Family of Ramesses II

The large family of Ramesses II is well known. In addition to the countless concubines of the harem, four of his legal spouses are known, at least 111 sons and 67 daughters. 13

The first legal wife of the young Ramesses II was the famous beauty Nefertari, “beloved Mut”, who was considered the queen, as evidenced by the inscription in the tomb of the priest Amon Nebunenef, already in the first year of her husband’s independent reign. Surprisingly, almost nothing is known about the origin of the queen. There is not a single mention of her hypothetical family ties with the royal house. Her title does not contain the title “daughter of the king”. But, nevertheless, she is called a “noble lady” or “hereditary nobility”, i.e. a very noble lady, who by birth belonged to one of the court families. Light on this mystery can be shed by a find made in the tomb of Nefertari at the beginning of the century - a “button” for sealing the chest. This miniature item is made of earthenware; on its surface, a cartouche with the name of Eye, the penultimate king of the 18th dynasty, has been preserved. This find aroused great interest and became the reason for putting forward many hypotheses about the relationship between Nefertari and the last Amarna kings. In view of the long duration of Horemheb's reign, it becomes clear that the queen could not have been Aye's daughter by age, but rather was his granddaughter or even great-granddaughter.

The collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo contains a statue of the royal scribe and commander Nakhtmin, better known from fragments of the famous broken sculptural group that once depicted him with his wife. 14 The inscriptions on the statue mention that he was “born of a priestess of Min and a singer of Isis”, named Yuya. Military of the highest rank already during the reign of Tutankhamun, bound by name and relatives with the city of Akhmim, he, referred to in the texts as “the son of the king from his flesh”, was probably the son of Eye, who, for some reason unknown to us, failed to take the throne after the death of his father. Considering the close affection Nefertari's daughters had for Akhmim, it can be assumed that the queen was the granddaughter of Eye, the daughter of the commander Nakhtmin. 15 Of course, this is just another hypothesis, but, nevertheless, due to the lack of sources, this is all that can be said about the origin of the beloved wife of Ramesses II.

Nefertari appears next to the king on the reverse side of the pylon in Luxor next to an inscription dated to the third year of the reign of Ramesses; 16, the queen was permanently depicted next to her husband's colossi until she was replaced in this capacity by the princesses, who after her death became queens - Bentanat and Meritamon. 17 Magnificent in decoration, but very badly damaged, the statue of Nefertari is kept in Brussels. 18 She's featured standing next to with the famous sculpture of Ramesses from the Turin Museum. 19 Presumably Nefertari is also depicted by the famous statue of the “unknown” queen from the Berlin Museum (Inv. 10114; comparison of the outline of the legs of the statue and the base from the statue of Nefertari from Heliopolis made it possible to establish their original unity). 20 The grand temple of Ibshek was dedicated to Nefertari at Abu Simbel in Nubia, north of the sanctuary of Ramesses II himself 21 . The facade of the sanctuary is decorated on both sides of the entrance with paired colossal figures of Ramesses, between which stand the colossi of Nefertari herself in the form of the goddess Hathor.

“Ramses, he erected a temple carved into the mountain for eternity,” says a large dedicatory inscription on the facade, “for the sake of the Great wife of the royal Nefertari, Beloved Mut, in Nubia, in eternity and infinity ... for Nefertari, who pleased the gods, the one who for which the sun shines." 22

In indoor areas The sanctuary devotes as much attention to the queen as to her husband. An Egyptian queen was honored with such an honor only once: the pharaoh of the XVIII dynasty Amenhotep III erected a temple in Sedeing for his famous wife Teye, where she was revered, like Nefertari, as the goddess Hathor. 23

After the conclusion of a peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittite state in 1259 BC. (21st year of Ramses II), apparently actively participating in the political life of the country, Nefertari established a friendly correspondence with the Hittite queen Puduhepa. 241

In the 24th year of the reign of Ramesses II, the construction of the grandiose temples at Abu Simbel was completed. To consecrate the complex and establish cults of deities, the royal fleet sailed from Thebes to Nubia. Ramesses and Nefertari were accompanied by the princess Meritamon and the “royal son of Kush” Hekanakht. This event is narrated by the stele of Hekanakht, carved in the rocks next to the temples. 25 The nobleman is depicted offering gifts to the queen sitting on the throne. This was the last event associated with the name of the beautiful Nefertari, who died early.

The tomb of Nefertari, carved into the rocks of the Valley of the Queens, is the most beautiful monument of this necropolis; its murals, covering an area of ​​520 m 2, are rightfully considered one of the best works of art of the entire era of the New Kingdom. 26 The murals of the tomb illustrate some chapters of the book “The Sayings of the Coming Out into the Day” (Book of the Dead) and show the path of the queen, led by the gods to the afterlife for the judgment of Osiris.

Eighteen steps lead from the entrance carved into the rocks to the inner chambers of the tomb. The portico of the door in front of the first chamber is badly damaged, but the queen's titles are still read on its right side:

“Hereditary nobility, Great by grace, beauty, sweetness and love, Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt, reposed, Lady of Both Lands, Nefertari, Beloved Mut, Right-voiced before Osiris.” 27

The first chamber of tomb “C” (5x5.2 m) is equipped with a table carved into the wall for offerings. Its walls are covered with images - fragments of the 17th chapter of the Book of the Dead. The queen is represented in three incarnations: playing senet, in the form of the soul of Ba, and, finally, worshiping Aker, the lion-headed god of the earth, who is at the same time the horizon - a symbol of the rebirth of the solar deity. Nearby are shown the “soul of Ra” - the snow-white phoenix Benu, symbolizing the eternal cyclic return of life, as well as a kiosk, inside which the mummy of Nefertari lies on a lion-headed bed; at the head and at the feet, the mummy is accompanied by two weeping falcons - Nephthys and Isis. The god of the Nile water, Hapi, grants Nefertari a palm leaf, symbolizing millions of years, and the syncretic sign shen-ujat, which guarantees eternity and resurrection for the deceased. Nearby are the Heavenly Cow Nut and the four sons of Horus - the guardians of the deceased and her entrails, placed in canopies. To the right of the entrance to the tomb, Nefertari appears before Osiris and Anubis. She is depicted as entering the premises, and the faces of the gods, the “lords of the Duat”, the true inhabitants of this place, are shown facing the exit and the queen walking towards them. Nefertari is dressed in magnificent snow-white clothes made of linen, which Egypt was so famous for in ancient times; they are tied under the chest with a red belt in the form of an amulet tet - the knot of Isis. On the shoulders of Nefertari is a rich necklace of usekh. On the queen's head is a Shuti ceremonial dress, consisting of a dark blue wig, decorated with the golden wings of the kite of the goddess Mut, a stand, a golden solar disk and two ostrich feathers.

The passage from the first chamber leads to an additional room on this level. Passage “D” is flanked on both sides by the standing figures of Osiris and Anubis; above the door there is a frieze consisting of uraeus, ostrich feathers, symbols of the goddess Maat, and a human figure in the center, based on the already mentioned syncretic shen-ujat amulets. On the sides of the passage are depicted two goddesses - Neith and Selket, giving Nefertari "protection, life, steadfastness, power, all protection, like Ra, forever." The goddesses utter magic spells and sayings to protect the queen:

“Spoken by Selket, Lady of Heaven, Lady of all gods. I walk before you, oh (...) Nefertari (...) 28, Right-vowel before Osiris, who is in Abydos; I gave you a stay in the sacred land (Ta-Jesert), so that you could appear victoriously in heaven like Ra. 29

Further, the passage widens (“E”); the pilasters formed during the expansion are decorated with images of the anthropomorphic djed pillar - the symbol of Osiris, a sign of inviolability and constancy. On the left side of the passage, the goddess Isis, wearing a menat necklace, leads the queen by the hand to the god of the morning sun, Khepri, who has a head in the form of a scarab; on the right, Horus, the son of Isis, leads the deceased to the thrones of Ra-Horakhta and Hathor, the mistress of the Theban necropolis. Between the thrones of Khepri and Hathor is the door to the side chamber (“G”). The kite goddess Nekhbet, the patroness of Upper Egypt, hovers above the door, clutching the symbols of eternity shen in her hands. The visual perspective of the passage through this door is completed by the figures of Atum and Osiris, seated back to back, depicted on the opposite wall. Two figures of the goddess Maat on the inner sides of the door symbolize the passage to the Hall of Two Truths - the hall where psychostasia takes place - the judgment of the gods and the determination of the weight of sins accumulated in the human heart.

