Page 79 - All About History - Issue 70-18

Hero or Villain?

RAMSES II

Defining
moment

First known peace treaty
After decades of tensions, battles, loss of
life and lands in the borderlands between
the Egyptians and the Hittites, the conflicts
were able to be brought to a close with the first
known peace treaty. Ramses II and Hattusili II
established and inscribed the treaty on a silver
tablet, which was later copied onto clay. Its
18 articles communicated the need for
peace between the Egyptian and
Hatti peoples and their gods.
1258 BCE

The god Horus and Seti I depicted in the
mortuary temple dedicated to Ramses’ father

that he did not order to be stripped, Ramses made allegedly did not end in the complete destruction and leaving out misdemeanours in order to
sure that his cartouche and military achievements of Ramses’s forces because of last minute produce an image of him as the ultimate ruler.
were inscribed deeply into the material so that they reinforcements from the Lebanese coast. Despite what fiction he may have crafted, his legacy
would be difficult to remove if any future ruler It was also claimed that Ramses’s attempted speaks for itself.
attempted to wash the Egyptian landscape of his to cover up his mistake in believing two Hatti He was so influential to his kingdom that nine
accomplishments. spies, which led to himself and his men being more Pharaohs after him took the name Ramses in
Although Ramses took note to ensure that his ambush. Instead he allegedly claimed that his men his honour and he is still today regarded as one of
name could be found across his kingdom, certain abandoned him, leaving him to win the battle the most celebrated and powerful Pharaohs of the
huge events failed to be documented well or even alone, for which, he later punished them for. entire Ancient Egyptian empire.
at all. Some historical accounts have detailed a Many of the other criticisms of Ramses come
great departure of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt from the book of Exodus, in which he is portrayed Hero or villain?
due to their poverty and ill treatment at the hands to be a cruel and stubborn ruler.
of the Egyptians. In its texts, it is claimed that Ramses built HEROISM 7
It was also detailed that Egypt faced many Pi-Ramesses with the use of slave labour and not With dozens of successful military campaigns, hundreds
plagues, which saw its people having to bring with skilled Egyptian labourers. of great structures and the world’s irst known peace
themselves back from the brink of utter The book of Exodus further describes Ramses to treaty, Ramses was certainly some kind of hero.
devastation. However, both of these would-be be the villain of his own story, however, there is no
VILLAINY 6
significant and poignant events cannot be found in actual evidence to support the claims made in the
Ramses’s alleged megalomania and need to be seen as
Egyptian texts or artefacts. texts that the Ramses mentioned is in fact the son
a god would have largely been able to explain how he
Did they simply not happen? of Seti and Queen Tuya. achieved so much in Egypt.
Or is it more possible that Ramses became It could be said that no other Pharaoh
LEGACY 10
obsessed with preserving a perfect – albeit false – contributed more to the Egyptian landscape
legacy? This trait of embellishing the truth would than Ramses and that this was his intention. The legacy of Ramses II is something that can’t be
also extend to his military victories. Archaeologists and scholars described his reign as doubted or questioned. He was and still is the most
famous and powerful Pharaoh to have ever lived.
The Battle of Kadesh was the most significant the pinnacle of art and culture in Ancient Egypt.
of Ramses’s military career and we know now that As for his military conquests, Ramses certainly
Was Ramses II a hero or a villain? Get in touch and let us
there was no decisive victory, but in fact it was a proved himself to be a natural commander and
know what you think
draw of some sort. formidable opponent.
Despite what Ramses had carved into the walls However, it is very possible that with his Facebook Twitter
of his monuments and the story portrayed in extensive reach, Ramses was able to write the /AllAboutHistory @AboutHistoryMag ©Alamy,Thinkstock
the Poem Of Pentaur and The Bulletin, the battle pages of history himself, embroidering the truth

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