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95-500: Ramesses II modified, usurped, or constructed many buildings from the ground up, and the most splendid of these, in accordance with New Kingdom royal burial practices, would have been his memorial temple: a place of worship dedicated to pharaoh, god on earth, where his memory would have been kept alive after his death. Surviving records indicate that work on the project began shortly after the start of his reign and continued for 20 years. The design of Ramesses's mortuary temple adheres to

190-464: A 2016 paper: The date of Ramesses II's recorded death on II Akhet day 6 falls perfectly within A. J. Peden's estimated timeline for the king's death in the interval between II Akhet day 3 and II Akhet day 13. This means that Ramesses II died on Year 67, II Akhet day 6 of his reign after ruling Egypt for 66 years 2 months and 9 days. Early in his life, Ramesses II embarked on numerous campaigns to restore possession of previously held territories lost to

285-498: A 66-year reign, Ramesses had already eclipsed all but a few of his greatest predecessors in his achievements. He had brought peace, maintained Egyptian borders, and built numerous monuments across the empire. His country was more prosperous and powerful than it had been in nearly a century. Sed festivals traditionally were held again every three years after the 30th year; Ramesses II, who sometimes held them after two years, eventually celebrated an unprecedented thirteen or fourteen. In

380-586: A Hittite ambush and were initially outnumbered by the enemy, whose chariotry smashed through the second division of Ramesses' forces and attacked his camp. Receiving reinforcements from other Egyptian divisions arriving on the battlefield, the Egyptians counterattacked and routed the Hittites, whose survivors abandoned their chariots and swam the Orontes River to reach the safe city walls. Although left in possession of

475-419: A convenient medium to write on for a wide variety of purposes, mostly very short inscriptions, but in some cases very long. In Classical Athens , when the decision at hand was to banish or exile a certain member of society, citizen peers would cast their vote by writing the name of the person on the shard of pottery; the vote was counted and, if unfavorable, the person was exiled for a period of ten years from

570-521: A formidable force that he used to strengthen Egyptian influence. In his second year, Ramesses II decisively defeated the Sherden sea pirates who were wreaking havoc along Egypt's Mediterranean coast by attacking cargo-laden vessels travelling the sea routes to Egypt . The Sherden people probably came from the coast of Ionia , from southwest Anatolia or perhaps, also from the island of Sardinia . Ramesses posted troops and ships at strategic points along

665-455: A hydraulic engine of his own invention. There he met British Consul General Henry Salt , who hired his services to collect from the temple in Thebes the so-called ' Younger Memnon ', one of two colossal granite heads depicting Ramesses II, and transport it to England . Thanks to Belzoni's hydraulics and his skill as an engineer (Napoleon's men had failed in the same endeavour a decade or so earlier),

760-555: A light red by the spices (henna) used in embalming ... the moustache and beard are thin. ... The hairs are white, like those of the head and eyebrows ... the skin is of earthy brown, splotched with black ... the face of the mummy gives a fair idea of the face of the living king." In 1975, Maurice Bucaille , a French doctor, examined the mummy at the Cairo Museum and found it in poor condition. French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing succeeded in convincing Egyptian authorities to send

855-506: A lighter colour, were most common. Ostraca were typically small, covered with just a few words or a small picture drawn in ink; but the tomb of the craftsman Sennedjem at Deir el Medina contained an enormous ostracon inscribed with the Story of Sinuhe . The importance of ostraca for Egyptology is immense. The combination of their physical nature and the Egyptian climate have preserved texts, from

950-515: A million years" at Thebes. This was mostly due to its location on the very edge of the Nile floodplain , with the annual inundation gradually undermining the foundations of this temple and its neighbours. Neglect and the arrival of new faiths also took their toll: for example, in the early years of the Christian Era, the temple was put into service as a Christian church . This is all standard fare for

1045-535: A new temple, Abu Simbel . It is said to be ego cast into stone; the man who built it intended not only to become Egypt's greatest pharaoh, but also one of its deities. The temple at Abu Simbel was discovered in 1813 by the Swiss Orientalist and traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt . An enormous pile of sand almost completely covered the facade and its colossal statues, blocking the entrance for four more years. The Paduan explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni reached

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1140-413: A reign of 66 years, 2 months. This is essentially confirmed by the calendar of Papyrus Gurob fragment L, where Year 67, I Akhet day 18 of Ramesses II is immediately followed by Year 1, II Akhet day 19 of Merneptah (Ramesses II's son), meaning Ramesses II died about 2 months into his 67th Regnal year. In 1994, A. J. Peden proposed that Ramesses II died between II Akhet day 3 and II Akhet day 13 on