Camera "G" (3x5 m) contains images of Nefertari standing before Ptah, the lord of Memphis, and Thoth, the lord of "divine sayings" - writing, as well as magic.

“Behold, the great one, who sees her father, the lord of the letter Thoth. Here, I come with a soul, mighty, knowing the Scriptures of Thoth... Bring me a vessel, bring me a palette of Thoth with their secrets in them. Oh Gods! Here I am a scribe... Bring me writing supplies so that I can embody the orders of Osiris, the great god, beautifully every day... O Ra-Horakht, I will follow the Truth, I will comprehend the Truth.” thirty

On the long eastern wall of chamber “G” rich gifts are shown: meat, bread, vegetables, which are donated to Osiris and Atum by Nefertari, holding a scepter kherep in her right hand. Two great deities - the personification of immortality and the creator of the universe are united here in an almost symmetrical composition. The next scene, illustrating chapter 148 of the Book of the Dead, occupies the entire south wall of the chamber. Framed with the sign of heaven and the uas scepters, seven cows and a bull are depicted in two registers, in front of each of which is a small altar with offerings. All animals “walk” towards the queen, standing in the pose of adoration. The text of chapter 148 speaks of the purpose of these seven cows to supply the spirit of the deceased with milk and bread. Steering oars are also mentioned here, which help the deceased to swim among the stars. None of the queen's enemies will recognize her thanks to these “named” oars and the god Ra, the helmsman of the boat. Next to the figure of the queen is one of the most famous scenes of the tomb: a deity in the form of a mummy with the head of a ram, crowned with a solar disk, stands on a small podium; on both sides it is supported by Nephthys and Isis. Each wears a long-ended white afnet wig tied with red ribbons. Between the figures of the goddesses and the ram-headed deity are two columns of text “This is Osiris resting in Ra” and “This is Ra resting in Osiris”. The scene is different the highest quality performance and is very important from a theological point of view, illustrating, as already mentioned, the central idea of ​​the Egyptian funeral texts - the union of Ra and Osiris in the form of a single eternal deity.

A descending passage leads from chamber "C" to the lowest level of the chambers of the tomb. On both sides of the passage door, on the paired pillars of the djed, cartouches of the queen are depicted, accompanied by the goddesses Wadjet and Nekhbet in the form of snakes with the heraldic attributes of Lower and Upper Egypt, respectively. The staircase itself is 7.5 meters long. The images of each wall are divided into two triangular registers. The upper left register shows the offering of the sacred Nemset vessels by the queen to the goddesses Hathor, Selket and the winged Maat. On a similar scene in the right register, there are Isis, Nephthys, and a symmetrically located Maat, between the wings of which a shen is shown - a symbol of eternity and the name of the queen in a cartouche, the shape of which, as is known, originated from this sign. On the “shelves” formed in the rock at both doors of the corridor, there are images of two anthropomorphic symbols of Osiris djed (upper level of the stairs) and the goddesses Neith and Selket (lower level of the stairs). Jed, as a sign of inviolability, constancy, is in this case a mighty pillar of "heaven" - a dark blue ceiling covered with golden stars of the night sky. In the lower registers of the walls, the god Anubis in the form of a jackal and Isis and Nephthys kneeling on the signs of the gold of the sky. Both hands are laid on the signs of shen. Nearby are voluminous texts-spells, which are unique examples of calligraphy:

“Words spoken by Anubis Imiut, the great god who dwells in the sacred land (Ta-Jesert). I go before you, O great royal wife, mistress of both lands, mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, Reposed, Nefertari, beloved Mut, right-handed before Osiris, the great god who is in the West. I go before you and I have given you a place in the sacred land, so that you may appear triumphant in heaven, like your father Ra. Put diadems on top of your head. Isis and Nephthys rewarded you and created your beauty, like your father, so that you could appear triumphant in heaven, like Ra, so that you could illuminate Igeret with your rays. The great host of gods on earth has given you a place. Nut, your mother, greets you, just as she greets Ra-Khorakhte. May the souls of Pe and Buto rejoice, just as they rejoiced at your father who is in the West... Approach your mother and sit on the throne of Osiris. May the lords of the sacred land receive you. May your heart rejoice forever, O great royal wife... Nefertari... right-handed before Osiris.” 31

The grandiose image of the flying goddess Maat crowns the space above the door leading to the “Golden Peace” - the burial chamber of the tomb “K” (10.4x8.2 m). Low "benches" along the entire perimeter of the room were once intended for grave goods. The walls of the chamber are covered with images illustrating chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of the Dead, and contain a description of the kingdom of Osiris. The queen appears before the guards afterlife and correctly names the names of spirits and the names of the gates of otherworldly regions. The top of the walls is decorated with a hecker frieze; countless stars of the night sky cover the ceiling. deepening, former place for the sarcophagus was in the middle of the room, framed by four pillars. The sixteen planes of the pillars preserved the magnificent scenes of Nefertari standing before the deities - Anubis, Isis, Hathor, the mighty djed pillars, as well as the figures of two priests of the funeral cult - Khor Iunmutef (“Hor-Support-His Mother”) and Khor Nejitef (“Khor-Defender -His Father"). Incarnations of Horus, son of Isis, priests in leopard skins, present Nefertari to Osiris:

“Words spoken by Khor Iunmutef. I am your beloved son, my father Osiris. I have come to honor you. Forever I have cast down your enemies for you. May you allow the daughter of your beloved, the great wife of the king ... Nefertari, beloved Mut, right-handed, to remain in the host of great deities, those that accompany Osiris ..”. 32

Osiris, the king of the host of gods, is depicted on two planes of pillars facing towards the entrance to the chamber. In both scenes, he stands on a small plinth inside a yellow naos. On his head is an atef crown, in his hands is a heket scepter and a nehehu whip. On the shoulders of the great god, a necklace is used, he is tied with a red belt, the symbol of his wife Isis. Inside the naos next to Osiris are the emblems of Anubis Imiut, consisting of a wooden stand and a leopard skin.

A small niche for canopic canopies is carved into the left wall of the chamber. Its walls are decorated with images of Anubis and spirits, the sons of Horus, the patrons of the canopic; on the central wall there is an image of the winged goddess of the sky Nut with the signs of eternal life ankh in her hands.

On three sides of the burial chamber there are passages to small side rooms (“M”, “Q”, “O”), intended for storing grave goods. The decoration is best preserved in cell “M”. The doorway is flanked by images of the goddesses Wadjet and Nekhbet in the form of snakes resting on djed pillars. On the walls are images of the anthropomorphic Osiris-Djed with the scepters of the UAS in his hands, Nefertari herself in the form of a mummy, Isis and Nephthys with the four sons of Horus. Under their protection, the queen "follows" to the image of the legendary house of Osiris in Abydos.

On the walls of the “O” chamber, heavily damaged images of the queen reciting prayers before Hathor, Lady of the West, have been preserved. FROM right side Nefertari appears before Isis and Anubis, seated on thrones. Two altars with flowers and bread stand in front of the deities. The central wall is filled with the winged figure of Maat. The surviving fragment of the text on behalf of the goddess speaks of “the creation of a place for the queen in the house of Amun.” Perhaps there was a statue of Nefertari here.

The decoration of the “Q” chamber has practically not been preserved. The figure of Isis on the southern wall, fragments of the procession of the gods, a djed pillar between two amulets of Isis tet - these are the main images from this room that have come down to our time.

The tomb of Nefertari was discovered in 1904 by an Italian archaeological expedition led by Ernesto Schiaparelli. Poor quality limestone, in which the tomb was carved, as well as salty soil waters, led to the fact that by the 70s of our century, the paintings of the unique monument were in danger of disappearing. The special restoration project “Nefertari” of the Egyptian Antiquities Service and the Paul Getty Conservation Institute, carried out from 1986 to 1992, has become one of the major works XX century to preserve the heritage of antiquity. 33 Unique restoration techniques allowed the tomb to be reopened to visitors in November 1995.

The second great royal wife was Isitnofret. 34 We know practically nothing about its origin. Among her titles, there is no epithet “daughter of the king” - the blood of the pharaohs did not flow in her veins. In view of the fact that her eldest daughter Bentanat bore a Syrian name, many experts suggest that Isitnofret was not an Egyptian; however, this hypothesis is too doubtful. Interestingly, Bentanat ushebti were found by J. Martin's expedition to Saqqara, in the tomb of Horemheb. It is well known that Bentanat was buried in Thebes. How then to explain the presence of her grave goods in the tomb of a man whom fate made pharaoh at the junction of two colossal dynasties? Was there any relationship between Horemheb and Bentanath's mother, Queen Isitnofret? 35 This assumption is confirmed by another fact: having ascended the throne, Horemheb ordered a rock sanctuary dedicated to Hapi, the deity of the flood, to be carved in the granite rocks of Gebel Silsile. Inside, many relief decoration additions made under the Ramessides have been preserved. If the image of Nefertari is completely absent here, then Isitnofret, on the contrary, is depicted repeatedly with her husband. Whether this was a deliberate emphasis on family relations is extremely difficult to say today.

