Ramses II
known as
Ramses the Great
Ramses II, upper portion of a granite figure from Thebes, 1250
BC; in the British Museum.
(credit: Reproduced by courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum)
(flourished 13th century
BC) King of ancient Egypt, 1279–13
BC. His family came to power some decades after the reign of
Akhenaton. Ramses set about restoring Egypt's power by quelling rebellions in southern Syria and fighting the
Hittites inconclusively at the Battle of
Kadesh. He captured towns in Galilee and Amor, but, unable to defeat the Hittites, he assented to a peace treaty in 1258
BC. He married one and perhaps two of the Hittite king's daughters, and the later part of his reign was free from war. Its prosperity may be measured by the amount of construction he undertook. Early on he built himself a residence city in the Nile delta as a base for military campaigns and resumed construction of the temple of Osiris, begun by his father. He added to the temple at
Karnak and completed a funerary temple for his father at
Luxor. In Nubia he built six temples, most famously those at
Abu Simbel.
Ramses II,
Rameses II died ?1225 bc, king of ancient Egypt (?1292--?25). His reign was marked by war with the Hittites and the construction of many colossal monuments, esp the rock temple at Abu Simbel
)