Ramses II - history - knowledge - catalog of articles - rose of the world. Pharaoh Ramses the Great, Ancient Egypt: reign, biography

Ramses the Great is a pharaoh who lived during the so-called Ramessid era. It is dated to the XIII-XI centuries. BC e. During this time, historians count 18 pharaohs. Ramses the Great is their most prominent representative. This is what will be discussed in this article.

Predecessors

The Ramessid era is named so not by the name of the hero of our article, but by the name of his predecessor, Ramses I. In 1292, this pharaoh ascended the throne, but did not do anything special, since he ruled for only a few years. He went down in history only as the ruler who gave the name to the coming era.

Around 1290 BC, the son of Ramses the First, Seti the First, ascended the throne. The future Ramses the Great was his son. It was Seti First who created the preconditions for the future prosperity of the country.

In 1279, Ramses the Great ascended the throne, whose biography is full of many interesting facts.

New ruler

All pharaohs of Egypt were considered messengers higher powers. All rulers were described and revered in approximately the same way. Some stylistic features when describing one or another pharaoh, they were often needed only in order not to copy the previous ones exactly. The new pharaoh, later nicknamed the Great, was very young. However, from his first days it became clear that this ruler would achieve a lot. What great did Ramses do, whose 13th son, Merneptah, succeeded him after his death?

Having ascended the throne, the new ruler immediately ordered the names of his predecessors to be obscured on all statues and monuments. He made it clear that for the Egyptian people the ruler of the 19th dynasty should be the only one. In addition, he declared himself the chosen one of Amun - the invincible hero, the divine benefactor of Egypt, who would later merge with the image of the god Ra.

Foreign policy

Ramses the Great entered the history of Egypt as a conqueror - under him, the borders expanded significantly: in the south to the borders with Sudan, and in the east - with Syria. However, here the Egyptians encountered the Hittites, who also laid claim to these territories. A war for spheres of influence turned out to be inevitable.

Battle of Kadesh (1312 BC)

Ramses the Great fought with the Hittites for a long time, but the outstanding battle of Kadesh in 1312 BC went down in history. e. - it ended in a draw, but after it Egypt signed a peace treaty that was beneficial for itself.

The battle near the city of Kadesh was one of the grandiose battles in which 5-6 thousand war chariots took part. Even Darius, the ruler of the vast Persian empire, could not afford so much much later.

Historical sources, such as the "Poem of Pentaur", tell descendants about the personal valor of the pharaoh himself. He acted at the head of an advance detachment of 2 thousand people and 400 chariots - the “army of Ra.” Nearby he was covered by the “army of Ptah” in the amount of 4 thousand people and 800 chariots, and in reserve there was the “army of Thoth” - 8 thousand people and 2 thousand chariots. Arab horse mercenaries acted on Ramses's side.

The forces were unequal: the garrison of Kadesh alone numbered about 28 thousand people. The Hittites also had a huge cavalry - 5 thousand people.

Progress of the battle

The battle took place in Syria, which was controlled by the Hittites. Ramses, believing the Bedouin nomads who had deceived him, divided his forces and went forward with a smaller force, defeating a small force near Aleppo. Meanwhile, the Hittites with a huge army attacked the main forces of the Egyptians that Ramses had left and defeated them. The chronicles mention that almost the entire army of Egypt was destroyed, even the children of the pharaoh died. After this, the Hittites surrounded Ramses.

Literary monuments tell that Ramses himself fought alone against 30 Hittite and 40 Syrian chariots, was wounded, but turned to the god Ra. Ra heard the pharaoh and punished the enemies with a ray emanating from Ramses' head. The enemies fled in horror. The legend is not far from the truth: the pharaoh himself personally participated in the battle, armed with a bow, and exterminated people on war chariots from a distance. The Hittites could not get close, as they were destroyed on the outskirts.

The meaning of the Battle of Kadesh, the peace treaty with the Hittites

The Battle of Kadesh went down in history as the last battle of the Bronze Age. The Hittites had already begun to use iron, which showed its effectiveness in battle. Its production was a state secret. The Hittites had powerful chariots with three warriors on board, which increased their fighting power. The Egyptians' chariots were lighter and more maneuverable; they carried two people. However, the Egyptian carts had a huge advantage: warriors with large bows sat on them. Scientists believe that the presence of powerful detachments of spearmen in the Egyptian army, which the Hittites did not have, saved Ramses. Also, the use of bows and arrows on chariots caused panic among the enemy, many of their carts simply did not make it, the rest turned back in horror. But there was still infantry left. Having erected a wall similar to a phalanx, the Egyptians were able to cope with superior enemy forces here too.

Having suffered huge losses, the pharaoh's army still remained on the battlefield, and the Hittites retreated, despite their superiority. However, the most important thing was not achieved: the city of Kadesh in Syria remained with the enemy, Ramses was unable to take it.

After an unsuccessful assault on the city, the Hittite emperor Muwattali sued for peace. Both sides considered the Battle of Kadesh a victory. The interest of historians in it is due to the fact that it was the first battle that was mentioned on both sides. Based on these data, one could judge the reliability of written sources.

The first diplomatic act in history

The treaty between Ramses and Muwattali was also the first international legal treaty. In it, the Hittite ruler recognized himself as an official subject of Egypt.

The victory at Kadesh indirectly played a huge role for the future of all humanity: without this victory, the tribal union of the Jews would not have arisen. It was on the Hittite lands that Israel was subsequently formed.

Construction of the capital

The reign of Ramses the Great is not only about major military successes in the international arena, but also about internal development. One of the outstanding deeds of the pharaoh was the construction of a new city - Per-Ramses. Historians believed that the place was not chosen by chance: this place was the capital of the ancient Hyksos, who had enslaved the ancestors of the Egyptians. In this way, the pharaoh showed not just his independence, but his numerous victories. Some argue that the construction of the city began with Seti I, but was completed by Ramses.

The city had huge rectangular buildings, and the foot of a statue of the pharaoh himself was found. The city had glass workshops, and the existence of an archive of Ramses the Great is also confirmed.

Ramses the Great and Moses

For a long time, historians considered Moses and his entire legend to be fiction, but independent sources confirm his real existence.

Many films have been made, books have been written, and legends have been created about Moses and his forty-year campaign. This topic is touched upon a little in such work as “Ramses: Great Pharaoh" - a film about the outstanding ruler of Egypt.

According to biblical legend, Moses was rescued in the thickets on the river bank, as all the little Jewish children were being killed. Allegedly, the pharaoh was afraid that one of them might seize power. Moses was then picked up by one of the palace employees and was at court. Researchers are inclined to think that the Jews really quickly populated the country, which instilled fear in the people and the king. Therefore, the ruler ordered the killing of newborns in order to at least slightly stop the growth of the Jewish population. It was also impossible to evict them from the country: among them there were many talented people that Egypt needed.

There is a widespread legend according to which little Moses took the crown from Pharaoh Ramses the Great and put it on his head. The Egyptians are a superstitious people: the ruler immediately saw this as an omen. The pharaoh's daughter actually raised her adopted son. Perhaps she adopted little Moses, whom his father abandoned. The story of the found baby is a legend that ties Moses to the Jews, since for beautiful fairy tale For the great campaign, they needed a man from his own tribe, but who was known at court. Be that as it may, the secrets of Ramses the Great haunt many Egyptologists and historians.

Achievements of the Great Pharaoh

So, what great did Ramses II do? He has many achievements:

Family of Ramesses II

The large size of Ramesses II's family is well known. In addition to the countless concubines of the harem, four of its legal spouses, at least 111 sons and 67 daughters are known. 13

The first legal wife of the young Ramesses II was the famous beauty Nefertari, “beloved Mut,” who was considered a queen, as evidenced by the inscription in the tomb of the priest Amun Nebunenef, already in the first year of her husband’s independent reign. Surprisingly, almost nothing is known about the origin of the queen. There is not a single mention of her hypothetical family ties with the reigning house. Her title does not contain the title “daughter of the king.” But, nevertheless, she is called a “noble lady” or “hereditary nobility”, i.e. a very noble lady who by birth belonged to one of the court families. Light on this mystery can be shed by a discovery made in the tomb of Nefertari at the beginning of the century - a “button” for sealing the chest. This miniature object is made of earthenware; on its surface there is a cartouche with the name of Aye, the penultimate king of the 18th dynasty. This find aroused great interest and became the reason for putting forward many hypotheses about the family connection between Nefertari and the last Amarna kings. In view of the long duration of Horemheb's reign, it becomes clear that the queen, due to her age, could not be the daughter of Aye, but rather is his granddaughter or even great-granddaughter.

The collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo contains a statue of the royal scribe and military leader Nakhtmin, better known for the fragments of the famous broken sculptural group that once depicted him and his wife. 14 The inscriptions on the statue mention that he was “born of a priestess of Mina and a singer of Isis,” named Iuya. A military man of the highest rank already during the reign of Tutankhamun, connected by name and relatives with the city of Akhmim, he, called in the texts “the son of the king from his flesh,” was probably the son of Ey, who, for some reason unknown to us, was unable to take the throne after the death of his father . If we consider the close attachment Nefertari’s daughters had to Akhmim, we can assume that the queen was the granddaughter of Ey, the daughter of the military leader Nakhtmin. 15 Of course, this is just another hypothesis, but, nevertheless, due to the lack of sources, this is all that can be said about the origin of the beloved wife of Ramesses II.

Nefertari appears next to the king on the reverse side of a pylon at Luxor, next to an inscription dated to the third year of Ramesses' reign; 16, the queen was constantly depicted next to the colossi of her husband until she was replaced in this capacity by the princesses, who after her death became queens - Bentanat and Meritamon. 17 A magnificently decorated but very damaged statue of Nefertari is kept in Brussels. 18 She is shown standing next to the famous sculpture of Ramesses from the Turin Museum. 19 Presumably Nefertari is also depicted by the famous statue of the “unknown” queen from the Berlin Museum (Inv.10114; comparison of the contour of the legs of the statue and the base from the statue of Nefertari from Heliopolis made it possible to establish their original unity). 20 The grand temple of Ibshek was dedicated to Nefertari at Abu Simbel in Nubia, north of the sanctuary of Ramesses II himself 21 . The facade of the sanctuary is decorated on both sides of the entrance with paired colossal figures of Ramesses, between which stand the colossi of Nefertari herself in the form of the goddess Hathor.

“Ramesses, he erected a temple carved into the mountain forever,” says the large dedicatory inscription on the facade, “for the sake of the Great Royal Consort Nefertari, Beloved Mut, in Nubia, in eternity and infinity... for Nefertari, who pleased the gods, the one for which the sun shines.” 22

In the interior of the sanctuary, the queen receives as much attention as her husband. An Egyptian queen received such an honor only once: the pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, Amenhotep III, erected a temple for his famous wife Teye in Sedeing, where she was revered, like Nefertari, as the goddess Hathor. 23

After the conclusion of a peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittite state in 1259 BC. (21st year of Ramesses II), apparently actively participating in the political life of the country, Nefertari established friendly correspondence with the Hittite queen Puduhepa. 241

In the 24th year of the reign of Ramses II, the construction of the grandiose temples at Abu Simbel was completed. To consecrate the complex and establish the cults of deities, the royal fleet sailed from Thebes to Nubia. Ramesses and Nefertari were accompanied by Princess Meritamon and the “royal son of Kush” Hekanakht. This event is narrated by the Hekanakht stele, carved into the rocks next to the temples. 25 The nobleman is depicted presenting gifts to the queen sitting on the throne. This was the last event associated with the name of the early deceased beauty Nefertari.

The tomb of Nefertari, carved into the rocks of the Valley of the Queens, is the most beautiful monument of this necropolis; her paintings, covering an area of ​​520 m2, are rightfully considered one of the best works of art of the entire New Kingdom era. 26 The paintings of the tomb illustrate some chapters of the book “Sayings of the Day of Exit” (Book of the Dead) and show the path of the queen, led by the gods to the afterlife for the judgment of Osiris.

Eighteen steps lead from the entrance carved into the rocks to the inner chambers of the tomb. The portico of the door in front of the first chamber is badly damaged, but on its right side the titles of the queen can still be read:

“Hereditary nobility, Great in grace, beauty, sweetness and love, Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt, deceased, Lady of Both Lands, Nefertari, Beloved of Mut, Righteous before Osiris.” 27

The first chamber of the tomb “C” (5x5.2 m) is equipped with an offering table carved into the wall. Its walls are covered with images - fragments of the 17th chapter of the Book of the Dead. The queen is represented in three incarnations: playing senet, in the form of the soul of Ba and, finally, worshiping Aker, the lion-headed god of the earth, who is also the horizon - a symbol of the rebirth of the solar deity. Nearby are shown the “soul of Ra” - the snow-white phoenix Benu, symbolizing the eternal cyclical return of life, as well as a kiosk, inside of which the mummy of Nefertari reclines on a lion-headed bed; At the head and at the feet, the mummy is accompanied by two mourning falcons - Nephthys and Isis. The god of the Nile water, Hapi, gives Nefertari a palm leaf, symbolizing millions of years and the syncretic sign shen-udjat, guaranteeing eternity and resurrection for the deceased. Nearby are the Heavenly Cow Nut and the four sons of Horus - the guardians of the deceased and her entrails, placed in canopic jars. To the right of the entrance to the tomb, Nefertari appears before Osiris and Anubis. She is depicted entering the room, and the faces of the gods, the “lords of the Duat,” the true inhabitants of this place, are shown facing the exit and the queen walking towards them. Nefertari is dressed in magnificent snow-white linen clothes, for which Egypt was so famous in ancient times; they are tied under the chest with a red belt in the form of a tet amulet - the knot of Isis. On Nefertari's shoulders is a rich necklace of usekh. On the queen's head is a ceremonial shuti dress, consisting of a dark blue wig decorated with the golden wings of the kite of the goddess Mut, a stand, a golden solar disk and two ostrich feathers.

The passage from the first chamber leads to an additional room on this level. Passage “D” is flanked on both sides by the standing figures of Osiris and Anubis; above the door there is a frieze consisting of uraei, ostrich feathers, symbols of the goddess Maat, and a human figure in the center, resting on the already mentioned syncretic amulets of shen-udjat. On the sides of the passage are depicted two goddesses - Neith and Selket, granting Nefertari “protection, life, steadfastness, power, all protection, like Ra, forever.” The goddesses pronounce magical spells and sayings to protect the queen:

“Said by Selket, Lady of Heaven, Mistress of all gods. I go before you, O (...) Nefertari (...) 28, Right-voiced before Osiris, who resides in Abydos; I granted you a stay in the sacred land (Ta-Jesert) so that you could appear victoriously in the heavens like Ra.” 29

Next, the passage widens (“E”); The pilasters formed during the expansion are decorated with images of an anthropomorphic djed pillar - a symbol of Osiris, a sign of inviolability and constancy. On the left side of the passage, the goddess Isis, wearing a menat necklace, leads the queen by the hand to the god of the morning sun, Khepri, who has a head in the form of a scarab; on the right, Horus, the son of Isis, leads the deceased to the thrones of Ra-Horakhta and Hathor, the mistress of the Theban necropolis. Between the thrones of Khepri and Hathor there is a door to the side chamber (“G”). The kite goddess Nekhbet, the patroness of Upper Egypt, hovers above the door, clutching the shen symbols of eternity. The visual perspective of the passage through this door ends with the figures of Atum and Osiris depicted on the opposite wall, sitting back to back. Two figures of the goddess Maat on the inner sides of the door symbolize the passage to the Chamber of Two Truths - the hall where psychostasia takes place - the judgment of the gods and the determination of the weight of sins accumulated in the human heart.

Chamber “G” (3x5 m) contains images of Nefertari standing before Ptah, the lord of Memphis, and Thoth, the lord of “divine sayings” - writing, as well as magic.