She is shown together with Ramesses II on a stele from Aswan, erected in this place in honor of the second celebration of Ramesses' sed ceremony, in the 33rd-34th year of his reign. 36 On this monument, as, indeed, on almost all others where her name occurs, she was depicted only thanks to the efforts of her son, Khaemuas, while Ramesses himself paid surprisingly little attention to her. It is absolutely known that she became a great royal wife even under Nefertari, but she was not honored to be depicted at the colossi of her husband. Remarkable sculptural images of Queen Isitnofret are known. The most interesting - the lower part of a quartzite statue of excellent finish with a relief figure of Prince Haemois on the side (E 7500) and a sandstone bust (E 5924) - are kept in the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. 37

In Saqqara, not far from the Serapeum, fragments of an architectural structure erected in honor of Isitnofret Khaemuas were discovered. 38 Apparently, the second wife of Ramesses came from Memphis. 39

Approximately in the 34th year of the reign, the wife of Isitnofret died and was buried in Thebes; the tomb of Isitnofret is not identified, but is recorded in the documentation of Deir el-Medine: 40 in the text of one of the ostraca of the Cairo Museum, Isitnofret and one of the sons of Ramesses, Meriatum, are mentioned, the construction of the tombs for which was completed by Theban masters. It should be especially noted that the tomb of Meriatum was found, and not just anywhere, but in the Valley of the Kings! 41 There is only one conclusion: either the tomb of the great queen has not yet been found, or we are talking about another, the second Isitnofret - the daughter of Ramses II, who for some reason was buried in one of the unfinished tombs of the necropolis. The assumption of some experts that the queen was buried in Memphis is more than doubtful, since all (!) Spouses and daughters of Ramses II found their last refuge in Thebes.

The paternal pride of Ramses II for a large family was expressed in numerous reliefs - "processions" of princes and princesses, accompanied by their names, on the walls of many temples built under their father; these sources recorded 50 young men and 40 girls, for whom such an image provided protection in the face of one or another deity. 56 On both sides of the colossi that adorn the facade of the temple of Ibshek in Abu Simbel, dedicated, as already mentioned, to Nefertari, six children of this queen are depicted: Amenherkhepeshef, the eldest son of Ramesses and heir to the throne, Paraherunemef (3rd son), Princess Meritamon (4 th daughter) and Henuttawi (7th daughter), as well as princes Merira (11th son) and Meriatum (16th son); it should not be forgotten that Nefertari could have had several more children after the completion of the temple.

Four children of Queen Isitnofret are known: the eldest daughter of Bentanat, Ramses (2nd son), the most famous son of Ramses II - Khaemuas (4th son) and Merneptah (13th son), who inherited the throne after the death of his father and elder sons.

At the facade of the Mehu temple in Abu Simbel, the children of both queens are presented together: between the legs of the colossus of Ramses II, south of the front door, Amenherkhepeshef is represented, next to the princesses Bentanat and Nebettawi (mother is unknown); at the colossus to the north - Prince Ramesses, as well as princesses Meritamon and Princess Nefertari (mother - unknown).

When counting, it turns out that of the 16 eldest sons of Ramses II, seven were born to Nefertari and Isitnofret, while the mothers of the remaining nine sons are unknown. Of the nine senior princesses, only three were the daughters of the two main wives, while the remaining six, and then all subsequent children of the king, were born to unknown ladies of the harem.

The sons of Ramesses II are also depicted on temple reliefs with scenes of military operations. In the earliest temple of Ramses II - in Bet el-Wali, the heir Amenkherkhepeshef "Senior Commander", as well as Sethherkhepeshef, Khaemuas and some other princes, whose names have not been preserved, are shown. 57 On the “military” reliefs in the first hall of the Mehu Abu Simbel temple, three eldest sons are participating in the battle on chariots, and Paraherunemef is called “the first brave man of the army”. 58 In the scene of the battle at the Syrian city of Kadesh, made on the outer side of the southern wall of the hypostyle hall of the temple of Amun-Ra in Karnak, 12 sons of the king lead the prisoners. In the Ramesseum, on the reliefs of military campaigns in the eighth year of the reign of Ramses, 18 princes are mentioned. It should be remembered that often such images were fiction, and the prince, who had barely learned to walk, was shown as an active participant in the events. One way or another, only four eldest sons were born before Ramesses came to the throne; Princess Bentanat, for example, was only seven years old in the first year of her father's reign. 59 Some sons of Ramesses II are also known from other historical sources: Amenkherkhepeshef and Sethkherkhepeshef are mentioned on the cuneiform tablets of the Bogazkoy archive of the Hittite state. 60

Due to wars, disease and accidents, many of the sons of Ramesses II died in childhood or youth. Around the 20th year of the reign of Ramesses II, the crown prince Amenherkhepeshef died. Several of his younger brothers - Paracherunemef, Seti and Merira the elder - died even earlier. Among the older children of Nefertari, Meriatum was alive, who became the crown prince, who inherited after him the title of Sethherkhepeshef, mentioned as such in the Hitto-Egyptian peace treaty in the 21st year of his father's reign. After him, Ramesses, the son of Isitnofret, is mentioned as heir to the throne for almost twenty years; around the year 50, the sage Khaemwas became the crown prince. This long transfer of the title ended with its fifth holder - Merneptah, also the son of Isitnofret, who became king after the death of his father.

The fate of some minor sons was connected with the royal court only by the very fact of birth. So, the 23rd son, Sa-Montu married Iret, daughter of Ben-Anat, the captain of the Syrian ship. For some time, Sa-Montou was in the service of the vineyards of Ramses II in Memphis, the most cosmopolitan capital of Egypt, where he probably met his Syrian wife. We know about several princes only from the existence of the tomb. Prince Ramesses-Neb-Uben was a hunchback and died when he was about thirty years old. He probably died in the royal harem in Mi-ur and was supposed to be buried in Thebes, but the death happened so unexpectedly that the old sarcophagi of his great great-grandfather, Ramesses I, made when he was still the vizier of Paramessu, were adapted for his burial, and left unused after his accession. 61

Particular attention should be paid to the fate of the interesting personality among the children of Ramesses II - Prince Khaemwas. For the first time he appears on reliefs depicting the first Syrian and Nubian campaigns of Ramses II, in which he took part (materials of Karnak and Ramesseum). As a result of the death of the eldest sons of the king - Amenkherkhepeshef, Sethkherkhepeshef (mother - Queen Nefertari) and Ramesses (mother - Queen Isitnofret I), Khaemuas receives the title of "heir to the throne".

Having become a priest, in the temple of Ptah in Memphis, the prince receives the title "chief of artisans", which was worn by the high priest of this god. According to sources, this happened shortly before the death of Apis (the sacred bull of the god Ptah) in the 16th year of the reign of Ramses II (1264/63 BC). bulls in the necropolis of Saqqara. On the wall of the new burial chamber, images of Ramesses II and Khaemwas worshiping Apis, as well as the famous inscription:

“Osiris, Sem Priest, Prince Khaemwas; he says: “O you, the priests of this, the high priests, noble in the temple of Ptah ... and every scribe, skilled in knowledge, who will come to this temple, which I erected for the Living Apis, who will see what is inscribed on these walls of magnificent stone ... Nothing like this has ever been created ... The gods, those in the temple, (their images) are made of gold with various precious stones ... I have established daily and festive offerings for them, more than those that ever donated. I appointed him priests and readers, those who praise... and all sorts of servants. I built a great burial ark in front of the temple, and in front of it - a great sacrificial altar of the best white limestone of Tura with divine offerings and all kinds of beautiful things ... Remember my name, considering what I have done and do the same! O Apis-Sokar-Osiris, the Great God, the lord of the ark Shetait, I am the priest of this, the son of the king (Khaemuas)”. 63

The connection of Khaemwas with the Serapeum is also confirmed by the ushebti figurines made in connection with the burial ceremony of the Apis bulls in 16, 26, 30 and in another unknown year of the reign of Ramesses II. 64 As the high priest of Ptah, Khaemuasu in the 55th year of the reign of Ramesses II was succeeded by his brother Merneptah.

