What was ramses ii religion

Ramesses carried off the princes of Palestine as live prisoners to Egypt. Ramesses then plundered the chiefs of the Asiatics in their own lands, returning every year to his headquarters at Riblah to exact tribute. In the fourth year of his reign, he captured the Hittite vassal state of Amurru during his campaign in Syria.

The Battle of Kadesh in his fifth regnal year was the climactic engagement in a campaign that Ramesses fought in Syria, against the resurgent Hittite forces of Muwatallis. The pharaoh wanted a victory at Kadesh both to expand Egypt's frontiers into Syria and to emulate his father Seti I's triumphal entry into the city just a decade or so earlier. He also constructed his new capital, Pi-Ramesses where he built factories to manufacture weapons, chariots, and shields. Of course, they followed his wishes and manufactured some 1, weapons in a week, about chariots in 2 weeks, and 1, shields in a week and a half.

After these preparations, Ramesses moved to attack territory in the Levant which belonged to a more substantial enemy than any he had ever faced before: the Hittite Empire. Although Ramesses's forces were caught in a Hittite ambush and outnumbered at Kadesh, the pharaoh fought the battle to a stalemate and returned home a hero. Ramesses II's forces suffered major losses particularly among the 'Ra' division which was routed by the initial charge of the Hittite chariots during the battle.

Once back in Egypt, Ramesses proclaimed that he had won a great victory. The Battle of Kadesh was a personal triumph for Ramesses, as after blundering into a devastating Hittite ambush, the young king courageously rallied his scattered troops to fight on the battlefield while escaping death or capture.

Still, many historians regard the battle as a strategic defeat for the Egyptians as they were unable to occupy the city or territory around Kadesh. Ramesses decorated his monuments with reliefs and inscriptions describing the campaign as a whole, and the battle in particular as a major victory. For example, on the temple walls of Luxor the near catastrophe was turned into an act of heroism:. His majesty slaughtered the armed forces of the Hittites in their entirety, their great rulers and all their brothers His majesty killed them But his majesty was alone, nobody accompanied him; Egypt's sphere of influence was now restricted to Canaan while Syria fell into Hittite hands.

Canaanite princes, seemingly influenced by the Egyptian incapacity to impose their will, and goaded on by the Hittites, began revolts against Egypt. In the seventh year of his reign, Ramesses II returned to Syria once again. This time he proved more successful against his Hittite foes. During this campaign he split his army into two forces. It then marched on to capture Moab. The other force, led by Ramesses, attacked Jerusalem and Jericho.

He, too, then entered Moab, where he rejoined his son. The reunited army then marched on Hesbon, Damascus , on to Kumidi, and finally recaptured Upi, reestablishing Egypt's former sphere of influence. Ramesses extended his military successes in his eighth and ninth years. His armies managed to march as far north as Dapur, [19] where he erected a statue of himself. The Egyptian pharaoh thus found himself in northern Amurru, well past Kadesh , in Tunip , where no Egyptian soldier had been seen since the time of Thutmose III almost years earlier.

He laid siege on the city before capturing it. His victory proved to be ephemeral. In year nine, Ramesses erected a stele at Beth Shean. After having reasserted his power over Canaan, Ramesses led his army north. A mostly illegible stele near Beirut, which appears to be dated to the king's second year, was probably set up there in his tenth.

Within a year, they had returned to the Hittite fold, so that Ramesses had to march against Dapur once more in his tenth year. This time he claimed to have fought the battle without even bothering to put on his corslet until two hours after the fighting began.

Six of Ramesses' sons, still wearing their side locks, took part in this conquest. He took towns in Retenu, [21] and Tunip in Naharin, [22] later recorded on the walls of the Ramesseum.

The deposed Hittite king, Mursili III fled to Egypt, the land of his country's enemy, after the failure of his plots to oust his uncle from the throne.

This demand precipitated a crisis in relations between Egypt and Hatti when Ramesses denied any knowledge of Mursili's whereabouts in his country, and the two Empires came dangerously close to war. The ensuing document is the earliest known peace treaty in world history. The peace treaty was recorded in two versions, one in Egyptian hieroglyphs , the other in Akkadian , using cuneiform script; both versions survive.

Such dual-language recording is common to many subsequent treaties. This treaty differs from others however, in that the two language versions are differently worded. Although the majority of the text is identical, the Hittite version claims that the Egyptians came suing for peace, while the Egyptian version claims the reverse.

The frontiers are not laid down in this treaty but can be inferred from other documents. The Anastasy A papyrus describes Canaan during the latter part of the reign of Ramesses II and enumerates and names the Phoenician coastal towns under Egyptian control. The harbour town of Sumur north of Byblos is mentioned as being the northern-most town belonging to Egypt, which points to it having contained an Egyptian garrison.

No further Egyptian campaigns in Canaan are mentioned after the conclusion of the peace treaty. The northern border seems to have been safe and quiet, so the rule of the pharaoh was strong until Ramesses II's death, and the waning of the dynasty. The Hittite king encouraged the Babylonian to oppose another enemy, which must have been the king of Assyria whose allies had killed the messenger of the Egyptian king.

