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REVIEW BY CATHIE BRYAN
Ramesses II is notorious for his self-promotion and propaganda, rather than being famous for his many achievements and cultural advances. To adjust the balance, Wilkinson addresses what Ramesses, the only king of Egypt known as ‘the Great’, did to deserve this epithet. He infers what might have been his character and motives through consideration of the evidence for his ‘preoccupations and preferences’ in the archaeological and textual record.
Egypt’s empire was at its height in terms of power and wealth when Ramesses became king in 1279 BC, giving him the resources to operate on a grander scale than was possible for earlier pharaohs. Descended from a family of army generals who founded the Nineteenth Dynasty, Ramesses was ‘obsessed with his legitimacy and legacy’. In usurping statues of previous kings, for example, he preferred those of the Twelfth and Eighteenth Dynasties, which linked him to classical eras, and symbolised continuity. Wilkinson argues that Ramesses’ skills as a diplomat and military tactician were deployed to Egypt’s great advantage in Near Eastern politics, and he characterises Ramesses’ reign as ‘a complex amalgam of tradition and innovation’.
Ramesses was appointed co-regent in 1281 BC, as recorded at Sety I’s temple at Abydos, in which father and son make offerings to their royal predecessors. In 1274 BC, the Egyptians confronted the Hittites at the Battle of Qadesh – an acknowledged stalemate, but with both sides claiming victory. Ramesses transformed military failure into triumph, and recorded his achievement on papyrus and on numerous temple walls. The Poem, a long account written by royal scribes, is the earliest known epic poem in Egyptian literature. Wilkinson describes the mythical deception, and suggests the purposes it serves in the defining event of Ramesses’ reign. The first mutual non-aggression pact in history, which secured peace with the Hittites (1259 BC), is preserved in two languages, and recorded in hieroglyphs at Karnak Temple.
The author continues to survey Ramesses’ life and reign, emphasising what makes him the quintessential pharaoh. His architectural legacy justifies a claim to greatness, and casts in stone his self-aggrandisement. He established the classic form of an Egyptian temple as part of his unparalleled building programme, leaving more monuments than any other pharaoh. The reception of Ramesses is traced through the present, attributing the origin of the legend of Ozymandias, ‘King of Kings’ to Greek historian Diodorus Siculus.
Part of the Yale Ancient Lives series, this concise biography and reassessment provokes reconsideration of the legacy of Ramesses, and how different that legacy was from those of other kings of Egypt, who similarly employed self-promotion and propaganda to support their reigns and ensure eternal reputations. The book is illustrated by several maps and seven half-tones, mostly the author’s photographs.
Ramesses The Great: Egypt's Kings of Kings
by Toby Wilkinson
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2023
ISBN 978-0-300-25665-9
HARDBACK £18.99