Many monuments of Saqqara and Giza under Khaemwas were restored and provided with special texts containing interesting information about the restoration process. 65 Moreover, having found a statue of Kawab, the eldest son of King Khufu, in the ruins of the mastaba, he ordered the statue to be transported to the temple of Ptah so that it could “live forever” there. 66 The two sons of Khaemwas - Ramesses and Hori were included in the new system of management of the temple of Ptah, created at this time.

The statues preserved in the museums of the world depict Khaemuas in different periods life. The famous monument of the British Museum (EA 947) shows the prince as a young man. 67 On his head is a short round wig, which is traditionally called “Libyan”, since it was dedicated to Onuris, the god of hunting, the patron of the Libyan desert 68 and “acquired special popularity in the era of the Ramessides” 69 .

The lock, as a symbol of the title of the High Priest of Ptah, is on the image of Khaemuas from the Cairo Museum (JE 36720). 70 The yellow sandstone statue of the Naophor prince depicts Khaemwas at a more respectable age. In the hands of the son of Ramesses II holds a naos - an ark with the image of the god Ptah-Tatenen, the most ancient deity of Memphis.

The unique sculptural image of Khaemuas is kept in Moscow, in the collection of the Sector of the East of the Pushkin Museum (Inv. No. I, Ia 6670). 71 The quartzite lid from the rarest ritual vessel shows Khaemwas as young and stylistically very close to the monument from the British Museum. 72

Khaemuas died in the 55th year of his father's reign and was probably buried in a special tomb adjoining the galleries of the Serapeum. Among the monuments originating from his richest burial, discovered in 1852 by the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette during excavations of the tombs of sacred bulls, there are a golden mask, a wooden sarcophagus, ushebti and a number of other items of grave goods. All monuments are currently in the Louvre. 73 The Khaemwas mask may be the key to the history of this unconventional burial: stylistically, this monument is very close to the portraits of the Late Time 74 and confirms the hypothesis of F. Gomaa, who suggested that the true burial of the prince did not survive, and the tomb in the Serapeum is secondary and was made several centuries later. 75 This, however, often happened with the burials of members of the ancient Egyptian royal families. 76

Burial of the sons of Ramesses II (KV5)

In 1987, the archaeological expedition of the American University in Cairo in the Valley of the Kings discovered the tomb of at least 50 sons of Ramesses II (KV5). 77 For the first time this tomb was visited in 1820 by the Englishman James Barton, however, at that time only a small part of the premises was open: the passage to the main part of the tomb was closed by the stone layers of the ceiling that collapsed as a result of the flood. Under the direction of K. Wicks, by 1995, 95 previously unknown chambers of the upper level were discovered in KV5, which made this tomb one of the largest burial complexes of ancient Egypt. The chambers are connected by a T-shaped corridor, at the intersection of the axes of which there is a massive statue of Osiris (1.5 m). The ceiling of the tomb and the pillars supporting it are in a terrible state. Once the walls of the premises were decorated with magnificent reliefs, preserved very fragmentarily; 78, images of Ramesses II, representing Prince Amenherkhepeshef Sokara and Hathor, as well as the figure of Prince Ramesses in front of the god Nefertum, have come down to our time. In general, the decoration of the tomb was close to the paintings of the tombs of the sons of Ramses III in the Valley of the Queens. As a result of clearing, fragments of ushebti, sarcophagi, canopies, parts of mummified remains were revealed. Stairs leading to the lower level of the premises were found at opposite ends of the corridor. The plan of the grandiose tomb, which was intended for the burial of the early dead sons of Ramses II, among them Amenherkhepeshef, Meriatum, Ramses, Seti, is unique. The sad fate of this burial is evidenced by the text of the testimony of the captured robbers stored in the Turin Museum:

“Here, Userhet and Patur were pulling stones, those that were above the tomb of Osiris, King Usermaatr - Setepenr, the great god ... And Kenna, the son of Ruth, did the same over the burial place of the royal children of Osiris, King Usermaatr - Setepenr, the great god ..”. 79

Biography

Ramesses (Ramses) II the Great - the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, who ruled approximately in 1279 - 1213 BC. e., from the 19th dynasty.

Son of Seti I and Queen Tuya. One of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt. He was mainly given the honorary title of A-nakhtu, that is, "Winner". Monuments and papyri often call him the popular nickname Sesu or Sessu. This is undoubtedly the same name that is mentioned in the tradition of Manetho in this way: "Setosis, which is also called Ramesses." Among the Greeks, this name turned into Sesostris, the hero of legendary tales and the world conqueror.

The number of his monuments of various degrees of preservation in Egypt and Nubia is extremely large.

The beginning of the reign

Accession to the throne

Ramesses II ascended the throne on the 27th day of the third month of the Shemu season (i.e. Drought). The young king was at that time about twenty years old.

Despite the huge number of monuments and documents bearing the name of Ramses II, the history of his more than 66-year reign is covered rather unevenly in the sources. Dated documents exist for each year of his reign, but they are extremely heterogeneous: from religious monuments to honey pots from Deir el-Medina.

Victory over the Nubians and Libyans

The change of pharaohs could, as in former times, inspire the hopes of successful uprisings among the oppressed peoples. From the first months of the reign Ramesses the image of the drive of the Canaanite captives to the pharaoh has been preserved, but it is somewhat conditional. But the uprising in Nubia was, apparently, so significant that it took the personal presence of the pharaoh to suppress it. The country was pacified.

During this campaign, only in one sparsely populated region of Irem, 7 thousand people were killed. The governor of Ramesses in Nubia was able to deliver him a rich tribute in the first months of his reign and was made happy for this with awards and royal goodwill. Perhaps, at the very beginning of his reign, Ramesses also had to deal with the Libyans. In any case, an image of his triumph over his western neighbor has been preserved, referring to the first months of his reign.

Defeat of the Sherdans

Not later than the 2nd year of his reign, Ramesses defeated the Sherdans - representatives of one of the "peoples of the sea" (it is believed that they subsequently settled the island of Sardinia). Egyptian inscriptions speak of enemy ships and their defeat during sleep. From this we can conclude that the case took place at sea or on one of the Nile branches and that the warlike Sherdans were taken by surprise by the Egyptians.

The captured Sherdans were included in the ranks of the Egyptian army. They apparently did not feel bad in the service of the pharaoh, since later images show them fighting in Syria and Palestine in the forefront of the warriors of Ramesses.

Successes in domestic affairs

Certain successes have been achieved in domestic affairs. In the autumn of the first year of his reign, Ramesses appointed the faithful Nebunenef (Nib-unanaf), who previously held the post of the first priest of the Tini god Onuris (An-Khara), to the vacant place of the first priest of Amon. In the third year of Ramesses' reign, only at a depth of 6 meters, water was finally found in the gold mines in Wadi Alaki, which significantly increased gold production there.

War with the Hittites

First campaign

Having thus strengthened the state, Ramesses began to prepare for a big war with the Hittites. Since Ramesses referred to the "second expedition" as the campaign that ended with the Battle of Kadesh in the 5th year of his reign, it can be assumed that the stele erected in the 4th year at Nahr el-Kelb, north of Beirut, is a reminder of the first campaign . Despite the fact that almost the entire text has been lost, the image of Ra-Horakhti stretching out his hand to the king leading the captive, allows us to talk about some kind of military event.

Apparently, in the 4th year of the reign, Ramesses undertook his first campaign in Asia Minor, aimed at subjugating the sea coast of Palestine and Phoenicia, as a necessary prerequisite for further successful management fight against the Hittites. During this campaign, Ramesses took the city of Berit and reached the Eleutheros River (El-Kebira, "Dog's River"), where he set up his memorial stele. The fact that Nahr el-Kelb is located on the territory occupied by the Amurru tribes probably indicates the subordination of the Amurru king Bentechin to the Egyptian authorities. This happened, first of all, due to the intensification of the Hittite raids, while the Egyptian presence guaranteed at least some calmness. It was this event that became the reason for declaring war between Ramesses II and the Hittite king Muwatalli: this is quite clear from the text of the treaty signed by Shaushkamuya, the son of Benteshin and Tudhaliya, the son of Muwatalli.

