Ramesses II
c. 1303–1213 BC · Long-reigning pharaoh of Egypt who built Abu Simbel and made one of the first known peace treaties.
Ramesses II, also called Ramesses the Great, was pharaoh of Egypt for about sixty-six years, from around 1279 to 1213 BC. Early in his reign he fought the Hittites, a rival empire in what is now Turkey, at the battle of Kadesh in Syria. The battle ended without a clear winner, though Ramesses had it carved on temple walls as a great victory. Years later, in about 1259 BC, Egypt and the Hittites agreed a peace treaty, one of the earliest known, with copies surviving in both Egyptian and Hittite. Ramesses built more monuments than almost any other pharaoh, including the great temples at Abu Simbel, cut into a cliff with four huge seated statues of himself, the Ramesseum at Thebes, and a new capital in the Nile Delta. He had many wives, with Nefertari the most honored, and more than a hundred children. Many people link him with the pharaoh of the Exodus, though the Bible does not name him. His mummy survives in Cairo.
Faith: Practiced the religion of ancient Egypt. Source: Wikipedia
Key dates
- c. 1279 BC Becomes pharaoh
- c. 1274 BC Battle of Kadesh
- c. 1259 BC Peace treaty with the Hittites
- c. 1213 BC Dies after a reign of about 66 years
Record-breaker
Firsts and records, worded as the sources give them ("first known", "at the time").
- His 66-year rule is the longest recorded reign of any pharaoh, possibly alongside Pepi II. (Source: Ramesses II (Wikipedia))
More lives
Alexander the Great · Ashoka · Augustus · Julius Caesar · Cleopatra VII · Constantine the Great
Notes: Egyptian regnal dates are approximate.