“Behold, the great one, who sees her father, the lord of the letter Thoth. Behold, I come with a soul, mighty, knowing the Scriptures of Thoth... Bring me a vessel, bring me a palette of Thoth with their secrets in them. Oh Gods! Here I am a scribe... Bring me writing utensils so that I can carry out the orders of Osiris, the great god, beautifully every day... O Ra-Horakht, I will follow the Truth, I will comprehend the Truth.” thirty

On a long east wall chamber “G” shows rich gifts: meat, bread, vegetables, which are donated to Osiris and Atum by Nefertari, holding the scepter of kherep in her right hand. Two great deities - the personification of immortality and the creator of the universe - are united here in an almost symmetrical composition. The next scene, illustrating chapter 148 of the Book of the Dead, occupies the entire southern wall of the chamber. Framed by the sign of the sky and the scepters, seven cows and a bull are depicted in two registers, in front of each of which there is a small altar with offerings. All animals “walk” towards the queen, who is standing in a pose of adoration. The text of chapter 148 talks about the purpose of these seven cows to supply the spirit of the deceased with milk and bread. Steering oars are also mentioned here, which help the deceased to sail among the stars. None of the queen’s enemies will recognize her thanks to these “named” oars and the god Ra, the helmsman of the boat. Next to the figure of the queen is one of the most famous scenes of the tomb: a deity in the form of a mummy with the head of a ram, crowned with a solar disk, stands on a small podium; he is supported on both sides by Nephthys and Isis. Each wears a white afnet wig with a long end, tied with red ribbons. Between the figures of the goddesses and the ram-headed deity there are two columns of text “This is Osiris, resting in Ra” and “This is Ra, resting in Osiris.” The scene is of the highest quality and is very important from a theological point of view, illustrating, as already mentioned, the central idea of ​​the Egyptian funeral texts - the union of Ra and Osiris in the form of a single eternal deity.

A descending passage leads from chamber “C” to the lower level of the tomb chambers. On both sides of the door of the passage, on paired djed pillars, cartouches of the queen are depicted, accompanied by the goddesses Wadjet and Nekhbet in the form of snakes with the heraldic attributes of Lower and Upper Egypt, respectively. The staircase itself is 7.5 meters long. The images of each wall are divided into two triangular registers. The upper left register shows the queen's offering of the sacred nemset vessels to the goddesses Hathor, Selket and the winged Maat. In a similar scene on the right register there are Isis, Nephthys, and a symmetrically located Maat, between whose wings a shen is shown - a symbol of eternity and the name of the queen in a cartouche, the shape of which, as is known, is derived from this sign. On the “shelves” formed in the rock at both doors of the corridor there are images of two anthropomorphic symbols of Osiris, Djed (upper level of the stairs) and the goddess Neit and Selket (lower level of the stairs). Djed, as a sign of inviolability and constancy, is in this case a powerful pillar of “heaven” - a dark blue ceiling covered with golden stars of the night sky. In the lower registers of the walls there is the god Anubis in the form of a jackal and Isis and Nephthys kneeling on the signs of gold heaven. Both hands are placed on the shen signs. Nearby are voluminous spell texts, which are unique examples of calligraphy:

“Words spoken by Anubis Imiut, the great god residing in the sacred land (Ta-Jesert). I go before you, O great royal wife, mistress of both lands, mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Reposed One, Nefertari, beloved Mut, rightful before Osiris, the great god who dwells in the West. I go before you and I have given you a place in the sacred land so that you can appear triumphant in the heavens, like your father Ra. Place diadems on top of your heads. Isis and Nephthys rewarded you and created your beauty, like that of your father, so that you could appear triumphant in the heavens, like Ra, so that you could illuminate Igeret with your rays. The great host of gods on earth has given you a place. Nut, your mother, greets you, just as she greets Ra-Horakhte. May the souls of Pe and Buto rejoice, just as they rejoiced at your father who is in the West... Come to your mother and sit on the throne of Osiris. May the rulers of the sacred land receive you. May your heart rejoice forever, oh great wife royal... Nefertari... right-voiced before Osiris.” 31

A grandiose image of the flying goddess Maat crowns the space above the door leading to the “Golden Chamber” - the burial chamber of the tomb “K” (10.4x8.2 m). Low “benches” along the entire perimeter of the room were once intended for burial goods. The walls of the chamber are covered with images illustrating chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of the Dead, and contain a description of the kingdom of Osiris. The queen appears before the guards of the underworld and correctly names the names of the spirits and the names of the gates of the otherworldly regions. The top of the walls is decorated with a hecker frieze; Countless stars of the night sky cover the ceiling. recess, former place for the sarcophagus was in the middle of the room, framed by four pillars. Sixteen planes of the pillars preserved magnificent scenes of Nefertari standing before the deities - Anubis, Isis, Hathor, the mighty pillars of the Djed, as well as the figures of two priests of the funerary cult - Horus Iunmutef (“Hor-Support-of-His-Mother”) and Horus Nejitef (“Hor-Protector” -His Father”). Incarnations of Horus, son of Isis, priests in leopard skins, present Nefertari to Osiris:

“Words spoken by Hor Iunmutef. I am your beloved son, my father Osiris. I came to honor you. I have forever defeated your enemies for you. May you allow your beloved daughter, the great royal wife... Nefertari, beloved Mut, right-voiced, to remain in the host of great deities, those who accompany Osiris...” 32

On two planes of the pillars, facing towards the entrance to the chamber, Osiris, the king of the host of gods, is depicted. In both stages he stands on a small pedestal inside a yellow pump. On his head is the atef crown, in his hands is the heket scepter and the nehehu whip. The great god wears a necklace on his shoulders, and he is tied with a red belt, a symbol of his wife Isis. Inside the naos, next to Osiris, are the emblems of Anubis Imiut, consisting of a wooden stand and a leopard skin.

A small niche for canopics was carved into the left wall of the chamber. Its walls are decorated with images of Anubis and the spirits, the sons of Horus, the patrons of canopics; on the central wall there is an image of the winged sky goddess Nut with signs eternal life ankh in hands.

On three sides of the burial chamber there are passages to small side rooms (“M”, “Q”, “O”), intended for storing burial goods. The decoration is best preserved in cell “M”. The doorway is flanked by images of the goddesses Wadjet and Nekhbet in the form of snakes resting on djed pillars. On the walls are images of the anthropomorphic Osiris-Djed with scepters in his hands, Nefertari herself in the form of a mummy, Isis and Nephthys with the four sons of Horus. Under their protection, the queen “follows” the image of the legendary house of Osiris in Abydos.

On the walls of Chamber O there are heavily damaged images of the queen saying prayers to Hathor, the Lady of the West. On the right side, Nefertari appears before Isis and Anubis, seated on thrones. Two altars with flowers and bread stand in front of the deities. The central wall is filled with the winged figure of Maat. A surviving fragment of text on behalf of the goddess speaks of “the creation of a place for the queen in the house of Amon.” Perhaps there was a statue of Nefertari here.

The decoration of the “Q” cell has practically not been preserved. The figure of Isis on the southern wall, fragments of the procession of the gods, the djed pillar between two amulets of Isis tet - these are the main images from this room that have survived to our time.

Nefertari's tomb was discovered in 1904 by an Italian archaeological expedition led by Ernesto Schiaparelli. The poor quality of the limestone in which the tomb was carved, as well as salty soil waters, led to the fact that by the 70s of our century the paintings of the unique monument were in danger of disappearing. The special restoration project “Nefertari” of the Egyptian Antiquities Service and the Paul Getty Conservation Institute, carried out from 1986 to 1992, became one of the most important works of the 20th century in preserving the heritage of antiquity. 33 Unique restoration methods allowed the tomb to be reopened to visitors in November 1995.

The second great royal wife was Isitnofret. 34 We know practically nothing about its origins. Among her titles there is no epithet “daughter of the king” - the blood of the pharaohs did not flow in her veins. Due to the fact that her eldest daughter Bentanat bore a Syrian name, many experts suggest that Isitnofret was not Egyptian; however, this hypothesis is too doubtful. It is interesting that the Bentanat ushabti were found by the expedition of J. Martin in Saqqara, in the tomb of Horemheb. It is well known that Benthanat was buried in Thebes. How then can we explain the presence of her grave goods in the tomb of a man whom fate made a pharaoh at the junction of two colossal dynasties? Was there any relationship between Horemheb and Bentanat's mother, Queen Isitnofret? 35 This assumption is confirmed by another fact: upon ascending the throne, Horemheb ordered to carve a rock sanctuary dedicated to Hapi, the deity of the flood, in the granite rocks of Gebel Silsile. Inside, many relief decoration additions made under the Ramessides have been preserved. If the image of Nefertari is completely absent here, then Isitnofret, on the contrary, is depicted repeatedly with her husband. Whether this was a deliberate emphasis on family relationships is extremely difficult to say today.

She is shown with Ramesses II on a stele from Aswan, erected at this site in honor of the second celebration of Ramesses' sed ceremony, in the 33rd-34th year of his reign. 36 On this monument, as, indeed, on almost all others where her name appears, she was depicted only thanks to the efforts of her son, Khaemuas, while Ramesses himself paid surprisingly little attention to her. It is absolutely known that she became the great royal wife even under Nefertari, but her husband was not given the honor of being depicted among the colossi. Wonderful sculptural images of Queen Isitnofret are known. The most interesting - the lower part of a quartzite statue of excellent finishing with a relief figure of Prince Haemuas on the side (E 7500) and a sandstone bust (E 5924) - are kept in the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. 37

In Saqqara, not far from the Serapeum, fragments of an architectural structure erected in honor of Isitnofret Khaemuas were discovered. 38 Apparently, Ramesses’ second wife came from Memphis. 39

Approximately in the 34th year of her reign, Isitnofret’s wife died and was buried in Thebes; Isitnofret's tomb is not identified, but is recorded in the documentation of Deir el-Medine: 40 in the text of one of the ostracons of the Cairo Museum, Isitnofret and one of Ramesses' sons, Meriatum, are mentioned, the construction of tombs for which was completed by Theban craftsmen. It should be especially noted that the tomb of Meriatum was found, and not just anywhere, but in the Valley of the Kings! 41 There is only one conclusion: either the tomb of the great queen has not yet been found, or we are talking about another, the second Isitnofret - the daughter of Ramesses II, for some reason buried in one of the unfinished tombs of the necropolis. The assumption of some experts that the queen was buried in Memphis is more than doubtful, since all (!) the spouses and daughters of Ramesses II found their last refuge in Thebes.

The paternal pride of Ramesses II for his large family was expressed in numerous reliefs - “processions” of princes and princesses, accompanied by their names, on the walls of many temples built under their father; These sources record 50 boys and 40 girls for whom such an image provided protection in the face of one or another deity. 56 On both sides of the colossi decorating the facade of the temple of Ibshek in Abu Simbel, dedicated, as already mentioned, to Nefertari, six children of this queen are depicted: Amenherkhepeshef, the eldest son of Ramesses and heir to the throne, Paracherunemef (3rd son), princess Meritamon (4 -th daughter) and Henuttawi (7th daughter), as well as princes Merira (11th son) and Meriatum (16th son); It should not be forgotten that Nefertari could have had several more children after the completion of the temple.

Four children of Queen Isitnofret are known: the eldest daughter Bentanat, Ramesses (2nd son), the most famous son of Ramesses II - Khaemuas (4th son) and Merneptah (13th son), who inherited the throne after the death of his father and eldest sons.

At the facade of the Temple of Mehu in Abu Simbel, the children of both queens are presented together: between the legs of the colossus Ramesses II south of the entrance door is Amenherkhepeshef, next to the princesses Bentanat and Nebettawi (mother - unknown); near the colossus to the north are Prince Ramses, as well as princesses Meritamon and princess Nefertari (mother unknown).

When counting, it turns out that of the 16 eldest sons of Ramesses II, seven were born to Nefertari and Isitnofret, while the mothers of the remaining nine sons are unknown. Of the nine eldest princesses, only three were the daughters of the two main wives, while the remaining six, and then all the king's subsequent children, were born to unknown harem ladies.

The sons of Ramses II are also depicted on temple reliefs with scenes of military action. In the earliest temple of Ramesses II - in Bet el-Wali, the heir Amenherkhepeshef “Senior Military Leader” is shown, as well as Sethherkhepeshef, Khaemuas and some other princes whose names have not been preserved. 57 On the “military” reliefs in the first hall of the temple of Mehu Abu Simbel, the three eldest sons participate in the battle in chariots, and Paracherunemef is called “the first brave man of the army.” 58 In the scene of the battle of the Syrian city of Kadesh, executed on the outside of the southern wall of the hypostyle hall of the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak, the 12 sons of the king lead prisoners. In the Ramesseum, on the reliefs of the military campaigns of the eighth year of Ramesses' reign, 18 princes are mentioned. It should be remembered that often such images were fiction, and an active participant in the events was shown to be a prince who had barely learned to walk. One way or another, only four eldest sons were born before Ramesses ascended the throne; Princess Benthanat, for example, was only seven years old in the first year of her father's reign. 59 Some sons of Ramesses II are also known from other historical sources: Amenkherkhepeshef and Sethkherkhepeshef are mentioned on the cuneiform tablets of the Boghazköy archive of the Hittite state. 60

Due to wars, illnesses and accidents, many of Ramesses II's sons died in childhood or youth. Around the 20th year of Ramesses II's reign, Crown Prince Amenherkhepeshef died. Several of his younger brothers - Paracherunemef, Seti and Merira the Elder - died even earlier. Among the eldest children of Nefertari, Meriatum was alive, who became the crown prince, inheriting after him the title of Sethherkhepeshef, mentioned in this capacity in the Hittite-Egyptian peace treaty in the 21st year of his father's reign. After him, Ramesses, son of Isitnofret, was mentioned as heir to the throne for almost twenty years; Around the year 50, the sage Khaemuas became crown prince. This long succession of the title ended with its fifth holder, Merneptah, also the son of Isitnofret, who became king after his father's death.

The fate of some minor sons was connected with the royal court only by the very fact of birth. So, the 23rd son, Sa-Montu married Iret, daughter of Ben-Anat, captain of the Syrian ship. For some time, Sa-Montu was in the service of the vineyards of Ramesses II in Memphis, the most cosmopolitan capital of Egypt, where he probably met his Syrian wife. We know about several princes only from the existence of the tomb. Prince Ramesses-Neb-Uben was a hunchback and died when he was about thirty years old. He probably died in the royal harem at Mi-ur and was supposed to be buried in Thebes, but his death occurred so unexpectedly that the old sarcophagi of his great-great-grandfather, Ramesses I, made when he was still vizier of Paramessu, were adapted for his burial, and remaining unused after his accession. 61

Particular attention should be paid to the fate of the most interesting personality among the children of Ramesses II - Prince Khaemuas. He first appears on reliefs depicting the first Syrian and Nubian campaigns of Ramesses II, in which he took part (materials from Karnak and Ramesseum). As a result of the death of the king's eldest sons - Amenherkhepeshef, Sethherkhepeshef (mother - Queen Nefertari) and Ramesses (mother - Queen Isitnofret I), Khaemuas receives the title of “heir to the throne”.

Having become a priest in the temple of Ptah in Memphis, the prince receives the title “chief of artisans,” which was worn by the high priest of this god. According to sources, this happened shortly before the death of Apis (the sacred bull of the god Ptah) in the 16th year of the reign of Ramesses II (1264/63 BC). bulls in the Saqqara necropolis. On the wall of the new burial chamber there are images of Ramesses II and Khaemuas worshiping Apis, as well as the famous inscription:

“Osiris, priest-sem, prince of Khaemuas; he says: “O you, priests of this, high priests, the nobles in the temple of Ptah... and every scribe skilled in knowledge, who will come to this temple, which I erected for Apis the Living, who will see what is inscribed on these walls of magnificent stone... Nothing like this has ever been created. .. The gods, those in the temple, (their images) are made of gold with various precious stones... I established daily and holiday offerings for them, more than those that were ever sacrificed. I appointed him priests and readers, those who praise... and all sorts of servants. I built a great burial ark in front of the temple, and in front of it - a great sacrificial altar from the best white limestone of Tura with divine offerings and all sorts of beautiful things... Remember my name, looking at what I have done and do the same! O Apis-Sokar-Osiris, Great God, lord of the ark of Shetait, I am this priest, the son of the king (Haemuas).” 63

The connection of Khaemuas with the Serapeum is also confirmed by ushabti figurines made in connection with the burial ceremony of the Apis bulls in the 16th, 26th, 30th and another unknown year of the reign of Ramesses II. 64 In the 55th year of the reign of Ramesses II, his brother Merneptah succeeded him in the position of high priest of Ptah Haemuasu.