Battle of Kadesh

Egyptian army

In the spring of the 5th year of his reign, Ramesses, having gathered more than 20,000 troops, set out from the border fortress of Chilu on the second campaign. After 29 days, counting from the day of the departure from Chilu, four military units of the Egyptians, named after Amon, Ra, Ptah and Seth, each of which had about 5 thousand soldiers, camped at a distance of one march from Kadesh. One of the formations, called in Canaanite "well done" (non-arim), and composed by the pharaoh, apparently from the best warriors, was sent along the sea coast even earlier, for subsequent reunion with the main forces at Kadesh.

The next day, in the morning, an army of thousands of Egyptians began crossing the Orontes at Shabtun (later known to the Jews as Ribla). Misled by Hittite scouts sent to the Egyptian camp, who assured that the Hittites had retreated far to the north, to Aleppo, Ramesses with one Amon unit that had already crossed, without waiting for the crossing of the rest of the army, moved to Kadesh.

Hittite army

In the north, on a small headland at the confluence of the Orontes with its left tributary, battlements and towers of Kadesh were piled up. And in the trans-river plain, to the north-east of the fortress, hidden by the city, the entire army of the Hittite kingdom and its allies stood in full combat readiness.

According to Egyptian sources, the Hittite army consisted of 3,500 chariots with three warriors each and 17,000 infantry. The total number of soldiers was approximately 28 thousand. But the Hittite army was extremely mixed and largely mercenary. In addition to the Hittite warriors, almost all the Anatolian and Syrian kingdoms were represented in it: Artsava, Lucca, Kizzuvatna, Aravanna, Euphrates Syria, Karchemish, Halab, Ugarit, Nukhashshe, Kadesh, nomadic tribes and so on. Each of these multi-tribal allies appeared under the command of their rulers and, consequently, it was extremely difficult for Muwatalli to manage all this crowd.

King Hatti Muwatalli had every reason to avoid fighting the Egyptians in open battle. It was difficult to count with such hordes to defeat the Egyptian army in open battle, united, well-trained and guided by a single will. The ensuing sixteen-year struggle showed that Hatti's troops avoided battles in the open field and holed up more in Syrian fortresses. In any case, none of the innumerable monuments of Ramesses II shows a single major battle with the kingdom of Hatti outside the city walls after the battle of Kadesh. But the battle of Kadesh itself proves that the Hittites relied more on deceit and surprise attacks than on their military strength.

Battle

Having crossed the Orontes, the “Ra” unit did not wait for the “Ptah” and “Set” units, which had not yet even reached the ford, and went north to meet with the pharaoh. Meanwhile, south of Kadesh, out of sight of the Egyptians, the bulk of the enemy's chariot troops concentrated. The crossing of his chariots across the Orontes, obviously, was carried out in advance and passed unnoticed by the Egyptians.

The “Ra” unit in marching order, not ready for battle, was attacked by enemy chariots, and was dispersed with lightning speed, and the chariots fell on the “Amon” unit, which was engaged in setting up the camp. Part of the Egyptian soldiers fled, and part, along with the pharaoh, was surrounded. The Egyptians suffered huge losses. Ramesses managed to rally his guard around him and take up a circular defense. Only the fact that the Hittite infantry could not cross the stormy waters of the Orontes and did not come to the aid of their chariots contributed to the salvation of Ramesses from inevitable defeat. A happy accident - the unexpected appearance on the battlefield of another Egyptian unit, the same one that was walking by the sea, somewhat straightened out the situation, and the Egyptians were able to hold out until the evening, when the Ptah unit approached Kadesh.

The Hittites were forced to retreat behind the Orontes, receiving, in turn, damage while crossing the river. In this battle, two brothers of the Hittite king Muwatalli, several military leaders and many other notable Hittites and their allies died. The next day, in the morning, Ramesses again attacked the Hittite army, but it was not possible to break the enemy in this battle either. In any case, no source says that the pharaoh took possession of Kadesh. The bloodless opponents were clearly unable to defeat each other.

The Hittite king Muwatalli offered the pharaoh a truce, which gave Ramesses the opportunity to honorably retreat and return safely to Egypt. The Hittite king successfully continued his actions in order to subjugate Amurra and, as a result, removed the ruler Benteshin. The Hittites even moved further south and captured the country of Ube (that is, the oasis of Damascus), formerly belonging to Egypt.

Sources for the Battle of Kadesh

The Battle of Kadesh greatly impressed Ramesses II, who ordered the story of this event and grandiose panoramic "illustrations" to be reproduced on the walls of many temple complexes, including those in Abydos, Karnak, Luxor, Ramesseum and Abu Simbel.

The main sources that tell about what happened are three different texts: a long detailed story with included lyrical digressions - the so-called "Pentaur's Poem"; a short story dedicated to the events of the battle itself - "Report" and comments on relief compositions. Several Hittite documents also mention the Battle of Kadesh.

Capture of Dapur

Sources regarding the further course of the war with the Hittites are very scarce, and the order of events is not entirely reliable. The wars in Asia that Ramesses II waged after the 5th year of his reign were caused, first of all, by the new strengthening of the Hittite kingdom, the hostility of the Syrian north and the loss of Amurru. In the 8th year of his reign, Ramses again invaded Asia Minor. The result of this campaign was the capture of Dapur. With the assistance of his sons, Ramesses besieged and took this strategically important fortress.

The capture of Dapur, depicted on the walls of the Ramesseum, Ramesses considered one of his most glorious deeds. He gave this feat second place after the "victory" at Kadesh. Dapur, located, according to Egyptian texts, “in the country of Amur, in the region of the city of Tunip”, probably by this time had already entered the Hittite Empire, since some sources mention its location at the same time “in the country of Hatti”. As usual, the attack was preceded by a battle on the plain under the fortress, and soon she herself was taken, and a representative of the king of Hatti came out to Ramses, leading a calf intended as a gift to the pharaoh, accompanied by women carrying vessels and baskets of bread.

Defeat of Syria and Phoenicia

By the time of Ramesses II, the military art of the Egyptians had stepped far ahead compared to the time of the slow methods of Thutmose III, who had founded the “Egyptian world power” two centuries earlier. He preferred to starve the fortified cities and often, not having achieved his goal, in impotent rage devastated the surrounding gardens and fields. On the contrary, the wars of Ramesses II turned into a continuous assault on large and small fortresses. With the difficult situation in which the Egyptians found themselves in Syria-Palestine, the pharaoh could not waste time on a long siege.

A list of cities "captured by His Majesty" in Asia is preserved on the wall of the Ramesseum. Many toponyms are poorly preserved, some are still not localized. In the country of Kede, possibly located on the outskirts of Anatolia, a fortified city with a magnificent princely palace was taken. Apparently, at the same time, Akko on the Phoenician coast, Yenoam on the border with southern Lebanon, and other northern Palestinian cities were taken and plundered, are also mentioned in the Ramesseum list. Although none of the documents speak of the capture of Kadesh, but in view of the fact that Ramesses made conquests far north of this city, the latter was undoubtedly captured by the Egyptians.

Ramesses also took the city of Tunip, where he erected his own statue. But when Ramesses returned to Egypt, the Hittites again occupied Tunip, and in the 10th year of his reign, Ramesses was again forced to take this city. Moreover, during this, some incident happened to him again; Ramesses, for some reason, even had to fight without armor, but information about this feat, unfortunately, is too fragmentary to accurately form an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat happened to him. This event is mentioned in the text of a stele in the Nahr el-Kelb valley.

Continuation of hostilities

Apparently, during the struggle of Ramesses in Syria or somewhat later, there were some unrest in Palestine. An undated scene at Karnak depicts the subjugation of the city of Ascalon. In the 18th year, Ramesses conducted military operations in the area of ​​the city of Beit Shean. Between the 11th and 20th years of his reign, Ramesses was busy consolidating Egyptian rule in Palestine. Undated military campaigns are depicted on the walls of Luxor, Karnak and Abydos.

Among the reliefs of Luxor, a military campaign in the region of Moab is mentioned; it is also known that Ramesses fought with the Shasu tribes in the south of the Dead Sea in the region of Seir, later renamed Edom. To the east of the Lake of Gennesaret, Ramesses erected a slab to commemorate his visit to the area. The Ramesseum List mentions Beth Anat, Kanach, and Merom, cities that, by biblical tradition, are located in Galilee. The inscriptions of Ramesses claim that he conquered Naharin (the Euphrates regions), Lower Rechen (Northern Syria), Arvad, Keftiu (Cyprus Island), Katna.

However, despite big number victories, the “world” power of Thutmose III was not fully restored: in all endeavors, the kingdom of Hatti interfered with Ramses, being the support of the petty princes of Syria-Palestine. Ultimately, Northern Syria and even the kingdom of Amurru remained under the kingdom of Hatti. Only in the coastal strip, according to Egyptian sources, did the pharaoh's possessions reach at least as far as Simira.

Peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittites

With the death of Muwatalli, which probably took place in the 10th year of the reign of Ramesses II, the climate of relations between Egypt and Hatti became noticeably warmer. The son of Muwatalli, Urhi-Teshub, inherited the throne under the name of Mursili III, but was soon replaced by his uncle Hattusili III, who made peace with Egypt. It may be that the formation of a strong Assyrian state and the fears associated with it gradually contributed to the reconciliation of rivals.

At the beginning of the winter of the 21st year of the reign of Ramesses II, the ambassador of Hattusili, accompanied by an Egyptian translator, arrived in the capital of the pharaoh Per-Ramses and handed the Egyptian king on behalf of his sovereign a silver tablet with a cuneiform text of the treaty, certified by seals depicting the king and queen of Hatti in the arms of their deities. The treaty was translated into Egyptian and subsequently immortalized on the walls of Karnak and the Ramesseum.

The text of the treaty, which the pharaoh sent to Hattusili in exchange for his tablet, was also in cuneiform, drawn up in the then international Akkadian language. Its fragments are preserved in the Bogazkoy archive. Basically, the agreement was aimed at ensuring the mutual inviolability of possessions and providing assistance, infantry and chariots, in the event of an attack on one of the contracting parties or an uprising of subjects. Both sides pledged to hand over the defectors. It was the first diplomatically formalized treaty in world history that has survived to this day.

Whether due to the signing of this treaty or due to poor health, the period of active military campaigns of Ramesses II came to an end. The time of active diplomatic correspondence between the two countries began. Messages from Ramesses II, his family and the vizier Paser, addressed to King Hattusili III and his wife Puduhepa, were found in the Bogazkoy archive. Egyptian doctors were often sent to the Hittite court.

Marriage of Ramesses to Hittite Princesses

The consequence of the treaty, thirteen years after its signing, in the 34th year of the reign Egyptian pharaoh, was the marriage of Ramesses II and the eldest daughter of Hattusili, who adopted the Egyptian name Maathornefrura (“Seeing the beauty of the Sun”, that is, the pharaoh). The princess became not one of the minor wives of the king, as was usually the case with foreign women at the Egyptian court, but the “great” wife of the pharaoh.

The meeting of the future queen was arranged very solemnly. The princess was accompanied by her father's warriors. A lot of silver, gold and copper were carried in front of her, slaves and horses stretched "endlessly", whole herds of bulls, goats and sheep moved. From the Egyptian side, the princess was accompanied by the "royal son of Kush." The daughter of the king Hatti "was brought to his majesty, and she fell in love with his majesty." On the reliefs of the stele in Abu Simbel, which tells about this event, Hattusili III is depicted accompanying his daughter to Egypt; indeed, a letter from Ramesses II was found in the archives of Bogazkey with an offer to visit Egypt for his father-in-law, but whether such a trip was made is not known for certain. The second daughter of Hattusilis III also became the wife of Ramesses.

The exact date of this marriage is unknown, but it happened already shortly before the death of the Hittite king, approximately in the 42nd year of the reign of Ramesses II.

Expansion of world trade

Peace between Egypt and Asia has been established for more than a century, which caused an "explosion" of trade activity in the region. For many cities, such as, for example, Ugarit, this era was a time of unprecedented growth and strengthening of economic well-being. Since that time, relations between Egypt and Asia have undergone qualitative changes. If earlier the participants of the Egyptian military campaigns with booty returned to the banks of the Nile, now some of them remained to live in many Syrian-Palestinian cities. In any case, such a population was recorded under Ramesses III (XX dynasty).

Construction activity

Founding of Per Ramesses

Ramesses is characterized by an extremely wide construction activity. The war with the Hittites prompted Ramesses to move his residence to the northeastern part of the Delta, perhaps on the site of the former capital of the Hyksos, Avaris, the city of Per-Ramses was built (the full name is Pi-Ria-mase-sa-Mai-Amana, "House of Ramses, beloved by Amun). Per Ramses grew into a large and prosperous city, with a magnificent temple. Above the huge pylons of this temple towered a monolithic colossus of Ramses made of granite, more than 27 m high and weighing 900 tons. This colossus was visible for many kilometers from the flat plain surrounding the Delta.

Wadi Tumilat, along which, probably, the Nile canal passed east to the Bitter Lakes, constituting natural way communication between Egypt and Asia, was also the object of careful care on the part of Ramesses. Pharaoh built on it, halfway to the Isthmus of Suez, a "storage yard" by Pete or "House of Atum". At the western end of Wadi Tumilat, he continued the construction of the city founded by his father, known as Tel el Yehudiyeh, and located just north of Heliopolis. Ramesses built temples in Memphis, of which only meager remnants have survived; buildings in Heliopolis, of which nothing remains at all. Ramesses also built in Abydos, where he completed the magnificent temple of his father, but was not satisfied with this and erected his own mortuary temple not far from the temple of Seti. Ramesses ordered another memorial temple to be built in Thebes. This temple (the so-called Ramesseum), built by the architect Penra, was surrounded by a brick wall, inside which there were pantries, outbuildings and dwellings for an entire army of priests and servants. Granite monolithic statue in front of the pylons of the Ramesseum, although it was somewhat lower than in Per-Ramesses, but weighed 1000 tons. Ramesses expanded the Luxor Temple, adding a vast courtyard and pylons there. He also completed the colossal Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Karnak, the largest building in size, both ancient and modern. This hall covered an area of ​​5000 sq. m. Twelve columns on the sides of the middle aisle of the Hypostyle Hall were 21 m high, and together with the tops (architraves) and crossbars resting on them - 24 m. At the top of such a column, 100 people could accommodate. The remaining 126 columns, arranged in 7 rows on each side of the middle aisle, had a height of 13 m.

In Nubia, in Abu Simbel, a huge cave temple was carved into a sheer rock. The entrance to this temple, carved in the form of a pylon, was decorated with 4 twenty-meter statues of Ramesses, embodying the idea of ​​glorifying the power of the pharaoh. A cave temple dedicated to his wife, Queen Nefertari (Naft-era) was cut down nearby.

However, during the construction, Ramesses destroyed the ancient monuments of the country. Thus, the buildings of King Teti (VI Dynasty) served as material for the temple of Ramses in Memphis. He plundered the pyramid of Senusret II at El Lahun, destroyed the paved area around it and smashed to pieces the magnificent buildings that stood in this area in order to obtain material for his own temple in Heracleopolis. In the Delta he used the monuments of the Middle Kingdom with equal arrogance. In order to obtain the necessary space for the expansion of the Luxor Temple, Ramesses dug down the exquisite granite chapel of Thutmose III and used the materials obtained in this way.

Wars and huge funds spent on the construction and maintenance of temples ruined the working people, enriching the nobility and priests. The poor became enslaved, the middle strata gradually lost their economic independence. Ramesses had to resort to the help of mercenaries, which weakened the military potential of the country.

During his long reign, rightfully considered one of the eras of the highest flowering of Egyptian civilization, a huge number of temple complexes and monumental works of art were created, including the unique rock temples of Nubia - in Abu Simbel, Wadi es-Sebua, western Amar, Bet el-Wali, Derre, Gerf Hussein, Anibe, Kaveh, Buhene and Gebel Barkale. Even more striking in its scope is the construction program of the king in Egypt itself: several temples and the famous colossi in Memphis; the courtyard and colossal first pylon of the temple at Luxor, adorned with royal colossi and obelisks; Ramesseum - a mortuary complex on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes; temple in Abydos, completion of construction and decoration of the grandiose hypostyle hall of the temple of Amun-Ra in Karnak. In addition, the monuments of Ramses II are recorded in Edfu, Armant, Akhmim, Heliopolis, Bubastis, Athribis, Herakleopolis. Under Ramesses II, part of the temple of the goddess Hathor was built at Serabit el-Khadim in Sinai. As a result, Ramesses II built many statues and temples in his honor in various parts of Egypt. The largest to date are four 20-meter statues of a seated Ramesses II in Abu Simbel in the south of the country.

