Ramesses II

"Ramesses—The Victor of Kadesh. The Great General and Conqueror of Lands"

―Writings on a tablet in Ramesses' tomb^[src]

Ramesses II (c. 1303 BCE – 1213 BCE), also known as Ramesses the Great and Ozymandias, was a pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He is generally considered one of the greatest and best-known pharaohs, reigning unchallenged for 66 years.^[1]

Biography[edit | edit source]

Reign as pharaoh[edit | edit source]

Ramesses' rule was aided by the High Priests of Amun, who, several generations prior, had been made guardians of the Aten by Tutankhamun. During his reign, Ramesses conducted several campaigns into the Levant in an attempt to expand his empire. To this end, Ramesses engaged the Hittite Empire in Kadesh and laid siege to Dapur in Syria.^[2]

During his lifetime, Ramesses long reign was celebrated by an unprecedented number of Sed festivals, numbering 13 or 14 by the time of his death. At one point, he also ordered the construction of a well in the southwestern part of the Waset Desert such that the Egyptians who live near the region would never thirst. After his death, Ramesses was buried in a tomb situated in the Valley of the Kings.^[2]

Legacy[edit | edit source]

In 34 BCE, Ramesses' spirit, alongside those of his predecessors, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun, were seemingly returned to the world of the living by the God's Wife of Amun, Isidora, who had possession of the Aten.^[2] Through a portal connected to Ramesses' tomb, the Hidden One Bayek of Siwa was able to gain access to Heb Sed, Ramesses' aspect of the afterlife. There, he met the pharaoh's consort Nefertari, assisting her in recovering numerous artifacts needed to summon Ramesses' soul. After doing so, Bayek defeated the pharaoh, putting both him and Nefertari to rest.^[3]

Around this time, one of Ramesses' living descendants, Sutekh, was kidnapped by Isidora in her ritual to restore 'balance' to Ma'at.^[4]

In 2012, he was included in a mnemonic set in Abstergo Industries' Project Legacy.^[5]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

Ramesses is a historical figure whose seemingly-reanimated mummy appears in the 2018 downloadable expansion The Curse of the Pharaohs for the 2017 video game Assassin's Creed: Origins. In-game, his cartouche is written to include only his prenomen or throne name of "User maat Ra, setep en Ra", which translates to "The justice of Ra is powerful – chosen of Ra", and entirely excluding his nomen or given name and its epithet "Ra mes su, mery Amun" meaning "Ra is the one who bore him, beloved of Amun".^[1] In the 1st century BCE, a light bow was named after the pharaoh's throne name.^[6]