Ancient Egypt: King Ramses II “The Great” (1292 – 1186 BCE)
King Ramses II one of the greatest pharaohs who ruled Egypt, also Known as Ramesses II or Sese also called Ramesses The Great, he was the third king of the 19th dynasty (1292-1186 BCE), he was born in 1303 BC to his father the Pharaoh Sethi I and his mother Queen Tuya.
He was second-in-command during his father’s military campaigns in Nubia, Libya, and Palestine when he was just 14 years old and when he was 22 years old he was leading the campaigns with his sons.
After the death of his father, Ramses set on the thrones of Egypt in 1279 B.C at the age of 25 years old and he was the Pharaoh of Egypt for 66 years until 1213 BC, he was a smart military leader, he protects his empire against many of enemies like Hittites, Libyans, Syrians, and Nubians.
He led his army which reached in his era to 100,000 men who would send many campaigns to Nubia and Levant to expand his empire and return the glory of the Egyptian empire, the control on many cities in the Levant and warn the Hittites from their unwise actions.
Which started the battle of Kadesh between Ramses II and the hotties in the city of Kadesh in one of the oldest battle in the history, no one won in this battle which made both sides make the first peace treaty in the history. Ramses was a great empire Known for stability and progress in this period.
He built a new city in the Nile River delta called Per Ramessu to be his home while being at war with Hittites, Ramses is considered to be the second-longest king to ever rule Egypt, he also known as a Great builder, during his period he constructed many temples and rebuild many of his ancestor temples and added to it like Amenhotep III Temple in Luxor, which are the hall of columns in El-Karnak Temple.
He then built his own temples the largest temple was found in the west bank of the river was the Ramesseum temple that shows his campaigns to Nubia and the great achievements, he built Abu Simbel Complex that contains two temples one for Ramses II and decorated with his victory in his battles and other for him and his wife Nefertari.
He was one of the famous kings to rule Egypt, his name was mentioned on every temple and monuments were made in his era.
King Ramses II was a great and powerful king who had about 200 wives most famous of them was Nefertari, and had about 111 sons and 51 daughters.
He died in 1213 B.C at the age of 90 years old, his body was in Valley of Kings in Luxor then moved to The Egyptian Museum in Cairo like his great statue that’s moved from Ramses Square.
