Ramesses II (Usermaatre Setepenre)
1279 BCE–1213 BCE · New-Kingdom · Pi-Ramesses
Ramesses II (throne-name Usermaatre Setepenre), often called Ramesses the Great, was the most prolific builder and most relentless self-publicist in Egyptian history, reigning in Dynasty 19 around 1279-1213 BCE (Shaw's conventional dates) for roughly sixty-six years. Early in his reign he fought the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, an engagement that was in fact indecisive but which he proclaimed across his monuments as a personal triumph; this should be read as royal self-presentation rather than a neutral account. Years later he concluded with the Hittites the earliest surviving international peace treaty. He raised colossal monuments the length of Egypt and Nubia, from the rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel to his great Delta capital, Pi-Ramesses. His fallen colossus inspired Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias', a name derived from his throne-name. In one common popular scheme he is cast as the 'pharaoh of the Exodus', but this is tradition and reception rather than attested history, and should be hedged accordingly.
Did you know?
The battle that produced the oldest surviving peace treaty
Around 1274 BCE Ramesses II fought the Hittite empire at Kadesh in Syria in one of the largest chariot battles ever recorded. Roughly fifteen years later the two powers put their conflict to rest with a formal agreement (c. 1259 BCE), the oldest surviving known peace treaty in the world, preserved in both an Egyptian and a Hittite version.
How we know
Battle of Kadesh c. 1274 BCE (Ramesses II vs. Hittites under Muwatalli II); Egyptian-Hittite "Eternal Treaty" c. 1259 BCE (Ramesses II and Ḫattušili III) — oldest surviving peace treaty, with both Egyptian and Hittite copies extant; ~15-year gap. Conventional (Shaw) chronology; Ramesses II reign began c. 1279 BCE.
The name that unlocked a dead script
The last dated inscription written in Egyptian hieroglyphs was carved in 394 CE, and afterward the ability to read the script was lost for roughly 1,400 years. In 1822 Jean-Francois Champollion made his breakthrough by sounding out a royal cartouche and recognizing the name of Ramesses II, a king who had died more than three thousand years earlier.
How we know
Last dated hieroglyphic inscription: Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, Philae, 24 Aug 394 CE. Champollion's Abu Simbel/Ramesses breakthrough: 14 Sep 1822 (1822-394=1,428 yrs). Ramesses II died c.1213 BCE (1213+1822=3,035 yrs).
Egypt's first restorer, working on a thousand-year-old ruin
Prince Khaemwaset, a son of Ramesses II, sought out decaying Old Kingdom monuments and re-inscribed them with the names of their original builders, including the pyramid of Unas, already more than a thousand years old in his day. For this work he is sometimes called the earliest known "Egyptologist."
Meet Unas →How we know
Unas (last king, 5th Dyn.) reigned c.2375-2345 BCE; Khaemwaset (son of Ramesses II, c.1281-1225 BCE) restored his pyramid c.1250 BCE — a gap of ~1,095 years (2345-1250).
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Pi-Ramesses
What they did here
His great Delta capital, which he founded and built up.
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Ramesses II (Usermaatre Setepenre)’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Ramesses II (Usermaatre Setepenre)’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
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