Family

Wives and children of Ramesses

The first legal wife of the young Ramesses II was the famous beauty Nefertari Merenmut, who was considered a queen, as evidenced by the inscription in the tomb of the priest Amon Nebunenef, already in the 1st year of her husband's independent reign. Surprisingly, almost nothing is known about the origin of the queen. It is also unknown how long her life was. It is quite obvious that Nefertari was still alive during the construction of the Abu Simbel temple complex, the small temple of which was dedicated to her. On both sides of the colossi that adorn the facade of the temple of Nefertari, six children of this queen are depicted:
Amenherkhopshef (Amenherunemef) is the eldest son of Ramses II and Nefertari, who heads all the lists of the sons of Ramses II. Mentioned in the standard temple lists from the Ramesseum, Luxor and Derr, as well as on the Turin statue. In the temple at Beit el-Wali, he is called Amenherunemeth. Apparently, in this case, for some reason, the name of the prince was changed, since Amenherkhopshef and Amenherunemef are clearly the same person, since they are not listed anywhere and are not depicted together.
Paraherunamith - the third son of Ramesses II, is known from several lists, in particular from records in the Abu Simbel temple. There is also a scarab bearing his name.
Meritamun is the daughter of Ramesses II. It is fourth in the Luxor list, and fifth in the Abu Simbel list. She, like Bent-Anath, was buried in the Valley of the Queens and also bore the title of "great wife of the king", which may indicate her marriage to her father. Her image is preserved in Abu Simbel, and the statue was found in Tanis.
Khenuttawi is the seventh daughter of Ramesses II.
Merira (Rameri) is the eleventh son of Ramesses II.
Meriatum is the sixteenth son of Ramesses II.
Seti - the ninth son of Ramses II, the son of Queen Nefertari-Merenmut, was still alive in the 53rd year of the reign of Ramses II. He is depicted at the siege of Dapur and in the war scenes at Karnak.
The second legal wife of Ramesses II - perhaps at the same time as Nefertari-Merenmut was Isitnofret. Eastnofret is depicted with her children on many monumental structures. Together with her sons, she is represented in a sculptural group now kept in Paris.
Bent-Anat - the eldest daughter of Ramesses II, headed the Luxor list of his daughters. Her statues were placed in Sinai, in Tanis, in Karnak, in Abu Simbel. Her tomb is located in the Valley of the Queens, in the western part of Thebes. There are records in which Bent-Anat appears not only as the "daughter of the king", but also as the "great wife of the king", from which it may be that Ramesses II married his own daughter. Her status was by no means arbitrary. In the tomb of Bent Anat in the Valley of the Queens (QV 71), an image of the daughter she bore to Ramesses has been preserved.
Ramesesu is the second son of Ramesses II. Depicted with his mother and brother Haemowas in a small sculptural group, now stored in Paris, as well as on stelae in Aswan and in Gebel el-Silsil. It can also be found in the Abu Simbel temple. He, as the deceased, is dedicated to the statue, made by order of the son of his brother Haemowas. The ushebti figurine belonging to Rameses was placed in the Serapeum in the 26th year of the reign of Ramesses II.
Hamuas is the fourth son of Ramesses II. Tsarevich Haemyac long time was the most influential at his father's court. He acted as high priest of Ptah in Memphis and was recognized as heir to the throne in the 30th year of the reign of Ramesses II. There are many inscriptions about Haemowas. He appears in three lists of the children of Ramesses II. As a youth, he took part in the wars in Syria, as evidenced by the images and texts in the Ramesseum and Karnak. As the high priest of Ptah in Memphis, Khaemowas is attested by ushebti figurines made in connection with the burial ceremony of the sacred bulls of Apis in the 16th, 26th, 30th, and another unknown year of the reign of Ramesses II. From the 30th to the 40th (or 42nd) year of the reign of Ramesses II, Khaemowas presided over, no doubt, four (and possibly five) anniversaries of his father's "thirtieth birthday". In the 55th year of the reign of Ramses II, his brother Merneptah succeeded as high priest of Ptah Khaemuasu. Known are the ushebti and tombs of Haemowas, as well as various items (chest adornments, amulets) found in the Serapeum in the burials of the Apis bulls. The British Museum has a beautiful statue of Haemowas
Merneptah is the thirteenth son of Ramesses II. In the 55th year of the reign of Ramesses II, Khaemwasa succeeded as High Priest of Ptah in Memphis. In the same year he was declared heir to the throne. After the death of Ramesses II, he became pharaoh.
The third legal wife of Ramesses II was the daughter of the Hittite king Hattusili III, who married the Egyptian pharaoh in the 34th year of his reign. She received the Egyptian name Maatnefrura ("Seeing the beauty of Ra"), Maatnefrura is depicted along with her father Hattusilis III on a stele carved on south side the interior hall of the great temple at Abu Simbel, and is shown next to Ramesses II on one of his colossi at Tanis.
The fourth legal wife of Ramesses II was another daughter of Hattusili III, however, her name is unknown.
The legitimate queen was also a certain “daughter of the king” Khentmir (Khenutmira), apparently the younger sister of Ramesses II. This hypothesis is supported by the image of Khentmir on the statue of her mother, and, at the same time, the mother of Ramses II - Queen Tuya in the Vatican Museum. According to the surviving sources, her role was modest, she had no sons and, apparently, did not live long. Her few reliefs are known on some late statues of Ramses II. In the forties of the reign of her brother-husband, she died and was buried in the Valley of the Queens (QV75). The falcon-headed pink granite sarcophagus belonging to Khentmir was usurped during the XXII Dynasty; the monument is kept in the Cairo Museum (JE 60137).
It is known that in the harem of Ramesses II there was also the daughter of the king of Babylon and the daughter of the ruler of the country Zulapi (Northern Syria).
Most of the sons and daughters of Ramesses do not know the names of their mothers.
Mentuherkhopshef - the fifth son of Ramesses II, took part in military campaigns in Asia. His scarab is kept in Berlin. He also appropriated the statue in Bubastis. Mentuherkhopshef was the head of the horses and chariots.
Nebenharu - the sixth son of Ramesses II, participated in the siege of the city of Dapur.
Meriamun, the seventh son of Ramesses II, is mentioned in the Ramesseum and depicted in Luxor during the siege of Dapur.
Amenemoa - the eighth son of Ramesses II, is represented in the temple in Derra under the name Setimua. He participated in the siege of Dapur.
The names of the princes Setepenra (tenth son), Rameri (eleventh son), Herherumef (twelfth son) and many others are known.
Nebettawi is the daughter of Ramesses II. Depicted next to his colossus Abu Simbele. Her tomb is in the Valley of the Queens. She also held the title "king's wife" and was probably married to her father. Later, she became the wife of someone else, since her daughter Istmachus was not considered the daughter of a king.

On the front wall of the temple of Abydos, images and partly the names of 119 children of Ramesses (59 sons and 60 daughters) have been preserved, which suggest a large number of concubines, in addition to the legal wives known to us, and according to some estimates - 111 sons and 67 daughters.

The first main wife of Ramesses II was the famous beauty Nefertari Merenmut, to whom the small temple in Abu Simbel was dedicated; after the premature death of the queen, buried in a uniquely beautiful tomb in the Valley of the Queens (QV66), her eldest daughter, Princess Meritamon, took her place. Among the other wives of the king, the most famous are queens Isitnofret I, her daughter Bent-Anat, as well as queens Nebettawi and Khenutmir.

In the northeast of the Nile Delta, where his family came from, Ramesses II founded a new capital, Per-Ramses (modern Kantir and Tell ed-Daba), on the site of the old palace of his father Seti I. This city remained the main residence of the kings of the XIX-XX dynasties. Nevertheless, the religious capital of the country remained in Thebes, and royal burials were still carved in the rocks of the Valley of the Kings. The tomb of Ramesses II (KV7) was not completed and is currently in extremely poor condition due to the damaging effects of groundwater and rainstorms; his mummy remained there for an extremely short time due to ancient grave robbers.

In the reign of Ramesses II, the cults of Amun, Ra, Ptah and Set enjoyed special reverence; however, it was at this time that Asian influence became more and more noticeable in the religious life of the country, expressed in the inclusion in the Egyptian pantheon of foreign deities associated with war or the sea element hostile to the Egyptians.

IN last years During the reign of Ramesses II, he was deified as the "Great Soul of Ra-Khorakhte", declaring himself, thus, the incarnation of the solar god on earth. Ramesses II died in the 67th year of his reign and survived twelve of his sons, among whom two - the commander Amenherkhepeshef and Khaemuas, the high priest of the god Ptah in Memphis, bore the title of heir to the throne for a particularly long time. The Egyptian throne was inherited by the thirteenth son of the king - Merneptah, the son of Queen Isitnofret I, by this time - a middle-aged man. He was the first of several successors of Ramesses II, whose brief reigns ended the 19th dynasty.

