Kadesh, the Hittite peace treaty, Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum, Pi-Ramesses, family, mummy, and Paris passport—Ramesses the Great in one place.
Ramesses II (c. 1303–1213 BCE; reigned c. 1279–1213 BCE), third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, is “Ramesses the Great”—one of Egypt’s longest-ruling and most documented kings (~66 years). Son of Seti I and Queen Tuya, named for his grandfather Ramesses I, he trained on campaign and succeeded after an elder brother’s death.
Family
He married chiefly Nefertari (among his first and most celebrated queens) and took many wives; ancient sources credit vast numbers of children—Merneptah, his thirteenth son, became heir after Ramesses outlived numerous earlier sons.
Military Career
He campaigned against Nubians, Libyans, and Syrians; crushed Sherden sea raiders with coastal ambushes. His signature clash is Kadesh (c. 1274 BCE) against the Hittites—tens of thousands engaged; the result was tactically inconclusive but Ramesses broadcast victory at home.
Diplomacy
About 1258 BCE Egypt and Hatti signed one of history’s earliest surviving peace treaties, stabilizing the north for decades.
Building Program
Ramesses was a prodigious builder: Abu Simbel (great temple and Nefertari’s smaller temple), the Ramesseum mortuary temple on the west bank at Thebes, additions at Karnak and Luxor Temple (Opet reliefs echo Tutankhamun’s colonnade), the Delta capital Pi-Ramesses, and countless usurpations of earlier kings’ cartouches. The Colossi of Memnon once fronted his mortuary temple. His wife Nefertari’s tomb (QV66) in the Valley of the Queens is among the finest painted tombs of the New Kingdom.
Death and Rediscovery
He died in his eighties—likely buried in KV7; his mummy was moved in antiquity to a Deir el-Bahari cache (found 1881) and rests in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. In 1974 his mummy flew to Paris for conservation—passport occupation: “King (deceased).” Analysis suggested a strong, tall man with red hair.
Legacy
Later pharaohs took the name Ramesses; tourists still fuel Egypt’s economy at his temples. Expedition Egypt designs routes that give Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum, and Luxor their due—without rushing the scale he intended.