1235-599: A stable possession. Within a year, they had returned to the Hittite fold, so that Ramesses had to march against Dapur once more in his tenth year. This time he claimed to have fought the battle without even bothering to put on his corslet , until two hours after the fighting began. Six of Ramesses's youthful sons, still wearing their side locks , took part in this conquest. He took towns in Retjenu , and Tunip in Naharin , later recorded on

1330-458: A temple of its kind built at that time. Leaving aside the escalation of scale – whereby each successive New Kingdom pharaoh strove to outdo his predecessors in volume and scope – the Ramesseum is largely cast in the same mould as the ruined temple of Amenhotep III that stood behind the " Colossi of Memnon " a kilometre or so away, and Ramesses III's Medinet Habu which closely followed the plan of

1425-539: A week, about 250 chariots in two weeks, and 1,000 shields in a week and a half. After these preparations, Ramesses moved to attack territory in the Levant , which belonged to a more substantial enemy than any he had ever faced in war: the Hittite Empire . After advancing through Canaan for exactly a month, according to the Egyptian sources, Ramesses arrived at Kadesh on 1 May, 1274 BC. Here, Ramesses' troops were caught in

1520-412: Is a piece of pottery , usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ostraca refer to sherds or even small pieces of stone that have writing scratched into them. Usually these are considered to have been broken off before the writing was added; ancient people used the cheap, plentiful, and durable broken pieces of pottery around them as

1615-419: Is common to many subsequent treaties. This treaty differs from others, in that the two language versions are worded differently. While the majority of the text is identical, the Hittite version says the Egyptians came suing for peace and the Egyptian version says the reverse. The treaty was given to the Egyptians in the form of a silver plaque, and this "pocket-book" version was taken back to Egypt and carved into

1710-613: Is considered to be the most likely figure. Upon his death, he was buried in a tomb ( KV7 ) in the Valley of the Kings ; his body was later moved to the Royal Cache , where it was discovered by archaeologists in 1881. Ramesses' mummy is now on display at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization , located in the city of Cairo . Ramesses II was not born a prince. His grandfather Ramesses I

1805-599: Is near the Grand Egyptian Museum . In 2018, a group of archeologists in Cairo's Matariya neighborhood discovered pieces of a booth with a seat that, based on its structure and age, may have been used by Ramesses. "The royal compartment consists of four steps leading to a cubic platform, which is believed to be the base of the king's seat during celebrations or public gatherings," such as Ramesses' inauguration and Sed festivals. It may have also gone on to be used by others in

1900-503: Is now left but the foundations, once stood to the right of the hypostyle hall. It consisted of a peristyle court with two chapel shrines. The entire complex was surrounded by mudbrick walls which started at the gigantic southeast pylon. A cache of papyri and ostraca dating back to the Third Intermediate Period (11th to 8th centuries BC) indicates that the temple was also the site of an important scribal school. The site

1995-519: Is recognized that the Ramesside remains at Tanis were brought there from elsewhere, and the real Pi-Ramesses lies about 30 km (18.6 mi) south, near modern Qantir . The colossal feet of the statue of Ramesses are almost all that remains above ground today. The rest is buried in the fields. The temple complex built by Ramesses II between Qurna and the desert has been known as the Ramesseum since

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2090-402: Is unknown whether these were sent according to a physician's prescription, or to fulfill a home remedy . Six people were assigned to Deir el-Medina as "water carriers" who were tasked to bring sacks of water to the village. Having a system in between a central cistern and door to door deliveries, the water carriers filled sacks and delivered them from the floodplain to a central location in

2185-472: The Battle of Kadesh , generally considered a stalemate. In ancient Greek sources , he is called Ozymandias , derived from the first part of his Egyptian-language regnal name: Usermaatre Setepenre . Ramesses was also referred to as the "Great Ancestor" by successor pharaohs and the Egyptian people. For the early part of his reign, he focused on building cities, temples, and monuments. After establishing

2280-594: The Negev as far as the Dead Sea , capturing Edom - Seir . It then marched on to capture Moab . The other force, led by Ramesses himself, attacked Jerusalem and Jericho . He, too, then entered Moab, where he rejoined his son. The reunited army then marched on Hesbon , Damascus, on to Kumidi , and finally, recaptured Upi (the land around Damascus), reestablishing Egypt's former sphere of influence. Ramesses extended his military successes in his eighth and ninth years. He crossed

2375-529: The Nubians and Hittites and to secure Egypt's borders. He was also responsible for suppressing some Nubian revolts and carrying out a campaign in Libya . Though the Battle of Kadesh often dominates the scholarly view of Ramesses II's military prowess and power, he nevertheless enjoyed more than a few outright victories over Egypt's enemies. During his reign, the Egyptian army is estimated to have totaled some 100,000 men:

