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The God king

Ramesses the second was one of the most powerful and influential pharaohs of Egypt. The mighty benevolent Ramesses were a leader, warrior, protector, and God to his people in ancient times. The son of Seti I and queen Tuya the idea that Ramesses was perceived as the highest of all the ancient Egyptian Gods in his time was a fascinating factor. However, how and why the people thought of him as a God was an amazing phenomenon. There would not be a pharaoh like him for years to come, the ancient Egyptian people where aware of this fact and that is why they were loyal as well as able to venerate the king to the highest of honors.

Ramesses's life before pharaoh

Ramesses's life was full of activities with experience of the kingdom at an early age. His father molded him into becoming the next king of Egypt before he could fully grasp the concept of leadership. His father made him a prince regent at the age of fourteen. However, as effective as it was, Ramesses's father Seti never imagined how powerful his son would be, but he was full of confidence that his son was up to the rigorous task. Ramesses was young, healthy and exuberant in nature. He had the feeling that all youthful creatures have immortality. He felt he could accomplish vast tasks because he sensed he was invincible. Moreover, he was trained to the up most level by “accompanying his father on military campaigns in Libya and Palestine when he was just fourteen years of age. By the time he was twenty-two, Ramesses lead his own campaigns in Nubia with his own sons and was named co-regent with his father Seti I. Ramesses initiated restoration projects and built a new palace at Avaris.

Ramesses as Pharaoh

King Ramses the Second took the throne of Egypt in his early twenties around 1279 BC and he already seemed capable of role of pharaoh of Egypt. He became the third in line to rule the empire in the 19th Dynasty and ruled for an astonishing sixty-seven years, and became the longest ruling pharaoh behind Pepi II Neferkare. A blessing indeed but “after the death of Seti I in 1290 BCE, Ramesses bear the kingship of Egypt and immediately began military campaigns to restore the borders of Egypt and ensure trade avenue”. Ramesses became the most powerful and triumphant Pharaoh in Egypt because he achieved so many goals he set to achieve.

Ramesses’s war prowess

A gifted master tactician, Ramesses had the will of iron. He was effective on the war arena as his many campaigns are evidence of this ability. As the battle of kadesh started, Ramesses used his brilliant strategic mind with the battle as well as the piece treaty.

Who were the Hittites?

Ramesses began waging wars on the Syrians; he persisted in fighting this people in order to take charge of the sector in Africa as well as Asia that the Egyptian empire had held during the 18th Dynasty. His primary opposition was the Hittites, a robust population of Asian decent on whom he engaged in a long-term warfare. The major battle of this conflict was fought in 1274BC at Kadesh, in northern Syria, and depicted Ramesses as the winner, but neither power attained an irrefutable triumph. “The Hittites were a minor state in Anatolia, who started to penetrate peacefully east and west through gaining control over political power in the Near East. Along the second millennium BC, they became an exceptional power that ultimately succeeds the Babylonian state at around 1530 BC. They started exacting the Egyptian Empire during its diminishing strength under the reign of the hieratic king Akhen-Aton of the 18th dynasty. Far reaching communications from the Asian princes in Palestine and Syria also referred to as the Amarna Letters were sent to Akhen-Aton and his court appealing for aid and alerting him of the Hittites increase in authority. The pharaoh unfortunately ignored them and never made a reply. This emanated into Egypt losing control over significant areas in Syria when the assailants, helped by the Hittites, attacked. After the demise of Akhen-Aton, and the assassination or passing of his successor Tutankhamen, his spouse and Akhen-Aton’s child, “Ankh-Esenpa-Aton", thought to seek a political takeover with the Hittites. In order to assure her place, she sent a confidential letter to their overlord requesting for a prince with whom she could have married and make pharaoh. However, as the offer was bewildering, the king was suspicious and felt she was being unfaithful and dispatched a diplomat to evaluate the queen’s true motives. In reaction to the young queen’s assurance, the king requests his own son to journey to Egypt. However, he was apprehended and exterminated by the Egyptian commander of the army, Horemheb. Tension between Egypt and the Hittites was further exacerbated.

Battle of Kadesh

However, with the upsurge of the 19th dynasty in Egypt, Seti I started to build Egypt’s authority in the East. By the first two years of his regime, he was more than capable enough to restore the city of Kadesh as well as Palestine to the Egyptian empire. Eventually, a temporary suspension of hostility was put in place between Egypt and Asia. During the rule of Ramesses II’s, Seti I’s son, who pushed forward on Syria that reached Kadesh; the resulting conflict is one of the most prominent in ancient Egyptian history. It carried on for four days, and at the beginning Ramesses’s chance of succeeding was getting thinner by the moment, defeat drew closer. However, his army kept on going and were fighting to the last man with fury and heart up until reinforcements came, spiraling the near defeat into an everlasting triumph to the mighty Ramesses and his nation. The Hittites requested a truce, and Ramesses’s officials told him to accept the truce. After the death of the Hittite king, Hattusili III seized power from the rightful heir who escaped and flee to Egypt and was permitted diplomatic asylum by Ramesses II. While there was still some tension between the Egyptian and Hittite empires, both nations were under pressure. The Hittites were confronted by the reemerging Assyria in Mesopotamia, and Egypt had its own share of political problems as they were confronted by Libyans in the west. Political conferences were held for almost two years until a harmonious settlement was the definitive result in the 21st regal year of Ramesses regime with Hattusilis III in 1280 BC.

