A. Aye was succeeded by a general, Horemheb. He was a fairly strong leader and ruled for many years. He attempted to erase all traces of Akhenaten’s heresy. 1. He destroyed Tell el Armarna, using the blocks from the city in his own monuments. 2. Horemheb also erased all traces of Aye and Tutankhamen. 3. None of the three preceding kings, Akhenaten, Tutankhamen, or Aye, would appear in any of the official records of Egypt. All three were thought to be tainted by the heresy of monotheism. B. Because Horemheb also had no children, he seems to have chosen his successor. His choice, an older military man named Ramses, may at first seem an odd decision: Why choose an old man? The answer is that Ramses had children and grandchildren, and with him, the succession would be established. C. To Egyptologists, Horemheb is the last king of the 18th Dynasty. The 19th Dynasty begins with Ramses I and continues through his son, Seti I, and Seti’s son, our subject in this lecture, Ramses the Great (r. 1279–1212 B.C.) II. Ramses the Great was groomed to be pharaoh from childhood, and he would rule for 67 years. A. Seti I took Ramses on military campaigns in his youth.
B. Every pharaoh had five names that reflect the politics of the times. 1. Ramses’s Horus name, which associated the pharaoh with the falcon god Horus, was “Horus, Strong Bull, Beloved of Truth.” 2. A pharaoh’s next name is the Two-Ladies name, referring to two early protective goddesses, the Cobra and the Vulture. For Ramses, this name was “Protector of Egypt Who Subdues Foreign Lands.” 3. Ramses’s Golden Horus name was “Rich in Years, Great in Victories.” 4. Next came the King of Upper and Lower Egypt name, which for Ramses was “Strong in Right Is Ra,” an association with the sun god. 5. Ramses’s Son of Ra name was “Beloved of Amun.” 6. The name Ramses itself means, “Ra Is Born.” C. Ramses would distinguish himself in two ways: as a military man and as a builder. 1. Early in his reign, he completed his father’s temple at Abydos, a sacred city where Osiris was believed to be buried. Ramses carved his own inscriptions throughout Seti’s monument. 2. Ramses also completed the Hypostyle Hall at the vast Karnak Temple and claimed it as his own. III. In year 5 of his reign, when Ramses was about 25 years old, he established his military reputation at the Battle of Kadesh. A. We have more detailed information about this battle than about any other ancient event. B. Kadesh was a city in northern Syria controlled by the Hittites. Early in his reign, Ramses marshaled his army and rode out to retake Kadesh. C. The army was organized in terms of skills. 1. The lowest level was the infantry, whose members were equipped with spears, swords, and shields and who marched to battle. 2. On a higher level were the archers, who were able to avoid hand-to-hand combat. 3. The highest level was the chariotry, the military elite of ancient Egypt. Chariots were expensive to build, requiring three different kinds of wood for the axle, the wheels, and the body. An archer rode with the charioteer, who drove a team of two horses. D. Ramses’s army was 20,000 strong, divided into four divisions of 5,000. Each division was named after a god: Amun, Ra, Ptah, and Set. 1. The army marched northward, taking town after town, despite the logistical problems of maintaining enough food and water to supply 20,000 men.
2. As the army entered Syria, the men probably saw flowers for the first time. In the distance they saw their first glimpse of snow on the mountaintops. 3. Two locals of the Beka Valley told Ramses that Muwatallis, the Hittite king, was fleeing. In truth, Muwatallis was hiding in the woods not far from Kadesh with 40,000 men and 2,500 chariots. 4. Ramses, believing the information he was given, proceeded ahead of his army; behind him, the division of Ra was attacked. 5. Ramses set up camp at Kadesh, scenes of which were later carved on temple walls. The camp was enclosed by a circle of round-topped Egyptian shields. As it was being set up, the camp was attacked by Muwatallis. 6. Pandemonium ensued, but according to accounts, Ramses rallied his men and almost single-handedly saved the day. 7. Ramses managed to push back the Hittites for the night, but the battle the next day would be a standoff. In the end, Ramses refused to sign a peace treaty and would accept only a truce. The battle account was carved everywhere in Egypt. IV. Ramses was also unequaled as a builder. After completing his father’s monuments, he began to build his own. A. One significant monument is the temple of Abu Simbel, south of Aswan in Nubia. B. Carved out of a mountain, the monument was a great piece of architectural propaganda designed to scare off Nubians sailing north. C. In the front of the monument are four 67-foot-tall statues of Ramses the Great seated on his throne. D. Inside the temple were inscribed scenes of captive Nubians, as well as a depiction of the Battle of Kadesh. V. Just as important as Ramses was as a soldier and a builder is Ramses as a family man. A. Ramses’s great wife was Nefertari, for whom he also built a temple. An inscription near the entrance to this temple reads, “Nefertari—She for whom the sun doth shine.” Nefertari may have died shortly after her temple was completed. B. Nefertari’s son, Amunhirkepshef, was slated to become the king of Egypt. His name means, “Amun Is upon My Sword.” This son died before he could become king. C. Ramses, however, had 52 sons and more than 100 children altogether. Another important wife to him was Istnofret. Her son Khaemwaset was the high priest of Memphis and the first archaeologist in history—he labeled the pyramids for posterity. Khaemwaset also built the Serapeum, burial place of the sacred Apis Bulls.
D. Our picture of Ramses from these early years reveals a military man, a builder, and a family man, but he was soon to have a “midlife crisis” that would change him completely.