2470-660: The Ramesside Period , according to the mission's head. The excavation mission also unearthed "a collection of scarabs , amulets , clay pots and blocks engraved with hieroglyphic text." In December 2019, a red granite royal bust of Ramesses II was unearthed by an Egyptian archaeological mission in the village of Mit Rahina in Giza. The bust depicted Ramesses II wearing a wig with the symbol "Ka" on his head. Its measurements were 55 cm (21.65 in) wide, 45 cm (17.71 in) thick and 105 cm (41.33 in) long. Alongside

2565-496: The tetrastyle cell. Part of the first room, with the ceiling decorated with astral scenes, and few remains of the second room are all that is left. Vast storerooms built of mud bricks stretched out around the temple. Traces of a school for scribes were found among the ruins. A temple of Seti I , of which nothing remains beside the foundations, once stood to the right of the hypostyle hall. In 1255 BC, Ramesses and his queen Nefertari had traveled into Nubia to inaugurate

2660-404: The 19th century. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus marveled at the gigantic temple, now no more than a few ruins. Oriented northwest and southeast, the temple was preceded by two courts. An enormous pylon stood before the first court, with the royal palace at the left and the gigantic statue of the king at the back. Only fragments of the base and torso remain of the syenite statue of

2755-555: The 7-ton stone head arrived in London in 1818, where it was dubbed "The Younger Memnon" and, some years later, given pride of place in the British Museum . It was against the backdrop of intense excitement surrounding the statue's arrival, and having heard wondrous tales of other, less transportable treasures still in the desert, that the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley penned his sonnet " Ozymandias ". In particular, one massive fallen statue at

2850-665: The Amurru during his campaign in Syria. The Battle of Kadesh in his fifth regnal year was the climactic engagement in a campaign that Ramesses fought in Syria, against the resurgent Hittite forces of Muwatalli II . The pharaoh wanted a victory at Kadesh both to expand Egypt's frontiers into Syria, and to emulate his father Seti I's triumphal entry into the city just a decade or so earlier. He also constructed his new capital, Pi-Ramesses . There he built factories to manufacture weapons, chariots, and shields, supposedly producing some 1,000 weapons in

2945-529: The Battle of Kadesh were the early campaigns of Ramesses II into Canaan . His first campaign seems to have taken place in the fourth year of his reign and was commemorated by the erection of what became the first of the Commemorative stelae of Nahr el-Kalb near what is now Beirut . The inscription is almost totally illegible due to weathering. In the fourth year of his reign, he captured the Hittite vassal state of

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3040-549: The Dog River ( Nahr al-Kalb ) and pushed north into Amurru . His armies managed to march as far north as Dapur, where he had a statue of himself erected. The Egyptian pharaoh thus found himself in northern Amurru, well past Kadesh, in Tunip , where no Egyptian soldier had been seen since the time of Thutmose III , almost 120 years earlier. He laid siege to Dapur before capturing it, and returning to Egypt. By November 1272 BC, Ramesses

3135-504: The Egyptian possessions in the region of Damascus . Egypt's sphere of influence was now restricted to Canaan while Syria fell into Hittite hands. Canaanite princes, seemingly encouraged by the Egyptian incapacity to impose their will and goaded on by the Hittites, began revolts against Egypt. Ramesses II was not willing to let this stand, and prepared to contest the Hittite advance with new military campaigns. Because they are recorded on his monuments with few indications of precise dates or

3230-704: The Great , was an Egyptian pharaoh . He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty . Along with Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty , he is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom , which itself was the most powerful period of ancient Egypt . He is also widely considered one of ancient Egypt's most successful warrior pharaohs, conducting no fewer than 15 military campaigns, all resulting in victories, excluding

3325-419: The Hittites at Kadesh are repeated on the walls. In the upper registers , feast and honour of the phallic deity Min , god of fertility. On the opposite side of the court, the few Osiride pillars and columns still remaining may furnish an idea of the original grandeur. Scattered remains of the two statues of the seated king also may be seen, one in pink granite and the other in black granite, which once flanked

3420-426: The Ramesseum is now inextricably linked with Shelley, because of the cartouche on its shoulder bearing Ramesses's throne name , User-maat-re Setep-en-re, the first part of which Diodorus transliterated into Greek as "Ozymandias". While Shelley's "vast and trunkless legs of stone" owe more to poetic license than to archaeology, the "half sunk... shattered visage" lying on the sand is an accurate description of part of

3515-410: The Ramesseum site, and it was with much fanfare that they identified it with the "Tomb of Ozymandias" or "Palace of Memnon" of which Diodorus of Sicily had written in the 1st century BC. The next visitor of note was Giovanni Belzoni , a showman and engineer of Italian origin and, latterly, an archaeologist and antiques dealer. Belzoni's travels took him in 1815 to Cairo , where he sold Mehemet Ali

