Ramesses II: Anatomy of a Pharaoh
An Introduction
This is the first part of a series
of articles on Ramesses II, perhaps even better known as Ramesses
the Great, the third ruler of Egypt's 19th Dynasty during
the prosperous New Kingdom. Future parts of this series will
explore 
this
great Egyptian Pharaoh as a builder, husband and father, military
leader and deity, among other topics. While Ramesses II was
certainly not a typical Egyptian pharaoh, far various reasons
we know a great deal about him, and exploring his life in
detail should provide readers with a better understanding
of all the rulers of ancient Egypt.
In his book, "Chronicle of the Pharaohs"
by Peter A. Clayton, he sums up Ramesses II very nicely, stating
that:
"During his long reign of 67 years, everything was
done on a grand scale. No other pharaoh constructed so many
temples or erected so many colossal statues and obelisks.
No other pharaoh sired so many children. Ramesses' 'victory'
over the Hittities at Kadesh was celebrated in one of the
most repeated Egyptian texts ever put on record. By the time
he died, aged more than 90, he had set his stamp indelibly
on the face of Egypt."
Ramesses II's father was Seti (Sethos) I and his mother
was Tuya. Tuya was not one of Seti I's major wives, and therefore
Ramesses II was probably not given the training of a king
from an early age (or as Ramesses II states, "from the egg").
However, he did serve as a co-regent with his father prior
to Seti I's death.
We
believe that Ramesses II had as many as fifty sons and fifty
daughters, though only a few of them are known to us. His
chief, and most likely favorite wife was Nefertari, though
he obviously had many others. We believe he was succeeded
by a son named Merneptah who was an old man himself by the
time he ascended the throne.
It is difficult to tell from most
of Ramesses II's statues and depictions on monuments exactly
what he looked like physically. This is because the ancient
Egyptian artists were not always intend on portraying the
king in a totally realistic manner. The king probably never
set for specific statues. Rather, they were based upon approved
models.
Hence, the official image of Ramesses
II promoted by the royal artists is not unlike the ageless
portraits we find of the British monarch on stamps or American
presidents on currency. His images depict him as a traditional
king: tall, dignified, physically perfect and forever young,
which prompted one modern scholar to comment that:
"Now Ramesses the Great, if he was as much like
his portraits as his portraits are like each other, must have
been one of the most handsomest men, not only of his day,
but of all history."
His many statues and reliefs show his physical characteristics
to include a prominent nose set in a rounded face with high
cheek bones, wide, arched eyebrows, slightly bulging, almond-shaped
eyes, fleshy lips and a small, square chin. He is often portrayed
with a regal smile.
Of
course, we have a better idea of his looks as an old man from
his mummy, which has a very prominent, long, thin, hooked
nose set in a long, narrow, oval face with a strong jaw. He
was large for an ancient Egyptian, standing some five foot
seven inches (1.333 meters) tall, and it has been suggested
that he shows many Asiatic traits, which might also be recognizable
in the mummies of Seti I and Merenptah.
Interestingly, the mummy's gray hair
had been died red, and indeed, modern technology has proven
that in his youth he was a red head, which was also not a
common trait of ancient Egyptians.
Due to a fortunate combination of
circumstances, including optimal Nile floods resulting in
good harvests, international stability, a large family and
of course, the extraordinary longevity which caused Ramesses
to outlive not only his contemporaries, but many of his children
and grandchildren, Egypt enjoyed a continuity of government
that was the envy of the ancient world. Whether by luck, or
good kingship, Egypt flourished under Ramesses II and her
people were grateful.
Within his lifetime, Ramesses II
was venerated as a god, particularly in Nubia. This cult following
continued to flourish, even after the end of Egypt's pharaonic
period. Unlike many Egyptian kings, who always sought to have
their name remembered and repeated so that their soul could
live on, the Egyptians continued to make pilgrimages to Abydos,
Memphis, Tanis and Abu Simbel in order to make offerings to
Ramesses the deity for centuries after his death. During the
Graeco-Roman period, in order to elevate the status of a god
named Khons, the priests literally rewrote their mythology
to allow Ramesses II a starring role alongside the deity.
