Ramses
Uploaded by yahoo on Jan 22, 2001
Ramses the Great ruled as the greatest pharaoh of all times. Also known as Ramses II, he was born in 1304 B.C., and was given the name the Justice of Ray is Powerful. He had the knowledge of the kingdom, and became the focus of the court at an early age. Ramses and his father spent most of their time together. As a young crown prince, Ramses II was appointed a co-ruler by his aging father, Seti I, and fully inherited the throne at age 24 when his father died. Even before he became Pharaoh, the young prince was known as a courageous warrior. At 22, he was sent to quell a minor revolt in Nubia. He brought along two little sons, and they took part in a chariot charge, according to a scene depicted in a carved relief on the walls of the Beit El-Wali Temple south of Aswan.
After his ascent to the throne, the kingdom prospered and the young Pharaoh poured his energies and national treasures into building temples and monuments honoring his father, Egypt’s gods and himself. In Nubia he constructed six temples, two of which were carved out of a Cliffside at Abu Simbel, with their four colossal statues of the king, are the most magnificent and the best known. Engineers designed the temple so every year on February 22 and October 22 the earliest sunrays shine on the back wall of the innermost chamber and lights up the pharaoh’s statue, and fitting, he sits with the three gods of the sun. In all of his monuments he had his name cartouche and texts engraved so deep that no successor would be able to remove it.
When Ramses became pharaoh, he had as many women as his heart desired and they were his greatest supporters. Ramses II built a king-size family with a ‘considerable harem of wives and concubines’. He had 5 or 6 main wives and is known to have had more than 100 children with all of his wives. His favorite wife was the beautiful Nefertari, his chief queen and mother of his first-born son and other children. Ancient statues and inscriptions suggest she often appeared at her husband’s side on state occasions and during religious ceremonies early in his reign.
Ramses spent most of his 67-year reign reviving the empire and fighting the Hittites of Asia Minor. Ramses the Great, known for his fighting, went...