Great Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt | Ramses the Great: The Early Years (Lecture 7)

Lecture 7: Ramses II (the Great) ruled for 67 years and was one of Egypt’s exceptional pharaohs. His grandfather, Ramses I, was chosen to be pharaoh by Aye’s successor; his father, Seti I, groomed the young Ramses for kingship from his youth. Shortly after Ramses took the throne, he began shaping his reputation as a builder and a warrior. He completed his father’s monuments, although he took the opportunity to carve his own inscriptions on them. He also marshaled his army to retake Kadesh from the Hittites, and his leadership under ambush at the Battle of Kadesh made Ramses a hero; the story of the battle was carved on temples throughout Egypt. Along with his accomplishments as a ruler, Ramses was a family man, but as we shall see in this lecture and the next, tragedies in his family may have changed Ramses profoundly over the course of his life.

Essential Reading:
K. A. Kitchen, Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramses II.

Supplementary Reading:
Rita Freed, Ramesses the Great.

Lecture 8: https://rumble.com/v6yz9gc-great-pharaohs-of-ancient-egypt-ramses-the-great-the-twilight-years-lecture.html