Ramesses II's reputation resulted
in an amazing following, and even a period of Egyptian history
we often refer to as the Ramesside period. During the 20th
Dynasty, though not descendents, all but one of the kings
took the name Ramesses in their efforts to emulate him. Unfortunately,
only one of the kings, Ramesses III, would come anywhere close
to Ramesses II's achievements, and in the end, this much weakened
era would spell the end of the New Kingdom. Later still, the
weak dynasty of Tanite kings who only had a tenuous grip on
Upper Egypt also attempted to recapture some of the lost brilliance
of Egypt's golden age by choosing to use Ramesses II's throne
name, Usermaatre, as their own.
Hence,
Ramesses II's name lived on. In 1822, when we first began
to decipher the ancient Egyptian language, many new pharaohs
became known to us, and later, as new tombs were discovered,
along with other documents, we began to piece together a long
line of rulers. Only then did we know the names of Egyptian
kings and queens such as Hatshepsut, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun.
However, Ramesses II was never in need of rediscovery, for
his name, perhaps corrupted somewhat, was not forgotten.
Even in our modern world, he has
also been remembered, though often not very realistically.
He was the handsome, courageous and good hearted king of Christian
Jacq's Egyptian novels, and a more lonely, complicated man
in Anne Rice's "The Mummy". On the silver screen, he was introduced
in the 1909 film, "Mummy of the King Ramses, and in 1923,
became the great pharaoh of Cecil B DeMille's silent screen
epic, "The Ten Commandments". Afterwards, Yul Brynner would
become Ramesses in DeMille's more famous 1956 movie by the
same name, and just recently, he was not very accurately portrayed
in the DreamWorks animated interpretation of the Exodus called
the "Prince of Egypt".
The great king was given the birth
name of his grandfather, Re-mise, or Ramesses I (meryamun),
which means, "Re has Fashioned Him, Beloved of Amun". We often
find his birth name spelled as Ramses. His throne name was
Usermaatre Setepenre, meaning, "The Justice of Re is Powerful,
Chosen of Re".
We
may find many variations of his name throughout classical
history. Ramesses fame was not limited to Egypt, for he was
known throughout the ancient classical world, due perhaps
to a highly efficient royal propaganda machine. From the Christian
bible we hear of both Ramesses, as well as his capital city
of Pi-Ramesses. Manetho, a famous ancient Egyptian historian,
included Ramesses II in his Egyptian chronology as Ramesses
Miamun, or Rapsakes. The Greek historian, Herodotus, refers
to him as King Rhampsinitus. Writing in 60 BC, Diodorus Siculus,
who was especially impressed by the monument we today call
the Ramesseum, the mortuary temple of Ramesses II on the West
Bank at Thebes, knew him as Ozymandias, which is an obvious
corruption of the king's pre-noimen, Usermaatre. Pliny and
Tacitus would later write about him, calling him King Rhamsesis
or Rhamses, and two thousand years later, in 1817, Percy Bysshe
Shelley published Ozymandias, a poem giving his impression
of the once mighty Ramesses:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And Wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias,
king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty,
and despair!"
Nothing besides remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
In fact, prior to our modern discipline
of Egyptology, the Pharaoh Ramesses II became legendary becoming
a fabled king not unlike England's (Celtic) King Arthur. Like
that king, an ill defined combination of real kings grew about
his person, combining perhaps the deeds of the 12th Dynasty
Kings Senusret I and III with those of Ramesses II under the
general umbrella of Sesothes.
Yet, it was not until after Jean
Francois Champollion decoded the Hieroglyphics of the Rosetta
Stone that the immensity of Ramesses II's monumental building
works could be appreciated by modern observers. Now, the real
king became famous all over again, and not only among Egyptologists,
though they certainly began to study Ramesses the Great with
a new fervor. Because of the number of his monuments, he seems
to have constantly been in the news, as discovery after discovery
turned up bearing his name.