3610-604: The Ramesseum. Instead, the significance that the Ramesseum enjoys today owes more to the time and manner of its rediscovery by Europeans . The Ramesseum king list is a minor list of kings which still remain in situ on the few remains of the second pylon. The storerooms surround the temple on three sides, forming three groups, with the oldest behind the temple. The site is notable for its true arches made of mud bricks that were not wedge-shaped as proper voussoirs , but simply held in place by mortar and thus prone to collapse, leaving very few examples still standing. Ramesseum has

3705-466: The ally of Ramesses. Ramesses II also campaigned south of the first cataract of the Nile into Nubia . When Ramesses was about 22 years old, two of his own sons, including Amun-her-khepeshef , accompanied him in at least one of those campaigns. By the time of Ramesses, Nubia had been a colony for 200 years, but its conquest was recalled in decoration from the temples Ramesses II built at Beit el-Wali (which

3800-533: The arrival in Egypt of Napoleon Bonaparte in the summer of 1798. While undeniably an invasion by an alien imperialist power, this was nonetheless an invasion of its times, informed by Enlightenment ideas: alongside Napoleon's troops went men of science, the same whose toil under the desert sun would later yield the seminal 23-volume Description de l'Égypte . Two French engineers, Jean-Baptiste Prosper Jollois and Édouard de Villiers du Terrage , were assigned to study

3895-404: The arteries . He had made Egypt rich from all the supplies and bounty he had collected from other empires. He had outlived many of his wives and children and left great memorials all over Egypt . Nine more pharaohs took the name Ramesses in his honour. Originally Ramesses II was buried in the tomb KV7 in the Valley of the Kings , but because of looting in the valley, priests later transferred

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3990-471: The basis of Theban graffito 854+855, equated to Merneptah's Year 1 II Akhet day 2. The workman's village of Deir el-Medina preserves a fragment of a mid-20th dynasty necropolis journal (P. Turin prov. nr. 8538 recto I, 5; unpublished) which records that the date II Akhet day 6 was a Free feast day for the "Sailing of UsimaRe-Setepenre." (for Ramesses II). As the Egyptologist Robert J. Demarée notes in

4085-406: The battlefield, Ramesses, logistically unable to sustain a long siege, returned to Egypt. While Ramesses claimed a great victory, and this was technically true in terms of the actual battle, it is generally considered that the Hittites were the ultimate victors as far as the overall campaign was concerned, since the Egyptians retreated after the battle, and Hittite forces invaded and briefly occupied

4180-568: The body to a holding area, re-wrapped it, and placed it inside the tomb of queen Ahmose Inhapy . Seventy-two hours later it was again moved, to the tomb of the high priest Pinedjem II . All of this is recorded in hieroglyphics on the linen covering the body of the coffin of Ramesses II. His mummy was eventually discovered in 1881 in TT320 inside an ordinary wooden coffin and is now in Cairo 's National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (until 3 April 2021 it

4275-655: The bust, limestone blocks appeared showing Ramesses II during the Heb-Sed religious ritual. "This discovery is considered one of the rarest archaeological discoveries. It is the first-ever Ka statue made of granite to be discovered. The only Ka statue that was previously found is made of wood and it belongs to one of the kings of the 13th dynasty of ancient Egypt which is displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square ," said archaeologist Mostafa Waziri . In September 2024, it

4370-464: The citizens of Deir el-Medina attempted to dig a well, presumably due to their displacement toward the water carriers, but to no avail. The first attempt was during the fifteenth year of Ramesses III where a hole was dug twenty two meters into the ground, but with no luck. Before digging another, they established the water table sat at thirty one and a half meters, and in a desperate attempt they dug twenty meters past that, to fifty two meters, but again it

4465-657: The city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta , he designated it as Egypt's new capital and used it as the main staging point for his campaigns in Syria . Ramesses led several military expeditions into the Levant , where he reasserted Egyptian control over Canaan and Phoenicia ; he also led a number of expeditions into Nubia , all commemorated in inscriptions at Beit el-Wali and Gerf Hussein . He celebrated an unprecedented thirteen or fourteen Sed festivals —more than any other pharaoh. Estimates of his age at death vary, although 90 or 91

4560-663: The city, thus giving rise to the term ostracism . Broken pottery shards were also used for anal hygiene . Scholars have suggested that shards from a vote may have been re-used for this purpose, to curse the exiled individual by soiling their name. Anything with a smooth surface could be used as a writing surface. Generally discarded material, ostraca were cheap, readily available, and therefore frequently used for writings of an ephemeral nature such as messages, prescriptions, receipts, students' exercises, and notes. Pottery sherds, limestone flakes, and thin fragments of other stone types were used, but limestone sherds, being flaky and of

