Ramesses II

Ramesses II ruled Egypt for sixty-seven years and built more than any other pharaoh. Born around 1303 BC into the Nineteenth Dynasty, he was made a captain at ten and co-ruler by his father Seti I, and came to the throne around 1279 BC in his mid-twenties. His most publicised campaign was Kadesh, fought against the Hittites in about 1274 BC. Misled by false intelligence, he advanced with one division and was ambushed; his own account, carved on temple walls across Egypt, describes him rallying the army alone and winning a great victory. Hittite records claim the same, and the evidence indicates a draw that left Kadesh in Hittite hands. Sixteen years later he signed a treaty with Hattusili III, of which both the Egyptian and Hittite versions survive — the earliest international peace treaty whose text is known from both sides. He married a Hittite princess to seal it. His building programme is unmatched. He completed the hypostyle hall at Karnak, built the Ramesseum, cut the two temples at Abu Simbel from the cliff face with four colossal seated figures of himself, and founded a new capital, Pi-Ramesses, in the delta. He also had his name carved on monuments built by predecessors. He fathered upwards of a hundred children by numerous wives, of whom Nefertari was the principal, and outlived at least a dozen heirs. He is often identified with the pharaoh of Exodus, though no Egyptian evidence supports it. He lived into his nineties, suffering severe arthritis and dental abscesses, and died around 1213 BC. His mummy was moved repeatedly by priests to protect it from tomb robbers.

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