Ramesses II also campaigned south of the first cataract into Nubia. When Ramesses was about 22, two of his own sons, including Amun-her-khepeshef, accompanied him in at least one of those campaigns. By the time of Ramesses, Nubia had been a colony for two hundred years, but its conquest was recalled in decoration from the temples Ramesses II built at Beit el-Wali [31] which was the subject of epigraphic work by the Oriental Institute during the Nubian salvage campaign of the s , [32] Gerf Hussein and Kalabsha in northern Nubia.

On the south wall of the Beit el-Wali temple, Ramesses II is depicted charging into battle against the Nubians in a war chariot, while his two young sons Amun-her-khepsef and Khaemwaset are shown being present behind him, also in war chariots. On one of the walls of Ramses temples it says that in one of the battles with the Nubians he had to fight the whole battle alone without any help from his soldiers.

During the reign of Ramesses II, there is evidence that the Egyptians were active on a kilometre mi stretch along the Mediterranean coast, at least as far as Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham. There are no detailed accounts of Ramesses II's undertaking large military actions against the Libyans, only generalised records of his conquering and crushing them, which may or may not refer to specific events that were otherwise unrecorded.

It may be that some of the records, such as the Aswan Stele of his year 2, are harking back to Ramesses' presence on his father's Libyan campaigns. Perhaps it was Seti I who achieved this supposed control over the region, and who planned to establish the defensive system, in a manner similar to how he rebuilt those to the east, the Ways of Horus across Northern Sinai.

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Science The controversial sale of 'Big John,' the world's largest Triceratops. Science Coronavirus Coverage How antivirals may change the course of the pandemic. Science Coronavirus Coverage U. Travel A road trip in Burgundy reveals far more than fine wine. Travel My Hometown In L. Although we are used to seeing colossal representations of the Pharaohs and the gods in ancient Egyptian remains, most of the cultic statues were, themselves, relatively small—around two feet tall, on average—and they might be made of stone, wood, or metal.

The statue in the shrine of the temple was not only a representation of the god, but a dwelling place for the presence and active consciousness of the god in his temple. The statue was then decorated and anointed with oil. Then, it would be dressed again in fresh ceremonial clothing and invested, once again, with the symbols of its divine power. This provided an opportunity for the statue to partake of the spiritual essence of the food.

At the end of the ceremony, the priests replaced the statue in its shrine, shut the doors of the shrine, and then left the temple while the chief priest closed and locked the doors behind them, bringing the ceremony to an end for the day. In addition to this primary daily ritual, other, routine rituals were commonly performed, not only in temples but in other sacred spaces as well during the day.

During the night, they were used to drive away threats from the forces of chaos. Rituals were also celebrated in honor of the divine Pharaoh, during both his life on earth and after his death. After he died, offerings were made to the divine Pharaoh in temples that formed part of his tomb complex—allowing the worship of his departed spirit in the tomb where his body resided. Learn more about the Rosetta Stone and the key to deciphering the ancient Egyptian language.

The Egyptians also devoted cults to animals, not to specific animals directly, but to the animals fulfilling the same function as the cultic statue.

The animals served as manifestations and abodes for the presence and the active consciousness of the gods to whom they were sacred. Temple animals were carefully chosen: They had to be without blemish—perfect representations of their type, for they were honored as manifestations of the god.

They and other animals of the same species were kept in the temple estate in honor of the god, and at death, the animals were mummified and presented in the temple as votive offerings, signs of devotion and respect.

When they died, they were buried. Official Egyptian religion included a variety of festivals that honored the Pharaoh or honored the gods, providing opportunities for common people to have some fleeting contact with these sources of divine power.

The Pharaoh played the leading role in several annual festivals, particularly those that involved his own royal authority. He was also actively involved in ceremonies and festivals that celebrated the seasonal fertility and well-being of the land.

A major recurring feature of annual and seasonal festivals was the transportation of the statue of the god in a bark—a boat-shaped shrine—from its own temple to the temple of another god in another location. This took place for a specified length of time, and then, later, the statue would be returned to its own temple. One example of this is the case of Hathor, who would visit her husband, Horus, in his temple for a specified time and then would return to her own temple.

The Ramesseum is a memorial temple complex situated close to Luxor even closer to Qurna. Although it is in ruins now, it is still recognizable for the large Pylon of Ramesses inside which is useful as a historical document. Pylon is the Greek word for the entrance of an Egyptian temple. The pylon is inscribed with images showing Ramesses victories over the Hittites in war, and the subsequent peace treaty which ensued.

This pylon, along with other inscriptions and temples created during Ramses II's reign, shows that this pharaoh wanted to be remembered for his influence on military, political, and religious life.

Also at the Ramesseum are the remains of a gigantic Ramses II statue. It used to be 56ft 17m high, but now only parts of the torso and base remain. Other remains found are those of 2 large statues of a seated Ramesses 2 the bust is on display in the British Museum.

They are situated in Nubia South Egypt , close to Lake Nasser, and were meant to commemorate his reign, and that of his queen, Nefertari. Pi-Ramses , an ancient city in the Nile delta , was established by Ramses 2 and used for his campaigns in Syria.

This city is mentioned in the Bible, as a place where Israelites were forced to work for the Pharaoh.