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Ramses II, Abu Simbel
Ramses II (also known as Ramses the Great and Ramesses II) was an Egyptian pharaoh (lived c. 1314 BC to 1224 BC), reigned 1290 BC - 1224 BC(66 years). He became pharaoh at the age of 24, and
died in this 90th year. He was known to the Ancient
Greeks as Sesostris.
He was the third king of the 19th dynasty,
and the son of Seti I and his Queen Tuya. The most memorable of Ramses' wives was Nefertari. Anothers of his wives was Istnofret and Maetnefrure, Princess of Khatti. It is said that Ramses II had over 200 children. Some of his
children were Bintah (Bintanath) (Princess
and her father's wife), Setakht
(Sethnakhte), the Pharaoh Merenptah,
and Kha'emweset (Prince).
Mummy of Ramses II
Ramses led several expeditions north into the lands east of the Mediterranean (the location of the modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria). At the Battle of Qadesh in the fourth
year of his reign (1286 BC), Egyptian forces under Rameses II engaged the forces of
Muwatallis, king of the Hittites. Over the following years, neither power could effectively defeat the other, so in
the 21st year of his reign (1269 BC), Ramses concluded an agreement with Hattusilis III, the earliest known
surviving peace treaty.
Ramses also campaigned south of the first cataract into Nubia. He constructed many impressive monuments,
and more statues of him exist than of any other Egyptian Pharaoh. Ramses was indeed a strong believer in the work of those living
in Deir el Medina.
At least as early as Eusebius of Caesarea, he was
identified with the Pharaoh of whom the biblical figure Moses is popularly believed to have demanded that his people be released from slavery.
His mummy was found at Deir-al-Bahari in 1881 and placed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo 5 years
later, where it is still exhibited with pride by the Egyptian people.
See also: Abu Simbel, Ramesseum, Ozymandias
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