Talk:Ramesses II

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Merge

This should probably be merged with Rameses II and one made into a redirect. Dates need to be straightened out? -- Infrogmation 07:22 23 May 2003 (UTC)

90 less than 40?

This sentence under the "Life" heading doesn't make sence, anyone have correct numbers?

"The writer Terence Gray stated in 1923 that Ramesses II had as many as 20 sons and 20 daughters; more recent scholars, however, believe his offspring, while numerous, were far fewer, somewhere around 90."

Does anyone know the source for his birthdate?

I haven't found the year of his birth in any of my 10 books. Which book did whoever put his date of birth of 1302 get it from?

Problems with sed

Sed festival was not to make the pharaoh a god, but to re-affirm his position as the living god Horus. The ritual included tests of physical strength to make sure the pharaoh was strong enough to repell any invaders. Usually done after 30 years of reign, I bet the aristocracy (and the priesthood) wanted more after such a long reign, so it's not unusual for an apostate king (Akhenaten) or a long-lived king (Ramesess II) to have taken on many such tests, to see if he was fit to lead an army to battle. The long time of peace after the peace treaty with the Hittites was seen as a sign of weakness by many; Egypt after all had been plundering their neighbours for millenia before (according to records, which were no doubt spoken aloud to any and who asked what the hieroglyphics on the temples said; no defeats were ever recorded).

66 or 69 (as Bob Brier posits) years for the reign of Ramesess II, he still had over 50 sons (and equal or greater amount of daughters no doubt), the tomb KV5 is basically proof of that. Their mummies have been moved away from there by the priests while they still protected the holy remains. There might still be a cache somewhere with the mummies of the sons of Ramesess II. The length of his reign makes it very probable that he was the one who made KV5. Merneptah was the thirteenth son of Ramesess II, which also makes it clear that he outlived 12 of his sons.he ruled in the new kingdom which was also called the golden age.

Pi-Ramesses and Pithom

There seems to be conflicting (that, or not clearly explained) information in various Wiki articles. This article speaks of Ramesses II building Pi-Ramesses, however, a number of other Wiki articles (such as Ramesses I, and Pharaohs in the Bible) each say that Pi-Ramesses and Pithom were built during the reign of Horemheb by order of Pariˁamessu (id est, Ramesses I — grandfather of # II — before # I was elevated to the kingship at Horemheb's death) while he was mayor of that region. — al-Shimoni (talk) 08:44, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Hm, Pithom seems to be 7th century BCE. [1] and [2] - some inadequate research in some of our articles it seems. Dougweller (talk) 14:19, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Ramesses as Shishak

One of the secondary names of Ramesses II was Sesostris (various spellings). By the time this name had gone through a couple of language translations, Hebrew-Aramaic-Greek etc it could well have become Shishak.

An obscure Pharaoh such as the real Shehonq seems unlikely to have had the resources to launch a really large military expedition to most of the near and middle east. Ramesses II certainly did and he certainly had plenty of money to build monuments after the return of the military.

Add to this that there is no mention of plague in Ramesses II record seems to eliminate Ramesses as the Pharaoh of Exodus. Ramesses II now seems to be the far more likely candidate whose army looted the Temple of Soloman, something like a century after Exodus.