Many of the monuments of Saqqara and Giza under Khaemuas were restored and provided with special texts containing interesting information about the restoration process. 65 Moreover, having found a statue of Kawab, the eldest son of King Khufu, in the ruins of a mastaba, he ordered the statue to be transported to the Temple of Ptah so that there it could “live forever.” 66 The two sons of Khaemuas - Rameses and Khori - were part of new system management of the temple of Ptah, created at this time.

Statues preserved in museums around the world depict Khaemuas in different periods life. The famous monument in the British Museum (EA 947) shows the prince in his youth. 67 On his head is a short round wig, which is traditionally called “Libyan”, since it was dedicated to Onuris, the god of the hunt, the patron saint of the Libyan desert 68 and “gained particular popularity in the Ramesside era” 69.

A curl, as a symbol of the title of the High Priest of Ptah, appears in the image of Khaemuas from the Cairo Museum (JE 36720). 70 The statue of Prince Naophor, made of yellow sandstone, depicts Khaemuas at an older age. In his hands, the son of Ramesses II holds a naos - a reliquary with the image of the god Ptah-Tatenen, the most ancient deity of Memphis.

A unique sculptural image of Khaemuas is kept in Moscow, in the collection of the East Sector of the Pushkin Museum (Inv. No. I, Ia 6670). 71 The quartzite lid from a rare ritual vessel shows Haemuas as a youth and is stylistically very close to the monument from the British Museum. 72

Khaemuas died in the 55th year of his father's reign and was probably buried in a special tomb adjacent to the galleries of the Serapeum. Among the monuments originating from his rich burial, discovered in 1852 by the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette during excavations of the tombs of sacred bulls, there are a golden mask, a wooden sarcophagus, a ushabti and a number of other items of funerary equipment. All monuments are currently in the Louvre. 73 The Haemuas mask may be the key to the history of this entire unconventional burial: stylistically this monument is very close to the portraits of the Late Time era 74 and confirms the hypothesis of F. Gomaa, who suggested that the true burial of the prince has not been preserved, and the tomb in the Serapeum is secondary and was made several centuries later. 75 This, however, often happened with the burials of members of ancient Egyptian royal families. 76

Burial of the sons of Ramesses II (KV5)

In 1987, an archaeological expedition from the American University in Cairo discovered the tomb of at least 50 sons of Ramesses II (KV5) in the Valley of the Kings. 77 This tomb was first visited in 1820 by the Englishman James Barton, however, at that time only a small part of the premises was open: the passage to the main part of the tomb was closed by the stone layers of the ceiling that had collapsed as a result of the flood. Under the direction of K. Weeks, by 1995, 95 previously unknown upper-level chambers had been discovered in KV5, making this tomb one of the largest funerary complexes of ancient Egypt. The chambers are connected by a T-shaped corridor, at the intersection of whose axes there is a massive statue of Osiris (1.5 m). The ceiling of the tomb and the pillars supporting it are in terrible condition. Once upon a time, the walls of the premises were decorated with magnificent reliefs, preserved in very fragmentary ways; 78 images of Ramesses II representing Prince Amenherkhepeshef Sokar and Hathor, as well as the figure of Prince Ramesses in front of the god Nefertum, have survived to this day. In general, the decoration of the tomb was close to the paintings of the tombs of the sons of Ramesses III in the Valley of the Queens. As a result of the clearing, fragments of ushabti, sarcophagi, canopics, and parts of mummified remains were revealed. Stairs leading to the lower level of the premises were found at opposite ends of the corridor. The plan of the grandiose tomb, intended for the burial of the early deceased sons of Ramesses II, among whom are Amenherkhepeshef, Meriatum, Ramesses, Seti, is unique. The sad fate of this burial is indicated by the text of the testimony of the captured robbers stored in the Turin Museum:

“Here Userhet and Patur pulled down the stones that were above the tomb of Osiris, king Usermaatr - Setepenr, the great god... And Kenna, the son of Ruth, did the same over the burial place of the royal children of Osiris, king Usermaatr - Setepenr, the great god...”. 79

Ramesses II (1303/1294-1212 BC) reigned ca. 1279-1212 BC e.

Pharaoh Ramesses II of the 19th Dynasty ascended the throne at the age of 20 and remained on it until his death at 90. In ancient Egyptian history there was no ruler who held this position for so long. Ramses became famous for his victorious wars, his love of architecture, wives and gods. In the name of the gods, he erected such a number of temples that none of the pharaohs had erected either before or after him. He built the new capital of Egypt 11er-Ramesses - “The House of Ramesses”. For this city, captive Jewish slaves produced special building blocks from clay. Ramesses was succeeded by the 18th of his 200 children, his son Minentah, who was already 60 years old and under whom the decline of the Egyptian Empire began.

The change of pharaohs caused many enslaved peoples to want to stand up and break out of captivity. No one expected favors from Ramesses II, who had just received the throne. The Arab Nubians who lived in the Nile Valley, where they mined gold and ivory for Egypt, feared that the new pharaoh would further oppress them. The uprising spread to many Egyptian regions and caused serious concern in Thebes and Memphis, the then capitals of Egypt. The young and inexperienced Ramesses had to go on a campaign with the army. This campaign was successful, the rebels were defeated.

The pharaoh returned to Memphis with rich booty and many thousands of captives who joined the army of construction slaves. The name of Ramses was glorified, all kinds of honors were given to him, statues were erected. But before he had time to cope with one misfortune, the next one came - the Libyans came against him from the west. Their calculation was simple: the pharaoh was inexperienced and easy to defeat. But the Libyans miscalculated - Ramesses learned to command troops. He skillfully lined up their ranks, called for an attack, and fought himself. The Libyans were defeated.

And soon there was another invasion - this time from the north. The warlike Sherdans who came from the sea landed at the mouth of the Nile. In the new conditions, Ramses acted in a new way. He was in no hurry to attack, studied the situation, and after waiting for a favorable moment, deployed his troops to attack. Order! Aquarium cleaning is done professionally at Aquarium - Style. The Sherdans were taken by surprise. There were so many prisoners that Ramesses invited them to come into his service. The Sherdans agreed and did not regret it - they received good booty after successful campaigns.

Waging wars required a lot of money, and the gold in the Nile Valley was running out. The servants reported that its reserves were found in the Nubian Valley, in the Wadi Alaki area, but there was no water there. Pharaoh ordered to dig deeper. And at a depth of 6-10 meters, the workers finally found water. Gold mining provided funds to pay troops, revived trade, and made it possible to begin preparations for a great war with the Hittites, a people who lived in Asia Minor.

As evidenced by records found on stone steles, in the 4th year of his reign, Ramses undertook a large military campaign in Western Asia and captured the city of Verit, where he installed his victory stele. And already in the spring of the next year, he gathered an army of 20 thousand and approached Kadesh, an ancient Syrian city.

The Hittite king Mutawalli II, who was hostile to Ramesses, was not afraid of the Egyptians. He decided to deceive the advancing Ramses and sent spies to him. They managed to convince the pharaoh that the Hittite army was supposedly weakened and retreated to the north, and Mutawalli fled. Believing the scouts, Ramesses left most of his army at the Orontes River and rushed to Kadesh, hoping for a quick victory. When he began to set up camp near the fortress walls of the city, enemy cavalry hiding nearby flew at him, followed by thousands of chariots. They fired at the Egyptians and surrounded the pharaoh's tent. Ramesses fought alongside ordinary warriors, but was doomed. A detachment of Egyptians from the crossing saved him from capture. They fought with great enthusiasm, freed their pharaoh, but were unable to break the resistance of the Hittites. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The Hittites retreated to Kadesh and took refuge behind thick fortress walls. But Ramesses no longer had the strength to take Kadesh. I had to agree to a truce, and Ramses and the remnants of his troops went to Egypt.

The pharaoh was greatly impressed by the bloody battle, in which he almost died. He ordered his participation in the Battle of Kadesh to be imprinted on the stone walls of various temples: in Abydos, Karnak, Luxor, Ramesseum and Abu Simbel. But even after this memorable battle, Ramesses continued to fight the Hittite troops attacking Egypt. Ramses later captured their fortress of Dapur, the city of Tunip, in which he erected his own statue. He again ordered his victories to be imprinted in stone on the walls of the same temples - Luxor, Karnak and Abydos.