Early on, he received considerable
bad press from scholars. For example, Bansen regarded him
as:
"...an unbridled despot, who took advantage of a
reign of almost unparalleled length, and of the acquisitions
of his father and ancestors, in order to torment his own subjects
and strangers to the utmost of his power."
Even in 1959, William C. Hayes said
that he was:
"a brash young man...not overburdened with intelligence
and singularly lacking in taste... [yet with] tremendous energy
and personal magnetism."
Others only gave him slightly better
marks. Miss Amelia B. Edwards, in her travel guide, "A Thousand
Miles up the Nile", that:
"...it is safe to conclude that he was neither
better nor worse than the general run of Oriental despots
- that he was ruthless in war, prodigal in peace, rapacious
in booty, and unsparing in the exercise of almost boundless
power. Such pride and such despotism were, however, in strict
accordance with immemorial precedent, and with the temper
of the age in which he lived."
Essentially, Kenneth Kitchen, a more
modern observer, seems to back Edwards comments, saying that:
"The deeds and attitudes of a Ramesses II cannot
just be crudely measured-off against our own supposed social
values, as simply boastful or megalomania; they must be compared
with what were the norms and ideas in his culture, not ours."
Modern thought on Ramesses undulates from scholar to
scholar, and depending on what role is discussed. However,
somewhat of a consensus among Egyptologists seems to be that
Ramesses II simply did what Egyptian pharaohs were suppose
to do, though he had a longer period of time than average
to do so. Essentially, Ramesses II is believed to have been
a very traditional king in many respects, who followed in
the footsteps of his predecessors.
Ideally, an Egyptian pharaoh was
simply a link in a long chain of custodians who's ill defined
but well understood role passed from king to king. He was
the mortal link with the gods upon who's shoulders rested
the responsibility of maintaining Ma'at in Egypt, and to some
extent throughout the known world. Ma'at might be defined
as "truth", but might be better explained as a continuity
of "rightness" which could insure that things would continue
to function normally. If Ma'at were in balance, there would
be reasonable Nile inundations (floods) which would nourish
the soil and produce good harvests, victory in battle and
there would not be illness in the land. Ma'at was mostly obtained
by pleasing the gods, which involved supporting their cults
as well as following a righteous path. And among other requirements
such as making offerings, participating in festivals and protecting
the sacred land of Egypt, pleasing the gods often involved
building temples and supporting their priesthood.
Of course, there would be little
need for a king to actually promote himself in order to fulfill
these duties. Yet, despite the belief by the ancient Egyptians
that the King was at least semi-divine, they were, as we now
know, all too human. Almost every Egyptian pharaoh seems to
have felt a need to prove himself to his people (as well as
to the gods). In fact, they wanted to prove themselves superior
to their predecessors, and yet, at the same time, many of
these kings actually suffered considerable self doubt, particularly
when they were not born to a long dynasty of kings and also
not to a "Great Wife" of the king, as was the case with Ramesses
II.
Therefore,
they exerted considerable efforts to build monuments and grand
statues in order to re-enforce their role as a living god,
as well as to defeat the enemies of Egypt in battle and in
each case, they ensured that their name and titles were celebrated
in connection with these deeds. Furthermore, they often exaggerated
every possible deed, even to the point of fabricating war
victories and usurping the monuments and statues of their
predecessors.
Ramesses II was not the first, nor
the last to follow such practices. He was certainly an avid
builder, erecting temples and statues from one end of the
Nile Valley to the other. And even when he may have failed
in war, he nevertheless made it a victory by inscribing it
as such on his monuments.
So in reality, regardless of our
modern misgivings about Ramesses II, as a king of Egypt's
New Kingdom, Ramesses fulfilled his functions, as he was basically
expected to, and in return, Ma'at seems, at least to his ancient
Egyptian subjects, to have been fulfilled, for the country
experienced a long period of prosperity during his equally
long reign.
Major Sections on Ramesses II: