Ramses II (In the records of world history)

Ramses II (In the records of world history)

Well before his death, Seti I appointed his son Ramses II, sometimes called Ramses the Great, as crown prince. During the long reign of Ramses II (1279–13 BCE), there was a prodigious amount of building, ranging from religious edifices throughout Egypt and Nubia to a new cosmopolitan capital, Pi Ramesse, in the eastern delta; his cartouches were carved ubiquitously, often on earlier monuments. Ramses II’s penchant for decorating vast temple walls with battle scenes gives the impression of a mighty warrior king. His campaigns were, however, relatively few, and after the first decade his reign was peaceful. The most famous scenes record the battle of Kadesh, fought in his fifth regnal year. These and extensive accompanying texts present the battle as an Egyptian victory, but in fact the opposing Hittite coalition fared at least as well as the Egyptians. After this inconclusive struggle, his officers advised him to make peace, saying, “There is no reproach in reconciliation when you make it.” In succeeding years Ramses II campaigned in Syria; after a decade of stalemate, a treaty in his 21st year was concluded with Hattusilis III, the Hittite king.
The rise of Assyria and unrest in western Anatolia encouraged the Hittites to accept this treaty, while Ramses II may have feared a new Libyan threat to the western delta. Egyptian and Hittite versions of the treaty survive. It contained a renunciation of further hostilities, a mutual alliance against outside attack and internal rebellion, and the extradition of fugitives. The gods of both lands were invoked as witnesses. The treaty was further cemented 13 years later by Ramses II’s marriage to a Hittite princess.
The king had an immense family by his numerous wives, among whom he especially honoured Nefertari. He dedicated a temple to her at Abū Simbel, in Nubia, and built a magnificent tomb for her in the Valley of the Queens.

Corbis
For the first time in more than a millennium, princes were prominently represented on the monuments. Ramses II’s fourth surviving son, Khaemwese, was famous as high priest of Ptah at Memphis. He restored many monuments in the Memphite area, including pyramids and pyramid temples of the Old Kingdom, and had buildings constructed near the Sarapeum at Ṣaqqārah. He was celebrated into Roman times as a sage and magician and became the hero of a cycle of stories.

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Ramses II, Ramses also spelled Ramesses or Rameses, byname Ramses the Great, (flourished 13th century BCE), third king of the 19th dynasty (1292–1190 BCE) of ancient Egypt, whose reign (1279–13 BCE) was the second longest in Egyptian history. In addition to his wars with the Hittites and Libyans, he is known for his extensive building programs and for the many colossal statues of him found all over Egypt.

Military Exploits of Ramses II -

It seems that, apart from his extensive building activities and his famous residence city, Ramses’ reputation as a great king in the eyes of his subjects rested largely on his fame as a soldier.

In the fourth year of his reign, he led an army north to recover the lost provinces his father had been unable to conquer permanently. The first expedition was to subdue rebellious local dynasts in southern Syria, to ensure a secure springboard for further advances. He halted at Al-Kalb River near Beirut, where he set up an inscription to record the events of the campaign; today nothing remains of it except his name and the date; all the rest has weathered away.

The next year the main expedition set out. Its objective was the Hittite stronghold at Kadesh. Following the coastal road through Palestine and Lebanon, the army halted on reaching the south of the land of Amor, perhaps in the neighbourhood of Tripolis. Here Ramses detached a special task force, the duty of which seems to have been to secure the seaport of Simyra and thence to march up the valley of the Eleutherus River (Al-Nahr Al-Kabīr) to rejoin the main army at Kadesh. The main force then resumed its march to the Orontes, the army being organized in four divisions of chariotry and infantry, each consisting of perhaps 5,000 men.

Crossing the river from east to west at the ford of Shabtuna, about 8 miles (13 km) from Kadesh, the army passed through a wood to emerge on the plain in front of the city. Two captured Hittite spies gave Ramses the false information that the main Hittite army was at Aleppo, some distance to the north, so that it appeared to the king as if he had only the garrison of Kadesh to deal with. It was not until the army had begun to arrive at the camping site before Kadesh that Ramses learned that the main Hittite army was in fact concealed behind the city. Ramses at once sent off messengers to hasten the remainder of his forces, but, before any further action could be taken, the Hittites struck with a force of 2,500 chariots, with three men to a chariot as against the Egyptian two. The leading Egyptian divisions, taken entirely by surprise, broke and fled in disorder, leaving Ramses and his small corps of household chariotry entirely surrounded by the enemy and fighting desperately.

Fortunately for the king, at the crisis of the battle, the Simyra task force appeared on the scene to make its junction with the main army and thus saved the situation. The result of the battle was a tactical victory for the Egyptians, in that they remained masters of the stricken field, but a strategic defeat in that they did not and could not take Kadesh. Neither army was in a fit state to continue action the next day, so an armistice was agreed and the Egyptians returned home. The Battle of Kadesh is one of the very few from pharaonic times of which there are real details, and that is because of the king’s pride in his stand against great odds; pictures and accounts of the campaign, both an official record and a long poem on the subject, were carved on temple walls in Egypt and Nubia, and the poem is also extant on papyrus.

The failure to capture Kadesh had repercussions on Egyptian prestige abroad, and some of the petty states of South Syria and northern Palestine under Egyptian suzerainty rebelled, so that Ramses had to strengthen the northern edge of Egypt’s Asiatic realm before again challenging the Hittites. In the eighth or ninth year of his reign, he took a number of towns in Galilee and Amor, and the next year he was again on Al-Kalb River. It may have been in the 10th year that he broke through the Hittite defenses and conquered Katna and Tunip—where, in a surprise attack by the Hittites, he went into battle without his armour—and held them long enough for a statue of himself as overlord to be erected in Tunip. In a further advance he invaded Kode, perhaps the region between Alexandretta and Carchemish. Nevertheless, like his father before him, he found that he could not permanently hold territory so far from base against continual Hittite pressure, and, after 16 years of intermittent hostilities, a treaty of peace was concluded in 1258 BCE, as between equal great powers, and its provisions were reciprocal.

The wars once over, the two nations established friendly ties. Letters on diplomatic matters were regularly exchanged; in 1245 Ramses contracted a marriage with the eldest daughter of the Hittite king, and it is possible that at a later date he married a second Hittite princess. Apart from the struggle against the Hittites, there were punitive expeditions against Edom, Moab, and Negeb and a more serious war against the Libyans, who were constantly trying to invade and settle in the delta; it is probable that Ramses took a personal part in the Libyan war but not in the minor expeditions. The latter part of the reign seems to have been free from wars.

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