How a pharaoh built his legacy
Why is Ramses II considered to be ‘the Great’? An exhibition focusing on his life and times sheds light on how Ramses earned this accolade. Matthew Symonds shares what he learnt.
When the 19th-century poet Percy Shelley put pen to paper to write ‘Ozymandias’, he used the image of a shattered colossal statue to evoke the inevitability of decay, and the power of time to humble even the grandest of rulers. Famously, Shelley has an inscription on the statue pedestal declare ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:/Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’ The following words declare tellingly that ‘Nothing beside remains’. It is possible, though, that Shelley picked the wrong ruler with which to make his point. Both the essence of the inscription and the name ‘Ozymandias’ came from the work of the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus. The name itself was a corruption of a real one: User-Ma’at-Re. This means ‘Powerful one of the justice of Re’, which was one of the five royal names used by the Egyptian pharaoh that we know as Ramses II or Ramses the Great (sometimes also spelled ‘Ramesses’).
The colossal statue that inspired Shelley came from the Ramesseum – a monumental mortuary temple for the king that was built near Luxor – but it was far from being the only grandiose architectural project to bear the name and likeness of Ramses II. Instead, the pharaoh displayed a fondness for initiating his own great works, and also making his mark on those of his predecessors. The Great Sphinx in Giza, for example, was already ancient by the time of Ramses II, but still received a statue of the king set between its paws, and a stela naming him. When it comes to his own architectural projects, the Great Temple at Abu Simbel must rank as one of the most renowned today. This extraordinary edifice was carved into a cliff face and boasts a façade 33m high, which is dominated by four seated statues of the king that are each 20m tall. This willingness to make bold architectural statements means that there can be few if any rulers who remain so visible within their former dominion over 3,000 years after their death. The result, as the Egyptologist Zahi Hawass puts it, is that Ramses II – ‘a character like no other’ – has become ‘a unique symbol of the greatness of pharaonic Egypt.’
Great expectations
This point is powerfully made by a travelling exhibition entitled Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold, which is currently on show at NEON, Battersea Power Station, in London (see ‘Further information’ box). This has assembled an extraordinary array of artefacts that shed light on the life and times of the pharaoh, alongside a selection of truly stunning objects associated with both earlier and later royal dynasties. As well as showcasing the skills of ancient Egyptian artisans, the exhibition successfully teases out something of the character of the king. It reveals that Ramses not only had a talent for self-promotion, but was also unafraid to buck convention. Part of this willingness to do things his own way may have flowed from his confidence in his own divinity. Most Egyptian kings were touched by godliness in the form of their role as the earthly manifestation of Horus. Alongside acting as the representative of the falcon god, Ramses II also viewed himself as divine in his own right. In the Great Temple of Abu Simbel – which was named ‘The House of Ramses, Beloved of Amun’ – the king is portrayed as the equal of other great Egyptian gods. There are surviving images, too, of individuals venerating statues of the king, including some of Ramses II making offerings to himself. When it came to making a lasting mark, Ramses II also had extraordinarily good fortune in terms of both the circumstances of his reign and the scope these presented.
Ramses was the third pharaoh in what is known at the 19th Dynasty of Egyptian kings. He was still in his 20s when he was crowned in c.1279 BC. This marked the beginning of a reign that would stretch for almost 67 years, ending c.1213 BC when the king passed away in his 90s. By then, there would have been few in Egypt who could remember being ruled by any other person. Ramses shared his name with the first pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, while the following 20th Dynasty would bring another nine rulers of that name, emphasising the resonance it came to carry. Both the 19th and 20th Dynasties, together with the preceding 18th Dynasty, form what is known as the New Kingdom era. This was a literal golden age for Egypt, when its empire stretched into the Levant and control of much of Nubia allowed its precious metal deposits to be tapped. The pharaohs had an effective central government at their disposal as well, while growing wealth stimulated a remarkable flourishing of arts and architecture. Inevitably, Egypt’s expansion brought it into conflict with foreign foes, and art from the era offers cowed caricatures of a range of enemies. Ramses II had personal experience of the realities of conflict from an early age. By the time he was 10, he could count ‘The Great Leader of the Fighting Forces’ among his titles. At the age of 12, he was present during a campaign in the western Nile Delta, while as a 17 year old the future king was waging war against the Hittites.
External enemies were not the only source of instability during the New Kingdom period. A famous episode during the 18th Dynasty brought a sudden and shocking departure from the status quo, when the pharaoh Amenhotep IV renamed himself Akhenaten, in honour of the sun disc – known as Aten – and decreed veneration of it to be the only legitimate form of worship. This rupture in the religious sphere was accompanied by the construction of a new capital city at Amarna. After Akhenaten died in the 17th year of his reign, a succession of rulers followed, including Tutankhamun. Although Amarna was abandoned and the wider pantheon of Egyptian gods reinstated, the process of returning to stability after the Akhenaten episode continued for decades. Along the way, Tutankhamun was followed by one of his high officials, Ay, who ruled for about four years, and then Horemheb, who had been head of the army under Tutankhamun. Horemheb was destined to be the last king of the 18th Dynasty and adopted his vizier, an individual known as Paramessu, as his successor. It was Paramessu who became Ramses I when he ascended to the throne in c.1292 BC. He was the father of the next pharaoh, Seti I, and the grandfather of Ramses II.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The exhibition Ramses and the Pharaohs’ Gold is currently booking into the summer at NEON in London. For further information, including ticket prices, see https://ramsesthe exhibition.co.uk/london/.
Further details about the arte-facts and Ramses II are available in the accompanying book: Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs by Zahi Hawass (ISBN 978-8894647853).
This is an extract of an article that appeared in CWA 137. Read on in the magazine (Click here to subscribe) or on our website, The Past, which offers all of the magazine’s content digitally. At The Past you will be able to read each article in full as well as the content of our other magazines, Current Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, and Military History Matters.