In the 21st year of Ramesses' reign, an ambassador from Hattusili, the new king of the Hittites, arrived in his capital Per-Ramesses and handed over a silver plate with the cuneiform text of the treaty (in Akkadian), certified by seals depicting the king and queen Hagga in the embrace of the deities. The agreement was translated into Egyptian and “written down” on the walls of the temples.

Ramses sent the Hittite king Hattus or his tablet with cuneiform writing in the Akkadian language. The parties agreed not to attack each other, but, on the contrary, to help in the event of an attack by a third party or an uprising of their subjects. This was the first diplomatically formalized treaty known in world history that has survived to this day.

From this time on, the military activity of Ramses II began to subside. Obviously, age and health had an effect. In the 34th year of his reign he married eldest daughter the Hittite king Hattusili, who began to be called Maathornefrura, or “seeer of the beauty of the sun,” who became the great wife of the pharaoh. Later, in the 42nd year of his reign, Ramses married another daughter, Hattusili. In addition, his wives were his own daughters, as well as a lot of concubines...

The wars on Egyptian soil stopped. But along with them, the arrival of captives, free work force. Ramesses took up architecture in earnest, completing the construction of his temples, decorating them in every possible way, and erecting statues of himself. This work fell on the shoulders of the Jewish builders. Ramses himself, along with his numerous wives, children and servants, lived in the rebuilt flourishing capital of Per-Ramses, which became a rival to Thebes and Memphis.

In the new capital, he built a temple, over which towered a huge statue of him, 27 meters high, visible from afar. In addition, during his reign a canal was dug between the mouth of the Nile and the northern end of the Red Sea. Small merchant ships sailed along it. After several centuries, the canal turned out to be unsuitable for navigation and was abandoned.

In the ancient history of Egypt, Ramesses II remained as the most revered pharaoh. Legends and songs were written about him, he was called the Conqueror of the Half-World. After his death, he was buried on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes, in the Ramesseum mortuary complex. True, they failed to finish his grave. Currently the complex is in a ruined state.

In 1881, a mummy was discovered in the cache of Deir el-Bahri, which, as experts determined, belonged to Pharaoh Ramesses II. In 1975, this mummy was brought to Paris and subjected to general conservation at the Institute of Man.

Ramses II the Great, also known as Ramses or Rameses, is one of the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt, who left behind many architectural and religious monuments in the territory of modern Egypt and Sudan. Fans of epic Hollywood films know this great ruler of antiquity from Ridley Scott's film Exodus: Kings and Gods. In the film, the viewer is presented with biblical stories familiar from childhood: the prophet’s receipt of the Tablets of the Covenant, the story of the liberation of the Jews from Egyptian captivity, and the many years of the “God’s chosen people” walking through the desert. The Pharaoh from whose wrath Moses saves himself and his flock is called Ramesses II. Kids are familiar with the cartoon “The Prince of Egypt,” and teenage gamers are familiar with the popular game “Civilization” by Sid Meier. Tourists who have been to the “Land of the Pyramids” have probably seen the image of the “victorious king” on back side 50 piastres banknote. And on the reverse of the one-pound note is the temple of the pharaoh at Abu Simbel.

Youth

The third ruler of the XIX Dynasty of the New Kingdom lived for about 90 years, of which he held power for 66 years (years of life: 1303-1213 BC, reign: from 1279 BC until death). A huge number of documents and monuments related to the name of Ramses have been preserved, but all known images and statues represent a youth or a young man.

The son of Seti I and Queen Tuya became prince regent at the age of fourteen, and ascended the throne when he was about twenty years old. The first years of the monarch's reign were not marked by great victories, but they brought to us a number of achievements of the young ruler. We know about a punitive expedition to suppress the rebellion in Nubia, possible military operations in Canaan and Libya, and the defeat of the Sherdans. Apparently, the Sherdans did not shy away from piracy and decided to raid the fertile Nile Delta, but were partially destroyed by the young pharaoh, and partly joined the ranks of the pharaoh’s troops. Judging by later images, the recruits turned out to be quite good soldiers and performed well in the Syrian and Palestinian campaigns.

At the peak of military glory

Ramses launched a vigorous construction activity, the result of which were many, which to this day attract the attention of numerous tourists from all over the world. The rock temples of the “sacred mountain”, the city of Per-Ramesses, and religious buildings in Memphis and Thebes belong to his era. However, the great pharaoh was not only characterized by creation. Erecting monuments to his rule from stone, Ramesses II saw nothing wrong with the destruction and looting of more ancient buildings. The buildings of Thutmose III and Teti, the ruler of the VI dynasty, were used for building materials for Ramesses’ own temples. Under him, many statues and temples from the Middle Kingdom era were robbed and destroyed. And the genius of destruction of the monarch was fully manifested in the wars with the Hittite kingdom and especially in the Battle of Kadesh.

The wars with the Hittites brought the king, whose mummy adorns him today, the honorary title A-Nakhtu, which means “Winner,” although the results of these wars were quite ambiguous. Ramesses II continued the work of his father, who was returning Egypt's former influence to Canaan and Syria. Before becoming A-Nakhtu, the young ruler fought a number of small battles, and in the fifth year of his reign he firmly set out to defeat the Hittites. Preparations for the second Syrian campaign were going quite seriously. Many weapons were manufactured, light chariots were prepared, characterized by good maneuverability.

Ramses' army reached the village of Kadesh a month after crossing the border. Here, in the area of ​​​​the current Lebanese-Syrian border, presumably in 1274 BC. e. The earliest of the detailed documented battles took place. Historians know almost everything about the Battle of Kadesh: the slightest tactical moves, the general strategy of the opposing armies, the weapons and numbers of the sides, the stages of the battle and its results.

The epic battle began unsuccessfully for the Egyptian side. The Hittite chariots hit the side of Amon-Ra's formation (in the Egyptian army of that period, the regiments bore the names of the gods), which was approaching their camp. The column was completely destroyed, and many soldiers, including the children of the pharaoh himself, were killed. The few surviving warriors caused panic in the base camp, but the confusion did not last long. Ramses waited for reinforcements and, taking advantage of the confusion of the Hittites, who began to plunder the Egyptian base camp, struck the enemy with all his remaining forces.

As a result of the Battle of Kadesh, both sides were badly bled and by the evening of the same day they agreed on a truce. Returning to their people, each of the rulers attributed the victory to himself. Muwatalli II, the ruler of the Hittite kingdom, managed to defend his capital. The pharaoh managed to inflict a powerful blow on the enemy, despite the qualitative and quantitative superiority of the enemy and the unsuccessful start of the battle.

Other achievements of the pharaoh

Many of the deeds of Ramses II remained in history. Under him, the construction, begun by Ramses I and Seti I, was completed. He also contributed to, where under A-Nakhtu a spacious courtyard with pylons was built. One of the greatest rulers of Ancient Egypt left behind hundreds of stone monuments. Ramesses II found water in the gold mines of Wadi Alaki, which allowed more gold to be mined, and did much to promote trade. He captured many cities in Asia, defeating the garrisons of impregnable fortresses with the quick blows of a powerful army.

The era of the reign of Ramses the Great was remembered by contemporaries and descendants for the economic prosperity of the country, the rapid development of science, literature and the arts, and the strengthening of the state’s borders. Speaking about the legacy of the pharaoh, whose resting place was tomb KV7, it is enough to remember that nine subsequent monarchs of Egypt called themselves “Ramesses”. This says a lot about the place that history determined for the victorious king.

Ramesses II the Great was an Egyptian pharaoh from the 19th dynasty who reigned approximately 1279-1213 BC. e.

Ramses went down in history with the nickname the Great, and not without reason. He himself was aware of his importance. “One against a thousand chariots” - this is how he saw his participation in the legendary.

He was the ruler of Ancient Egypt during the highest – and last – flowering of this state, during the period of the so-called New Kingdom, which is limited to the 16th–11th centuries BC. e. This pharaoh was in power for 66 years - which sets him apart from other rulers of the ancient world. One of the most famous battles took place under him, and probably the most important treaty of antiquity was concluded. After the death of the pharaoh, his cult persisted for several centuries.

