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Ramesses II

Original nameRamesses the Great

New Kingdom Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Reigning 67 Years, a Symbol of Egypt’s Height

Those Who First Drew the Borders on the Map · Founders of Civilizations

The New Kingdom of EgyptThe Battle of KadeshGreat Building Works

Who they are

Ramesses II (reigned c. 1279–1213 BC) was a pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, reigning for 67 years, one of the longest-reigning and most representative pharaohs in Egyptian history. During his reign the famous Battle of Kadesh was fought against the Hittite Empire, after which the two sides signed one of the earliest written peace treaties surviving in human history. He undertook great building works, constructing the Abu Simbel temples, the expansion of the Karnak temple, and much monumental architecture, and his colossal statues and temple ruins are still the most representative visual symbols of ancient Egyptian civilization; ancient Greek historians called him "Ozymandias," and the nineteenth-century English poet Shelley wrote the famous poem "Ozymandias" upon it, lamenting that all the achievements of kings are in the end eroded and buried by time.

Primary sourcesThe Abu Simbel temple inscriptionsThe "Poem" inscription of the Battle of KadeshAncient Egyptian king lists

Key stories

The Battle of Kadesh and the Earliest Peace Treaty

Around 1274 BC Ramesses II led his army against the Hittite Empire at Kadesh in Syria; both sides claimed victory (the Egyptian account plainly bears elements of propagandistic exaggeration), the battle itself was undecided, and the two later signed a peace treaty around 1258 BC, a copy of the Hittite cuneiform tablet of the treaty text still displayed at the United Nations headquarters, symbolizing this earliest surviving document of an international peace treaty.

The Abu Simbel Temples

Ramesses II ordered the Abu Simbel temples cut into the rock in the region of Nubia, their facades carved with four colossal pharaoh statues about 20 meters high, their orientation carefully designed so that on two specific days each year the sun shines precisely into the innermost sanctuary — when the Aswan High Dam was built in the twentieth century, the temple was cut apart and relocated as a whole to higher ground to avoid being flooded, a famous engineering feat in the history of modern heritage preservation.

Version differences

On the outcome of the Battle of Kadesh, the Egyptian inscriptions record a brilliant victory for Ramesses II, while the Hittite documents record a stalemate in which neither side achieved a decisive result; combining both sources, modern scholars judge the actual course closer to the latter, and the two sides then concluded a peace treaty.

Relationships

Ally

👸Hatshepsut　Both among the most representative rulers of the Egyptian New Kingdom

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

"Ozymandias" (Shelley’s poem)The English poet Shelley wrote the sonnet "Ozymandias" on Ramesses II’s Hellenized name "Ozymandias," lamenting that even the mightiest kingly achievements are in the end eroded and buried by time, one of the most quoted poems in English literature.

Appears in

The Dawn of the Bronze AgeThe Imperial Heyday of Ramesses II

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