Levant and his control over Canaan. According to Kenneth Kitchen, Pi-Ramesses was largely abandoned from c.1130 BC onwards; as was often the practice, later rulers removed much of the stone from the city to build the temples of their new capital: Tanis.^[39] Therefore, if the identification of the city is correct, it strengthens the case for identifying Ramesses II as the Pharaoh who reigned Egypt during Moses' lifetime.

His son and successor, Merneptah, mentions in the so-called Merneptah Stele that the ancient Israelites already lived in Canaan during his reign. Merneptah's reference to their destruction, according to Michael G. Hasel, probably refers to the Egyptian military strategy of routing an ethnic group and destroying its grain, instead of the destruction of their offspring or progeny.^[40] Merneptah's inscription uses a parallel structure which contrasts the city-states with the Israelites within the territory of Canaan/Kharu.^[41] This prompts one to remember that the books of Joshua and Judges both paint pictures of the Israelites as tribes acting independently or in small coalitions against their enemies and wonder how fast they could have coalesced to the point where an ancient and mighty nation such as Egypt would consider them worth mentioning.

Connection with the Biblical king Shishak

Speculation that Ramesses II was the Biblical Pharaoh named Shishak who attacked Judah and seized war bounty from Jerusalem in Year 5 of Rehoboam is thought by some to be untenable because both Ramesses II and his 19th Dynasty successors (ie: Merneptah, Seti II, Siptah & Twosret) retained some amount of control over Canaan during their reigns. Neither Israel nor Judah could have existed as independent states during this time, however, given the marriage between Solomon and the 'daughter of Pharaoh,' a certain degree of autonomy could have been enjoyed by an Israelite kingdom.

Shishak of the bible has been associated with Shoshenq I of Egypt. An inscription was found in Egypt written by Sheshonq I that claims he invaded the land of Israel and conquered 170 towns there. The inscription goes on to list the towns in alphabetical order. It is true however that the town listed in the Shishak campaign are not the towns listed by Shoshonq I. This fact forms one of the bases of the claim that Shishak is not Sheshonq.

Popular Media

The life of Ramesses II has also inspired a large number of historical novels, including the five volume series, Ramsès, by the French writer Christian Jacq. (Translated editions are available for non-French readers.)
Norman Mailer's novel Ancient Evenings is largely concerned with the life of Ramesses II, though from the perspective of Egyptians living during the reign of Ramesses IX.
Ramesses was the main character in the Anne Rice book The Mummy or Ramses the Damned.
Ramesses was played by Yul Brynner in the classic film The Ten Commandments (1956). Here Ramesses was portrayed as a vengeful tyrant, ever scornful of his father's preference for Moses over "the son of [his] body".
In the animated film The Prince of Egypt, Ramesses (voiced by Ralph Fiennes) is portrayed as Moses' adoptive brother.
Ramesses II is the inspiration for Percy Bysshe Shelley's famous poem Ozymandias.

A rendition of Ramesses II appeared in the controversial episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog "King Ramses Curse".

External links

References

^ James Putnan, An introduction to egyptology,1990
^ James Putnan, An introduction to egyptology, 1990
^ Michael Rice, Who's Who in Ancient Egypt, Routledge, 1999
^ J. von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, Mainz, (1997), pp. 108 and 190
^ Peter J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis, Brill, NV Leiden (2000), pp. 302-305
^ David O'Connor & Eric Cline, Amenhotep III: Perspectives on his reign, University of Michigan Press, 1998, p. 16
^ Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (2004), p.164
^ Dodson & Hilton, op.cit., pp. 170-172
^ Dodson & Hilton, op.cit., p.166
^ Dodson & Hilton, op. cit., p.173
^ N. Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992) pp.250-253
^ Joyce Tyldesley, Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh, Viking/Penguin Books (2000), pp.53
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, p.68
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, pp.70-71
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, pp.70-73
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, p.73
^ Grimal, op. cit., pp. 256f.
^ "Min".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v Ania Skliar, Grosse kulturen der welt-Ägypten, 2005
^ Wolfhart Westendorf, Das alte ägypten,1969
^ [1]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s Alberto Siliotti, Egypt: temples, people, gods,1994
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses p. 14
^ Bob Brier, The Encyclopedia of Mummies, Checkmark Books, 1998., p.153
^ Can. Assoc. Radiol. J. 2004 Oct;55(4):211-7, PMID 15362343
^ Brier, op. cit., p.153
^ Brier, op. cit., p.153
^ [2]
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, p.161-162
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, p.161-162
^ Exodus 14
^ Psalm 136:15
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, p.73
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, p.73
^ Mendenhall, "The Hebrew Conquest of Palestine," Biblical Archaeologist (25, 1962)
^ Stephen L. Caiger, "Archaeological Fact and Fancy," Biblical Archaeologist, (9, 1946).
^ Exodus 1:11
^ Tyldesley, Ramesses, p.82
^ Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (2003), p.662. ISBN 0-8028-4960-1,
^ Hasel, "Israel in the Merneptah Stela," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 296, pp. 52-54; see most recently Hasel, "Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel," The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever, pp. 20-26.,
^ Hasel, "Israel in the Merneptah Stela," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 296, pp. 47-52; see most recently Hasel, "The Structure of the Final Hymnic-Poetic Unit on the Merenptah Stela," Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 116: 75-81.