4655-440: The coast and patiently allowed the pirates to attack their perceived prey before skillfully catching them by surprise in a sea battle and capturing them all in a single action. A stele from Tanis speaks of their having come "in their war-ships from the midst of the sea, and none were able to stand before them". There probably was a naval battle somewhere near the mouth of the Nile, as shortly afterward, many Sherden are seen among

4750-565: The disputes over Canaan, its immediate impetus seems to have been a diplomatic crisis that occurred following Ḫattušili III 's accession to the Hittite throne. Ḫattušili had come to power by deposing his nephew Muršili III in the brief and bitter Hittite Civil War . Though the deposed king was initially sent into exile in Syria, he subsequently attempted to regain power and fled to Egypt once these attempts were discovered. When Ḫattušili demanded his extradition, Ramesses II denied any knowledge of his wherabouts. When Ḫattušili insisted that Muršili

4845-465: The enthroned pharaoh, 17 metres (56 ft) high and weighing more than 1,000 tonnes (980 long tons ; 1,100 short tons ). Scenes of the pharaoh and his army triumphing over the Hittite forces fleeing before Kadesh are represented on the pylon. Remains of the second court include part of the internal facade of the pylon and a portion of the Osiride portico on the right. Scenes of war and the alleged rout of

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4940-470: The enthroned pharaoh, 19 m (62 ft) high and weighing more than 1000 tons. This was alleged to have been transported 170 mi (270 km) over land. This is the largest remaining colossal statue (except statues done in situ ) in the world. However, fragments of four granite colossi of Ramesses were found in Tanis (northern Egypt) with an estimated height of 69 to 92 feet (21 to 28 meters). Like four of

5035-459: The entrance to the temple. Thirty-nine out of the forty-eight columns in the great hypostyle hall (41 × 31 m) still stand in the central rows. They are decorated with the usual scenes of the king before various deities. Part of the ceiling, decorated with gold stars on a blue ground, also has been preserved. Ramesses's children appear in the procession on the few walls left. The sanctuary was composed of three consecutive rooms, with eight columns and

5130-400: The extensive catacombs of animal mummies were uncovered. Apparently it was a pilgrimage site, with as many as 1½ million ibis birds interred (as well as cats, dogs, rams, and lions). This 2nd-century BC site contained extensive pottery debris from the site offerings of the pilgrims. Emery's excavations uncovered the "Dream Ostraca", created by a scribe named Hor of Sebennytos. A devotee of

5225-409: The first pylon records his pillaging, in the eighth year of his reign, a city called "Shalem", which may or may not have been Jerusalem . The scenes of the great pharaoh and his army triumphing over the Hittite forces fleeing before Kadesh , as portrayed in the canons of the " epic poem of Pentaur ", can still be seen on the pylon. Only fragments of the base and torso remain of the syenite statue of

5320-423: The forty-eight columns in the great hypostyle hall (41 x 31 m) still stand in the central rows. They are decorated with the usual scenes of the king before various gods. Part of the ceiling, decorated with gold stars on a blue, ground has also been preserved. The sons and daughters of Ramesses appear in the procession on the few walls left. The sanctuary was composed of three consecutive rooms, with eight columns and

5415-524: The god Thoth , he lived adjacent to Thoth's sanctuary at the entrance to the North Catacomb and worked as a "proto-therapist", advising and comforting clients. He transferred his divinely-inspired dreams onto ostraca. The Dream Ostraca are 65 Demotic texts written on pottery and limestone. Famous ostraca for Biblical archaeology have been found at: Additionally, the lots drawn at Masada are believed to have been ostraca, and some potsherds resembling

5510-522: The interior on 4 August 1817. As well as the temples of Abu Simbel, Ramesses left other monuments to himself in Nubia. His early campaigns are illustrated on the walls of the Temple of Beit el-Wali (now relocated to New Kalabsha ). Other temples dedicated to Ramesses are Derr and Gerf Hussein (also relocated to New Kalabsha). For the temple of Amun at Jebel Barkal , the temple's foundation probably dates during

5605-538: The latter part of the reign of Ramesses II and enumerates and names the Phoenician coastal towns under Egyptian control. The harbour town of Sumur , north of Byblos , is mentioned as the northernmost town belonging to Egypt, suggesting it contained an Egyptian garrison. No further Egyptian campaigns in Canaan are mentioned after the conclusion of the peace treaty. The northern border seems to have been safe and quiet, so

5700-527: The lots have been found. In October 2008, Israeli archaeologist, Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , discovered what he says to be the earliest known Hebrew text. This text was written on an ostracon sherd; Garfinkel believes this sherd dates to the time of King David from the Old Testament, about 3,000 years ago. Carbon dating of the ostracon and analysis of the pottery have dated