There are extremely numerous sources that tell about this ruler, which to this day are not exactly counted, and he himself personally took care of this. Firstly, inscriptions on the walls of temples and tombs have been preserved. Secondly, documents from an archive discovered on the site of the ancient capital of the Hittite power, Hattusa (the village of Bogazköy in the territory of modern Turkey), have survived to this day. 15,000 texts of various genres were stored there, including literary works, business documents, and correspondence.

Excavations of this famous archive began in 1906–1912 by the German archaeologist G. Winkler, who was primarily interested in the history of Mesopotamia. But traces of Egypt were also found in the archive. The documents were compiled mainly in the international language for the Ancient East, Akkadian.

The historiography devoted to the reign of Ramses II is enormous. In German science it makes up entire libraries. Available literature is also available in Russian. First of all, the works of the remarkable pre-revolutionary Egyptologist B. Turaev. In his “History of the Ancient East” much is outdated, but one cannot help but appreciate the beauty of the style, the vividness of the presentation, loving relationship to Ancient Egypt.

There is a monograph by the Soviet historian I. Stuchevsky “Ramses II and Herihor. From the history of Ancient Egypt of the Ramessid era" (that was the name of this dynasty). The book is notable for the fact that it contains many source texts, some in the author’s translation. The study of the French scientist and writer C. Jacques “Egypt of the Great Pharaohs” is also very interesting.

It should be noted that in the history of Ancient Egypt there is almost no exact dates birth and death of rulers. Egyptologists endlessly refine them. Ramses II was the grandson of Ramses I, a former chariot commander who, after a military coup, replaced Pharaoh Horemheb on the throne and founded a new, XIX dynasty.

Father - Pharaoh Seti I. Mother - Queen Tuya. Images of her have survived to this day, indicating that she was characterized by arrogance. Is it because, according to some information, she was originally a singer. Arrogance often distinguishes people from the lower classes...

As one of the inscriptions dedicated to Ramses II says, “the gods cried out for joy at his birth.” This, of course, is a tribute to literary tradition. But Ramses actually knew from childhood that his destiny was power. It was in him that my father saw his successor. All pharaohs had harems, which consisted of legal wives and concubines, and many children. But, despite the fact that Ramses certainly had brothers, Seti I did not hesitate to choose one son to succeed him.

At the age of 10, the heir, who, by the way, was distinguished by great physical strength, took part in one of his father’s campaigns against the Libyans. Libya, like all conquered peoples, tried to regain their independence at any seemingly convenient opportunity, and the pharaoh had to suppress such protests. So, at the age of ten, Ramses II was already ready for both power and war. We can say that he spent the first half of his life on a military chariot.

Apparently, he became his father’s co-ruler - to ensure the reliability of the transfer of power. At least one of the inscriptions of Seti I contains the following words: “Crown the king so that I may see his perfection during his lifetime.”

1290 - BC e., when Ramses was about 20 years old, he solemnly buried his father, who died a natural death, in the Valley of the Kings, and began to rule Egypt. This was approximately 100 years after the death of the famous one. Contemporaries noted the militancy and powerful fighting spirit of Ramses II: “Foreigners tremble before him! His name spreads throughout the Universe, he is as powerful as fire, he is a ferociously roaring lion with his claws extended.” The metaphor has some real basis. The fact is that Ramses II had a tame lion that accompanied him on his campaigns. The lion lay across the entrance to the royal tent and warned with a menacing roar that he would not let anyone through without the owner’s command.

Ramses' plans after coming to power are absolutely obvious. They are evidenced by an inscription on the wall of the temple in Luxor. Pharaoh asks the god Amun to grant him - no more, no less - power over the Universe. How did the ancient Egyptians see the Universe? They knew the peoples and kingdoms closest to them in the Middle East and the lands located south of the Nile Valley in Africa. But in the pharaoh’s inscription a completely metaphorical image of the Universe is found: the text says that Ramses wants to be the ruler of “everything that goes around the sun.”

He began to take steps in this direction. He began strengthening the army. To the main military formations, which were called in honor of the gods the detachments of Amun, Ra and Ptah, he added a new one - Setha. This god in Egyptian mythology is the killer of Osiris, identified with animals such as the pig and the donkey. But Setha (or Seti) is also the name of the father of Ramses II... In addition, Setha was considered the god of foreigners. And Egypt conquered the surrounding peoples more and more energetically.

The pharaoh began by suppressing unrest in Libya and Nubia. With a change of power, unrest in the provinces was inevitable. But the 20-year-old new ruler turned out to be strong fighter. The conquered territories are wealth, first of all, gold and silver mines, precious woods. And Pharaoh took care of the safety of his treasury.

After pacifying the rebels, he repelled the invasion of the Sherdan sea pirates - those who in the distant future gave the name to the island of Sardinia and formed the basis of its population. The defeated pirates became his bodyguards.

Ramses II was also preparing for war with the Hittites. This people of Asia Minor moved to the world stage in those days. The period of its heyday is quite short - from the 14th to the beginning of the 12th century BC. e. However, it was an amazing takeoff!

The ethnic appearance of the Hittites is mysterious. These are relatively fair-haired and light-skinned people, which is not typical for the East. It is not entirely clear where they could have come from and why they then disappeared. The powerful alliance of different peoples they created fell at the beginning of the 12th century BC. e. - both due to internal strife, and under the blows of conquerors invading from the sea, including the Etruscans and Danaans - the future Greeks.

But while the Hittite power was on the rise, the pharaoh of Egypt could not help but fight with it. After all, between the possessions of the Hittites and the Egyptians lay tempting lands - Syria and Palestine. And every powerful neighbor sought to take possession of them.

In the fourth year of his reign, Ramses II made a reconnaissance campaign in Northern Syria. He reached approximately what is now Beirut and installed a stele there. The warlike Hittite king Muwatalli II was gathering forces at this time. He created a military alliance of more than 20 nations.

1285 - in the fifth year of his reign, the pharaoh went on a campaign again, taking with him the main formations - Amun (he led him personally), Ra, Ptah and Seth. The main battle took place on the territory of Syria, near the city of Kadesh.

Among the most important sources, which preserved information about this war, is the so-called poem “On the Battle of Kadesh.” This piece of art, although, of course, not a poem in the modern sense. The text includes dialogues, including a conversation between Ramses and the god Amun.

There are also other types of sources. The document, called by historians “the report of the battle,” contains strict facts. There are reliefs that depict episodes of the battle with brief texts explaining what is depicted. But the reliability of this information is quite relative. It is significant, for example, that each of the parties that took part in the battle - both the Egyptians and the Hittites - declared themselves victorious. How can one not remember the Battle of Borodino in 1812, in which there was also no clear winner! Under Kadesh, the field remained with the Hittites, as in 1812 - with the French. However, were they winners?

On the eve of the battle, two Bedouins snuck into the pharaoh's camp. They said that they had escaped from the Hittites and from now on they wanted to serve the Egyptians. In reality, these were not defectors, but spies who brought misinformation to the Egyptians. And although they were beaten with sticks, they did not stop repeating false information - and Ramses believed it. They assured that the Hittite army had retreated far to the North and they could safely go to Kadesh. Therefore, Ramses decided to rush into battle without waiting for his main forces to arrive.

He advanced with a single force named after the god Amun and his personal guard (Sherdani). He stood near the city of Kadesh. The camp, surrounded by shields, was rectangular in shape. Pharaoh's tent was in the middle.

There is a relief representing the view of the pharaoh’s camp and the walls of Kadesh: at the entrance to Ramses’ tent there is the famous lion, Egyptian warriors are cleaning their weapons... Everything seemed to be calm. And suddenly - an attack by the Hittites. 2,500 Hittite chariots plus infantry! Ramses II was surrounded. He managed to put on his armor and jump into the chariot. Together with the driver and shield-bearer, whose name was Menna (a rare case when the name of a common man went down in history), he fought back to the last. But the forces were unequal.