The first piece treaty in history

The Egyptian empire accepted the peace treaty that ended the conflict in Syria, which meant that there would be no possibility to reinstate Amuru and Kadesh. However, a gain from this loss, the contention between the two nations would meet its final, the division between the Egyptian and the Syrian territories would also end. Furthermore, Egypt promised the Syrians the right to use their Phenecian harbors, whereas the Hittites allowed Egyptians free and safe movement to the north as far as Ugarit without intervention. This was a benefit that was lost for more than a hundred years. Two recorded documents of the treaty were written, one in Akkaddian while the other in hieroglyph, and both still survived the effects of time. The copies are identical with an exception to the overture. The version the Egyptian’s made stated that it was the Hittite king who wanted peace, whereas in the Hittite version, it was Ramesses who sent them delegates. The Egyptian version was jotted down on a silver plaque, which was presented by Hattusili to Ramesses, then duplicated on stone at the Karnak and Ramesseum temples. The peace treaty composed of 18 articles. After a lengthy introduction recording the king’s titles and referring to establishment of good fellowship and harmony, one report was incorporated to eliminate any further assaults on the other nation’s territories.

Deification

Ramesses appointed himself as a complete deity, within his reign as pharaoh. Even though the Pharaoh is basically a godlike entity, the immortalization of a Pharaoh in his own right as an individual god was a unique situation, the consequence of a dynasty that was viewed as essentially momentous of successful. Ramesses’ s divinity is affirmed most sensationally at his Abu Simbel sanctuary, formally devoted to Ra but where the fully transcendent Pharaoh is most often and extensively characterized, not least in his four massive statues, whose image actually forms a rebus of Ramesses’s signature. He is illustrated with the ram horns the same as the deity Amun, and is portrayed offering sacrifices to himself . This is why Ramesses the great was referred to as the god king. However, Ramesses was not venerated as a god just for the sake of him proclaiming it. The ancient Egyptian people did not worship because he said so, they valued him because he earned it in a countless number of ways. Ramesses built more monuments than any other pharaoh in Egypt. However, there is one particular structure that starts out the unique features of the Abu Simbel temple show that Ramesses was no ordinary pharaoh he was also a god but apart from the fact that it was a temple dedicated to the pharaoh it was also a way to strategically send a message. Because of the incomparable size, the four massive statues look as if they are ever watchful of the empires border they are situated at. Ramesses’s reputation was monumental. It was powerful beyond measure. Furthermore, the image Ramesses’s upheld was so prodigious, he was thought as the ultimate god the highest of the Egyptian deities. Moreover, while the building of monuments was a huge factor in highlighting the incomparable power of Ramesses, his other legacies were the conquests he made, even though some past pharaohs were also conquerors. These kings include Khamose and Ahmose, these two pharaohs waged war against there aggressors the Hyksos as well as Thutmose, the third the conqueror of the Syria-Palestine as well as Amenhotep the third, who carried Egypt to its zenith at that time. Moreover the 18th dynasty fell and after that the advent of the 19th dynasty occurred and nothing was ever the same. A powerful figure in the ancient world indeed with colossal statues to his name, Ramesses never stopped constructing despite the temple Abu Simbel as the pinnacle of his immense power. Ramesses also constructed a very impressive temple dedicated to the love of his life, Nefertari. The mighty king gave birth to a lot of children during his time as well as his longevity as pharaoh, also facilitated in assuring his place as God. A master tactician Ramesses strategically created Pi-ramesse in order to keep an eye on ominous invaders. The empire was situated in a northeast corner of Africa that it could either be utilized as advantage or it could be very threatening to the power of the empire. Ramesses the second thought of himself as the compassionate ruler of Egypt, he understood that the overlord was manifest of heka, offerings, were daily actives and the building of sacred monuments, represented the health of the empire. To prevent enemies from invading the empire, which was the paramount of the overlord, who not only subdue ominous mutinies but also sought to expand his empire’s borders. He was masterful able to accomplish these acts by the divine power called sekhem. As it is the longevity of Ramesses the second’s reign, luxurious as well as riches, witnessed prodigious wealth throughout the Egyptian empire. With prosperity came developed social conditions as well as a cultural flowering. Doctors, architects, scribes, and artists all made their marks in the period of Ramesses the second, as it was everlasting. With all of these factors the people of ancient Egypt were very much aware of his solid charisma and character. As Ramesses may have seemed immortal to his people, some may have even consider him as the highest of gods. However, in reality Ramesses was human and all living things have an end as well as Ramesses’s reign of prospect and growth. It was the end for the god king and the people too. An emotional departure with strong sensation of power and immense wills that Ramesses was eternal. The god king’s era came to an end with it, the power of the last great pharaoh collapsed and anarchy ensued.

References

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Ramesses II, "the Great", ruled 1279-1213 BC. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/people/pages/ramesses ii.htm

Ramesses II. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/people/pages/ramesses ii.htm

Mark, J. (2009, September 2). Ramesses II. Retrieved November 22, 2014, from http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/people/pages/ramesses ii.htm

Menu, B., & Hirsch, L. (1999). Ramesses the Great Warrior and Builder (p. 160). London: Thames & Hudson.

Ramses II. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2013, from http://www.conservapedia.com/Ramses_II