5795-615: The medical to the mundane, which in other cultures were lost. These can often serve as better witnesses of everyday life than literary treatises preserved in libraries. The 91 ostraca found at Deir el-Medina provide a deeply compelling view into the inner workings of the New Kingdom . These ostraca have shown medical, and documentary records, some of which provide information on how water was provided, and how economic transactions were carried out. The extreme variety of information on ostraca found presents information that would be lost if it weren't written down. Like other Egyptian communities,

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5890-599: The mummy to France for treatment. In September 1976, it was greeted at Paris–Le Bourget Airport with full military honours befitting a king, then taken to a laboratory at the Musée de l'Homme . Persistent claims that the mummy was issued with a passport for the journey are incorrect, but may be based on the French word passeport being used to describe the extensive documentation required. Ostracon An ostracon ( Greek : ὄστρακον ostrakon , plural ὄστρακα ostraka )

5985-425: The oldest such arch still standing in Egypt ( c.  1300 BC ). Each granary in the oldest group was approximately 32 meters in length, 3.7 m wide and 3.5 m high, with bottom wall thickness of 1.5 m. The springing level of a barrel vault at the height of approximately 2.5 m, with arcs build as four courses of mud bricks 40x20x12-14 centimeters in size. The origins of modern Egyptology can be traced to

6080-480: The phallic god Min , god of fertility. On the opposite side of the court the few Osiride pillars and columns still left furnish an idea of the original grandeur. Scattered remains of the two statues of the seated king which once flanked the entrance to the temple can also be seen, one in pink granite and the other in black granite. The head of one of these has been removed to the British Museum. Thirty-nine out of

6175-599: The pharaoh's body-guard where they are conspicuous by their horned helmets having a ball projecting from the middle, their round shields, and the great Naue II swords with which they are depicted in inscriptions of the Battle of Kadesh. In that sea battle, together with the Sherden, the pharaoh also defeated the Lukka (L'kkw, possibly the people later known as the Lycians ), and the Šqrsšw ( Shekelesh ) peoples. The immediate antecedents to

6270-551: The region to allow their construction. There are no detailed accounts of Ramesses II's undertaking large military actions against the Libyans , only generalised records of his conquering and crushing them, which may or may not refer to specific events that were otherwise unrecorded. It may be that some of the records, such as the Aswan Stele of his year 2, are harking back to Ramesses's presence on his father's Libyan campaigns. Perhaps it

6365-402: The regnal year, the precise chronology of the subsequent campaigns is not clear. Late in the seventh year of his reign (April/May 1272 BC ), Ramesses II returned to Syria again. This time he proved more successful against his Hittite foes. During this campaign he split his army into two forces. One force was led by his son, Amun-her-khepeshef , and it chased warriors of the Šhasu tribes across

6460-501: The reign of Ramesses II, the Egyptians were evidently active on a 300-kilometre (190 mi) stretch along the Mediterranean coast, at least as far as Zawyet Umm El Rakham , where remains of a fortress described by its texts as built on Libyans land have been found. Although the exact events surrounding the foundation of the coastal forts and fortresses is not clear, some degree of political and military control must have been held over

6555-555: The reign of Thutmose III, while the temple was shaped during his reign and that of Ramesses II. The colossal statue of Ramesses II dates back 3,200 years, and was originally discovered in six pieces in a temple near Memphis , Egypt. Weighing some 83-tonne (82-long-ton; 91-short-ton), it was transported, reconstructed, and erected in Ramesses Square in Cairo in 1955. In August 2006, contractors relocated it to save it from exhaust fumes that were causing it to deteriorate. The new site

6650-412: The royal palace at the left and the gigantic statue of the king looming up at the back. As was customary, the pylons and outer walls were decorated with scenes commemorating the pharaoh's military victories and leaving due record of his dedication to, and kinship with, the gods . In Ramesses's case, much importance is placed on the Battle of Kadesh (ca. 1274 BC); more intriguingly, however, one block atop

6745-465: The rule of the pharaoh was strong until Ramesses II's death, and the subsequent waning of the dynasty. When the King of Mira attempted to involve Ramesses in a hostile act against the Hittites, the Egyptian responded that the times of intrigue in support of Mursili III, had passed. Ḫattušili III wrote to Kadashman-Enlil II , Kassite king of Karduniaš ( Babylon ) in the same spirit, reminding him of

6840-463: The six colossi of Amenhotep III ( Colossi of Memnon ), there are no longer complete remains, so the heights are based on unconfirmed estimates. Remains of the second court include part of the internal façade of the pylon and a portion of the Osiride portico on the right. Scenes of war and the rout of the Hittites at Kadesh are repeated on the walls. In the upper registers , are shown a feast in honour of

6935-403: The standard canons of New Kingdom temple architecture. Oriented northwest and southeast, the temple itself comprised two stone pylons (gateways, some 60 m wide), one after the other, each leading into a courtyard. Beyond the second courtyard, at the centre of the complex, was a covered 48-column hypostyle hall , surrounding the inner sanctuary. An enormous pylon stood before the first court, with

