Chapter Four - Ramses II

CHAPTER FOUR

Ramses II

IF ANCIENT EGYPT was a concert, Ramses II was the main event, the encores, and the light show.
This man didn’t just lead.
He immortalized.

We call him Ramses the Great.
Because I guess “Ramses” wasn’t enough.

Born around 1303 BCE, he became pharaoh in his early twenties.
And he didn’t mess around.

He ruled for 66 years, one of the longest reigns in Egyptian history.
By the time he died in his 90s, Egypt wasn’t just stable. It was booming.

Ramses II wasn’t just posing on thrones, he was out in the chariots, leading armies against the Hittites at one of the most famous battles of the ancient world:
The Battle of Kadesh.

It was one of the biggest chariot battles ever recorded.
Ramses almost lost, he was ambushed and surrounded.

But there’s a twist. He survived. He rallied. He claimed victory.

And then?
He carved that story into stone, on every temple, in every city, and across the entire empire.
Even if it wasn’t a win, it looked like one forever.

That’s marketing.

You’ve seen his work.

Abu Simbel has two massive seated statues of himself carved into a mountain.
The Ramesseum was his mortuary temple. Literally a building just to remember him.
Luxor, Karnak, and Pi-Ramesses became stage sets for his glory.

He turned Egypt into a living monument.
And himself into a god while still alive.

Ramses II had dozens of wives and over 100 children.
He wasn’t just building pyramids, he was building a bloodline.

Whole temples were dedicated to his favorite wife, Nefertari, and even some of his kids.

This wasn’t a kingdom.
It was a Ramses theme park.

When people later asked, “Who’s the pharaoh from the Bible?”
Most said Ramses.

He was so loud in history, so undeniable, that his name echoed across cultures.

His mummy still exists.
And get this, it had to be issued a passport to be flown to France in the 1970s for restoration.

Occupation listed?
“King (deceased)”