The inscriptions say that in desperation the pharaoh turned to the god Amun for help. Ramses' words amaze the modern reader. He speaks to God demandingly, from the position of some inner strength: “What happened, my father Amon? Has the father forgotten his son? Have I done anything without your knowledge? Do I not walk and stop at your will? Have I transgressed your plans? I appeal to you, father, surrounded by countless enemies that I did not know about. When all the foreign countries rallied against me, and I was left alone, and there was no one with me, and my army abandoned me, and numerous soldiers turned away, I began to shout to them, but not one of them heard. And I realized that Amon is better than millions of warriors, hundreds of thousands of chariots.”

According to legend, the god Amon responded like this: “Forward, Ramses, I’m with you! I am your father, my hand is with you, I am the master of victory! After which a miracle happened: Amon extended his hand to Ramses, and he overturned thousands of chariots. The image has been preserved: the chariot of the pharaoh, there are many corpses of enemies around, he throws some of them into the river. One petty king of Aleppo is being held upside down by his legs by Egyptian soldiers, pouring out the water that he swallowed when he ran away from Ramses and swam across the river. Surprisingly, these are clear elements of ancient satire.

Of course, there is a rational explanation for what happened. When the attack began, the pharaoh managed to send the vizier to notify one of his formations so that his troops would hurry up; they approached and crossed the Orontes River. So reinforcements arrived in a timely manner. However, the fighting spirit of the pharaoh is of great importance.

Ramses, then still a fairly young ruler, was himself shocked by his salvation. After the battle, he vowed every day to personally feed the horses that carried him out of the encirclement.

And the result of the battle was, relatively speaking, a “military draw” with some advantage in favor of the Hittites, who retained part of their possessions in Northern Syria. It took 16 more for long years so that opponents understand that it is better not to fight, but to unite, agree on friendship and alliance.

The years of reign that followed the Syrian campaign revealed completely new qualities in the pharaoh. He turned out to be the greatest builder. Under him, the capital of Per-Ramesses was founded in the Nile Delta. The ancient Egyptians had several capitals before: Memphis, Thebes, Heracleopolis.

Ramses also built his own family. His first legal wife, Nefertari, is well known from sculptural portraits and descriptions. Her best images in granite are kept in the Vatican Museums, and a seated figure in black granite, also of amazing beauty, is in Turin. Her temple, discovered by archaeologists in 1904, is located in the Valley of the Kings.

Ramses' second wife was Isi-Nofret, the mother of his illustrious fourth son named Khaemuas. This man, amazing for his era, was interested in architecture and antiquities, working on a kind of prototype of archeology.

The throne passed to the thirteenth son of Ramses II - Merneptah. And in total, as far as we know, the ruler had 111 sons and 65 daughters from his wives and concubines. An image on the wall of one of the temples depicted the procession of his many children.

What did the tireless builder Ramses II build? It's hard to count everything. Many statues remain from his era. These are mainly colossi, that is, sculptures of enormous size. The name of the main architect is known - Mai. He supervised the construction of the new capital, Per Ramses. Maya had a high military rank. He sent distant expeditions for marble and granite, for example to the south, to Aswan.

One of the wonders of the world was the Ramesseum - the memorial temple of Ramses II in the Abu Simbel complex on the west bank of the Nile, in the Thebes region. A feature of ancient Egyptian culture was that a person took care of his burial throughout his life. It was believed that the more carefully he prepared the transition to another world, the better he would be there. That is why Ramses built such a grandiose funeral temple for himself.

Later, the building was covered with sand and discovered by the Swiss orientalist I. Burckhardt in 1812. The heads sticking out of the sand, as it turned out, belong to four sessile colossi, each 20 meters high. In 1964–1968, in connection with the construction of the Aswan Dam, at the initiative of UNESCO, the colossi were dismantled, cut into more than a thousand blocks, moved higher by 65 meters and reassembled. An unprecedented undertaking that brought together specialists from different countries!

There is a huge granite colossus of Ramses II at Per-Ramses. Its height is about 27 meters, weight – 900 tons. One can only imagine the costs this kind of construction required. Their construction devastated the state treasury.

One day, according to sources, a huge block of quartzite of unprecedented size was found. Pharaoh immediately decided that it would be another colossus. He wrote to his masters (who, by the way, were not slaves) to begin creating a new masterpiece.

Here are his words: “The bins will be bursting with grain for you, so that you will not spend a day without food. I will fill your warehouses with various things: bread, meat, sweet pies, I will give you sandals, ointments in abundance so that you anoint your heads every 10 days... I will give you a lot of people so that you do not need anything; fishermen to bring gifts from the Nile, and many others: gardeners to cultivate vegetable gardens, potters to make vessels to keep the water fresh summer time" These promises convey true passion – both for construction and for perpetuating one’s memory.

Absorbed in construction, the pharaoh was forced every now and then to go on expeditions to suppress the uprisings of the peoples subject to Egypt. He did not conquer new lands. Meanwhile, the forces of the ancient Egyptian state were depleted. This has already happened in previous turning points - between the Ancient and Middle Kingdoms, then between the Middle and New Kingdoms. Anticipating the impending decline, Ramses willingly negotiated and concluded an alliance with the Hittites. The success was also facilitated by the fact that the Hittites had a new king. The new ruler Hattusili III was not as militant as his older brother Muwatalli II.

After lengthy negotiations, a silver tablet with text in Akkadian was brought to Per-Ramesses. Now we call these kinds of documents agreements on peace and mutual assistance in the fight against possible enemies and dangers. The agreement was concluded in the 21st year of the reign of Ramses II, that is, somewhere in 1269 BC. e. The ruler was about 40 years old.

The text of the treaty was translated into Egyptian and carved on the wall of the Ramesseum. There were also cuneiform clay tablets with the same text. One of them is kept in St. Petersburg, in the State Hermitage.

The contract is quite long and extremely detailed. Here are its fragments translated by I. Stuchevsky: “As for the future up to eternity, as for the thoughts of the great ruler of Egypt and the great ruler of the country of Hitt, then may God not allow hostility to happen between them in accordance with the agreement... He is in brotherhood with me, he at peace with me, I am in brotherhood with him, I am at peace with him forever.”

The text of the agreement between the Egyptians and the Hittites is displayed today at the UN headquarters - as a symbol of civilized international relations. This is a sign that many thousands of years ago people could resolve some issues peacefully. In seeking to learn from itself, humanity has not yet been able to achieve great success, but the attempt is undoubtedly gratifying.

It is no coincidence that Pharaoh Ramses II remained in history with the nickname the Great. He is truly a great builder and a great international figure. Having concluded a peace treaty with the Hittites, he provided both his state and the neighboring one with about 60 more years of relatively quiet life.

13 years after the conclusion of the significant agreement, the tireless ruler, who was already about 53 years old, married the daughter of King Hattusili III. She took the Egyptian name Maathornefura - “seeing the beauty of the Sun.” The sun for her, of course, was supposed to be the son of the god Amun - her husband Pharaoh. There is an assumption that the Hittite king himself arrived at the wedding. However, many Egyptologists doubt this. Be that as it may, the ceremony was solemn and magnificent.

The images that have survived to this day show how a huge procession carries a dowry - gold and other treasures. Whole herds of cattle are driven from Asia Minor to Egypt. This is a considerable value - meat and skins. But this is also an expressive gesture: the situation is somewhat reminiscent of a victory that was never won - after all, wealth is arriving in Egypt, although this is not war booty... And at the age of 62, the pharaoh married, also quite officially, another Hittite princess, sister first.

In the last years of his life, Ramses II clearly enjoyed relative peace, all the while caring about perpetuating his memory. He passed away when he was about 90 years old.

The posthumous life of the pharaoh turned out to be quite stormy. He was solemnly buried, but already at the end of the reign of the next, XX dynasty, in the 11th century BC. e., the tomb was plundered. All the treasures were stolen. The priests transferred the mummy of the pharaoh to the then not yet plundered tomb of his father, Seti I. But later it was also plundered.

In total, the mummy was moved from place to place four times and was finally hidden in a hiding place. It was found at the end of the 19th century and became, as scientists delicately write, the property of science. That is, it was exhibited as an exhibit in the Cairo Museum. The state of preservation of the mummy is amazing. In the 75th year of the 20th century, when it began to be damaged, it was taken to Paris for restoration. At the same time, they were greeted very solemnly, as if the French capital had actually been visited by an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. And this is absolutely fair. Ramses II undoubtedly deserves the respectful memory of mankind.