7030-656: The temple at Karnak . The Egyptian account records Ramesses II's receipt of the Hittite peace treaty tablets on I Peret 21 of Year 21, corresponding to 10 November 1259 BC, according to the standard "Low Chronology" used by Egyptologists. The treaty was concluded between Ramesses II and Ḫattušili III in year 21 of Ramesses's reign (c. 1259 BC). Its 18 articles call for peace between Egypt and Hatti and then proceeds to maintain that their respective deities also demand peace. The frontiers are not laid down in this treaty, but may be inferred from other documents. The Anastasy A papyrus describes Canaan during

7125-498: The temple complex of Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum , a mortuary temple in western Thebes . Ramesses II moved the capital of his kingdom from Thebes in the Nile valley to a new site in the eastern Delta. His motives are uncertain, although he possibly wished to be closer to his territories in Canaan and Syria. The new city of Pi-Ramesses (or to give the full name, Pi -Ramesses Aa-nakhtu , meaning "Domain of Ramesses, Great in Victory")

7220-555: The temple to the south, and a school where boys were taught to be scribes to the southeast. Some of the challenges in preserving the area have been the control of modern Egyptian farmers using the area for farming and encroaching on the ruins. Ramesses II Ramesses II ( / ˈ r æ m ə s iː z , ˈ r æ m s iː z , ˈ r æ m z iː z / ; Ancient Egyptian : rꜥ-ms-sw , Rīꜥa-masē-sə , Ancient Egyptian pronunciation: [ɾiːʕamaˈseːsə] ; c.  1303 BC – 1213 BC ), commonly known as Ramesses

7315-553: The tetrastyle cell. Part of the first room, with the ceiling decorated with astral scenes, and a few remains of the second room are all that is left. Adjacent to the north of the hypostyle hall was a smaller temple; this was dedicated to Ramesses's mother, Tuya , and to his beloved chief wife, Nefertari . To the south of the first courtyard stood the temple palace. The complex was surrounded by various storerooms, granaries, workshops, and other ancillary buildings, some built as late as Roman times. A temple of Seti I , of which nothing

7410-591: The third year of his reign, Ramesses started the most ambitious building project after the pyramids , which were built almost 1,500 years earlier. Ramesses built extensively from the Delta to Nubia , "covering the land with buildings in a way no monarch before him had." Some of the activities undertaken were focused on remodeling or usurping existing works, improving masonry techniques, and using art as propaganda. Ramesses also undertook many new construction projects. Two of his biggest works, besides Pi-Ramesses , were

7505-597: The time when his father, Kadashman-Turgu , had offered to fight Ramesses II, the king of Egypt. The Hittite king encouraged the Babylonian to oppose another enemy, which must have been the king of Assyria , whose allies had killed the messenger of the Egyptian king. Ḫattušili encouraged Kadashman-Enlil to come to his aid and prevent the Assyrians from cutting the link between the Canaanite province of Egypt and Mursili III,

7600-552: The trade and whether the items presented were needed. Conveniently, most ostraca found in Deir el-Medina were on economics and provide information on what these trades looked like. One such ostracon details a trade with one side offering an ox that was 120 Deben and the other offering two jars of fat, five smooth cloth tunics, one thin cloth kilt, and one hide which when put altogether were 130 Deben. From 1964 to 1971, Bryan Emery excavated at Saqqara in search of Imhotep 's tomb; instead,

7695-525: The village where each household could receive a quarter to a half of a sack which would amount to ninety six to one hundred and fifteen liters of water per house. The typical household would have six residents, each would get fifteen to twenty liters of water for drinking. One ostracon describes how many of these deliveries were unfulfilled, where five people's rations were undelivered, totaling to four and three quarters sacks or three hundred and seventy five liters of water gone undelivered. On multiple occasions,

7790-462: The walls of the Ramesseum . This second success at the location was equally as meaningless as his first, as neither power could decisively defeat the other in battle. In year eighteen, Ramesses erected a stele at Beth Shean , on 19 January 1261 BC. In Year 21 of Ramesses's reign, he concluded a peace treaty with the Hittites known to modern scholars as the Treaty of Kadesh . Though this treaty settled

7885-513: The workmen and inhabitants of Deir el-Medina received care through a combination of medical treatment , prayer , and magic . Nevertheless, the records at Deir el-Medina indicate some level of division, as records from the village note both a “ physician ” who saw patients and prescribed treatments, and a “scorpion charmer” who specialized in magical cures for scorpion stings. The ostraca from Deir el-Medina also differed in their circulation. Magical spells and remedies were widely distributed among

