Ramses the Great In the Egyptian pyramids of Giza,Ramses the Great ruled as the greatest pharaoh of all times. Ramses the Great, also known as Ramses II, or justRamses, was born in 1304 B. C. , and was given the namethe Justice of Ray is Powerful.
He had the knowledge ofthe kingdom, and became the focus of the court at an earlyage. Ramses and his father spent most of their timetogether, and at age ten, Ramses became heir to thethrown. He took the thrown in the year of 1292 B. C. Thepharaoh lived over all other people in the kingdom. According to historians, the Nile river was the source of lifeto the Egyptians.
The Nile river provided the Egyptianpeople with water, fish, and fertile soil to grow crops on. The peasant folk in Egypt lived on a diet of wheat bread,fish, and corn. Also, the death rates there were said to bevery high. When Ramses became pharaoh, he got manyriches. For example, Ramses had as many women as hisheart desired.
The women did everything for Ramses,which includes dancing for him. Ramses II was the mostpowerful king in all of ancient Egypt, and his Queens werehis greatest supporters. Ramses had many wives, but heloved one particular wife the most of all of them. Ramsesthe Great was also known for his fighting. In 1275 B.
C. , hewent into battle with about 2,000 men. It was about noonon a spring day, and Ramses II was encamped with hisarmy near the city of Kadesh in Syria. He and his armywere planning a surprise attack on the Hittites. WhileRamses was waiting for his army to assemble, Hittitechariots showed up out of nowhere and attacked.
Frightened, the Egyptian forces fled and left Ramses theGreat to face the enemy alone. Luckily, he escaped with hislife. Later, Ramses II had scenes from the battle carved ontemple was all over Egypt. According to the carvings,Ramses prayed to Amon, the chief Egyptian god, to savehim.
He said, My soldiers and charioteers have forsakenme, but I call and find that Amon is worth more to me thanmillions of foot soldiers and hundreds of thousands ofchariots. After that, the carvings show that he rallied hisforces and had victory over the Hittites. Furthermore,Ramses II raised many monuments to commemorate all ofhis victories. Despite their battle, in 1284 B. C. , Ramsesand the Hittites signed a treaty that set the borders of twoempires, which ended the costly struggle between them.
Many historians believe that Ramses the Great is thepharaoh that is written about in the Bible. The story thatthey think Ramses might be in, is the one where Moses toldthe pharaoh to let his people go. Other people also thinkthat when Ramses died, he became a god. Ramses spentmost of his 67-year reign reviving the empire and fightingthe Hittites of Asia Minor.
Ramses was 92 years old whenhe died, and was mummified and put into a temple. Theprocess of mummification took about 70 days. Three of thefour gods are carved in the side of a large temple, and aresaid to guard Ramses. The fourth god was the god of theunderground, so he remains in eternal darknessunderground, on the inside of the temple. History