7980-415: The workmen; there are even several cases of spells being sent from one worker to another, with no “trained” intermediary. Written medical texts appear to have been much rarer, with only a handful of ostraca containing prescriptions , indicating that the trained physician mixed the more complicated remedies himself. There are also several documents that show the writer sending for medical ingredients, but it

8075-559: The wrecked statue. The hands, and the feet, lie nearby. Were it still standing, the Ozymandias colossus would tower 19 m (62 ft) above the ground, rivalling the Colossi of Memnon and the statues of Ramesses carved into the mountain at Abu Simbel. A joint French-Egyptian team has been exploring and restoring the Ramesseum and its environs since 1991. Among their discoveries during excavations include kitchens, bakeries and supply rooms for

8170-512: Was Seti I who achieved this supposed control over the region, and who planned to establish the defensive system, in a manner similar to how he rebuilt those to the east, the Ways of Horus across Northern Sinai . By tradition, in the 30th year of his reign, Ramesses celebrated a jubilee called the Sed festival . These were held to honour and rejuvenate the pharaoh's strength. Only halfway through what would be

8265-611: Was a vizier and military officer during the reign of pharaoh Horemheb , who appointed Ramesses I as his successor; at that time, Ramesses II was about eleven years old. After Ramesses I died, his son, Seti I became king, and designated his son Ramesses II as prince regent at about the age of fourteen. Ramesses date of accession to the throne is recorded as III Shemu , day 27, which most Egyptologists believe to be 31 May 1279 BC. The Jewish historian Josephus , in his book Contra Apionem which included material from Manetho 's Aegyptiaca , assigned Ramesses II ("Armesses Miamun")

8360-412: Was back in Egypt, at Heliopolis . His victory in the north proved ephemeral. After having reasserted his power over Canaan, Ramesses led his army north. A mostly illegible stele at the Dog River near Beirut , (Lebanon), which appears to be dated to the king's second year, was probably set up there in his tenth year (1269 BC). The thin strip of territory pinched between Amurru and Kadesh did not make for

8455-511: Was dominated by huge temples and his vast residential palace, complete with its own zoo. In the 10th century AD, the Bible exegete Rabbi Saadia Gaon believed that the biblical site of Ramesses had to be identified with Ain Shams . For a time, during the early 20th century, the site was misidentified as that of Tanis , due to the amount of statuary and other material from Pi-Ramesses found there, but it now

8550-406: Was futile. With no water in the well, it was used as a dump where hundreds more ostraca were found. Economics were unique in Deir el-Medina as transactions between people were closer to trades than modern transactions. Actual money would rarely change hands, as it was more of a measure of worth for an object and when making a deal, trades between people would consider both the worth of each ends of

8645-532: Was in Egypt, Ramesses's response suggested that Ḫattušili was being deceived by his subjects. This demand precipitated a crisis, and the two empires came close to war. Eventually, in the twenty-first year of his reign (1259 BC ), Ramesses concluded an agreement at Kadesh to end the conflict. The peace treaty was recorded in two versions, one in Egyptian hieroglyphs , the other in Hittite, using cuneiform script ; both versions survive. Such dual-language recording

8740-512: Was in the Egyptian Museum ). The pharaoh's mummy reveals an aquiline nose and strong jaw. It stands at about 1.7 metres (5 ft 7 in). Gaston Maspero , who first unwrapped the mummy of Ramesses II, writes, "on the temples there are a few sparse hairs, but at the poll the hair is quite thick, forming smooth, straight locks about five centimeters in length. White at the time of death, and possibly auburn during life, they have been dyed

8835-519: Was in use before Ramesses had the first stone put in place: beneath the hypostyle hall, modern archaeologists have found a shaft tomb from the Middle Kingdom, yielding a rich hoard of religious and funerary artefacts. Unlike the massive stone temples that Ramesses ordered carved from the face of the Nubian mountains at Abu Simbel , the inexorable passage of three millennia was not kind to his "temple of

8930-416: Was published that during an archaeological excavation of a 3,200 year old fort along the Nile, researches found a golden sword with Ramses II signature on it. The Egyptian scholar Manetho (third century BC) attributed Ramesses a reign of 66 years and 2 months. By the time of his death, aged about 90 years, Ramesses was suffering from severe dental problems and was plagued by arthritis and hardening of

9025-690: Was the subject of epigraphic work by the Oriental Institute during the Nubian salvage campaign of the 1960s), Gerf Hussein and Kalabsha in northern Nubia. On the south wall of the Beit el-Wali temple, Ramesses II is depicted charging into battle against tribes south of Egypt in a war chariot, while his two young sons, Amun-her-khepsef and Khaemwaset, are shown behind him, also in war chariots. A wall in one of Ramesses's temples says he had to fight one battle with those tribes without help from his soldiers. During

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