A millennium after the reign of Ramesses II, his cult flourished in Memphis and Abydos. The legacy of the image of the king and his sons in ancient Egyptian and ancient tales and legends has become very indicative. In Thebes around 300 BC. e. to maintain the authority of their temple, the priests of the god Khonsu even erected a massive stele in the sanctuary of the god, the text of which, telling about the journey of the healing statue of the god Khonsu to the country of Bakhtan, was inspired by the Asian campaigns of Ramses II and his wedding with the Hittite princesses.

Children

Among them:
From Isitnofret. Sons: elder Ramesses (prince), Khaemwas, Merneptah. Daughters: Bent-Anat.
From Nefertari. Sons: Amenherkhepeshef, Paracherunemef, Merira, Meriatum. Daughters: Meritamon, Khenuttawi.

When counting, it turns out that of the 16 eldest sons of Ramses II, seven were born to Nefertari and Isitnofret, while the mothers of the remaining nine sons are unknown. Of the nine senior princesses, only three were the daughters of the two main wives, while the remaining six, and then all subsequent children of the king, were born by unknown concubines.

posthumous fate

The body of Ramesses in ancient times was buried by the priests five times (four were reburied) - because of grave robbers. First, he was transferred from his own tomb to the tomb of his father Seti I. She was robbed. Then the mummy was reburied in the tomb of Queen Imhapi. She was also robbed. Then they transferred it to the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep I.

Finally, in the end, the mummy of Ramesses with the mummies of other robbed pharaohs (Thutmose III, Ramses III) was hidden by the priests in the rocky cache of Herihor in modern Deir el-Bahri.

In the second half of the 19th century, this cache was discovered by an Arab family of grave robbers, led by Sheikh Abd al-Rasul, who gradually sold valuables from there to European tourists. This attracted the attention of the Egyptian authorities. The Egyptian Antiquities Service conducted a whole special operation to identify the source of income, and as a result, the sheikh was forced to reveal the location of the underground rock cache Deir el-Bahri 320, built by order of King Herihor in the 11th century BC.

As a result, the well-preserved mummy of the pharaoh was discovered there in 1881 among other robbed royal bodies and became available to science.

In September 1975, the mummy of Ramesses II was subjected to a unique process of general conservation at the Institute of Man in Paris.

In September 2008, during excavations in the Ain Shams area in eastern Cairo, a group of Egyptian archaeologists discovered the ruins of the temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II, and fragments of a giant statue of Ramesses II were also found in the area.

Other facts

In 1974, Egyptologists discovered that the mummy of Pharaoh Ramesses II was rapidly deteriorating. It was decided to immediately take her by plane to France for examination and restoration, for which the mummies issued a modern Egyptian passport, and in the column “occupation” they wrote “king (deceased)”. At the Paris airport, the mummy was met with all military honors due to the visit of the head of state. [source not specified 942 days]
The discovery of a fragment of one of the statues of Ramesses with an inscription inspired Percy Shelley to write the poem "Ozymandias" (1817).
Presumably, Ramesses the Great was left-handed and red-haired.
Presumably, Ramesses II was born on February 22, and ascended the throne on October 20. In the temple of Abu Simbel these days the light falls on the chest and crown of his statue. The fact is debatable, since Abu Simbel was transferred.
Perhaps Ramses II ruled during the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. [Source not specified 531 days]
The height of Ramses II was 180 cm. It is interesting that against the background of the Egyptians of that time ( average height about 160 cm) Ramesses II must have seemed quite tall. Some sources mistakenly indicate even 210 cm.

Ramses II in culture

The sarcophagus of Ramses II can be seen in the 12th issue of "Well, you wait!".
Ramses II is one of the main characters in the cartoon The Prince of Egypt.
Ramses II is present in the game Sid Meier's Civilization and in subsequent parts of this series as the leader of the civilization of Egypt.
Ramses II is the main antagonist of Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Among the kings and rulers of the ancient world, several of the greatest figures stand out, surpassing human limits in their scale and considered worthy of demigods. One of the most famous rulers who showed divine power in himself was Ramses II or Great.

Ramses II was worshiped as a god. And he, in fact, immortalized himself in hundreds of grandiose monuments created during the years of his reign.

Ramses II was one of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt who ruled during the 19th dynasty. He was proclaimed "Ramses the Great" for the successful and long rule of the state. His reign covers a period of more than 90 years. His achievements surpassed in scale all the results of previous generations and those who inherited power.

Ramses II. The beginning of the reign

In 1303-1290 BC. e. - co-ruler of his father Seti I. Having ascended the throne in 1290 BC. e., completely subjugated the priests of Thebes, placing his protege at the head of them. In the first years of his sole rule, he defeated the Libyans and Sherdans (one of the so-called "peoples of the sea"), who became a serious threat to Egypt at the end of the 13th century. BC e.). The central event of the reign of Ramesses II is the struggle between Egypt and the Hittite kingdom for dominance in the Middle East.

The divine origin of the pharaoh

Ramesses II understood that he could count on the strength of the dynasty only if he himself gave it divine greatness. “I am descended from Pa,” says his speech to the high priests and courtiers, which he ordered to be carved on a stone in his father’s tomb. “The Almighty Himself gave me life and greatness. It was he who gave me the circle of the earth when I was still in my mother's womb.
Pharaoh Seti ordered to build a funeral temple for himself in Abydos. When, after the funeral, Ramesses visited Abydos, he found that the temple was never completed and had already begun to collapse somewhere. The impression made on him by this spectacle can be judged from the inscription, which, among other things, contains a whole program of construction and public policy:

“Shouldn’t the son who succeeded his father renew the monuments erected to him? the caption asks. “I have erected a new statue of gold for my father. I ordered the restoration of his temple. Raise your face, turn your gaze to the Sun God, O my father Seti, you who are now one of the gods. See I have loved your name I protect you, for I have appeared to the nations in the form of the Sun-God.

So Ramesses used the temple of Seti I to promote his divine essence. With the same purpose, he sought the deification of other members of his family.

At one time, Seti, taking care of the future of the dynasty, personally chose three wives and several concubines for his son. Ramesses' favorite wife was Nefertari. No other queen is celebrated so often in inscriptions. When Ramesses gave an audience or showed himself to the people from the balcony of the palace, Nefertari was almost invariably next to him.

Drawings and reliefs depict her as a slender beauty. She is “the favorite of the goddess Mut”, “the great wife of the king”, “the mother of God”; in addition to these official names, there are others that are more personal and tender. Ramesses calls her "beautiful mistress", "beautiful-faced", his "sweet love".

Hittite Wars, Battle of Kadesh

Around 1286 B.C. e. Ramesses II makes a trip to Phoenicia and around 1285 BC. e. starts a war with the aim of capturing the city of Kadesh in the valley of the river. Orontes and adjacent regions of Central Syria. The retreat of the Hittite king Muwatallis, whose main forces were concentrated directly near Kadesh, to Aleppo (modern Aleppo) misleads the Egyptians - on the outskirts of the city, the troops of Ramesses II were struck by a sudden blow of the Hittite chariots. In a two-day battle, the Egyptians were saved from destruction only by the personal courage of the pharaoh and the reinforcements that came up; thus, Kadesh was not taken, and as a result, the powers concluded a truce, after which Ramesses II retreated to Egypt. In fact, the campaign of 1285 BC. e. ended in the defeat of the Egyptians, since none of its tasks was solved.

In 1283 BC. e. the war resumes: Ramesses II manages to take the city of Dapur in southern Syria and a number of Palestinian cities. In 1280 BC. e. the pharaoh fights in Phoenicia and Northern Syria; in 1279-70 BC. e. strengthens the power of Egypt over Palestine and the territory beyond the Jordan (the biblical regions of Edom and Moab). Around 1272 B.C. e. Ramesses II is fighting in Northern Palestine, where he is building a powerful fortress near the city of Bet Shean. The wars of Ramses II were fought with varying success, Egypt then returned the territories under its rule, then again lost it. To defeat the Hittite state, which was the inspirer of the struggle of the small states of Syria-Palestine against Egypt, Ramesses II was not able to.

Peace with the Hittites

About 1269 B.C. e. At the initiative of the Hittite king Hattusili III, Egypt and the Hittites made peace. For Egypt, the rights to Palestine, most of Phenicia and a smaller part of Southern Syria were recognized; all territories to the north of them were considered the sphere of influence of the Hittites. The parties agreed on non-aggression, military alliance, mutual extradition of criminals and defectors. The treaty, known in Egyptian and cuneiform (in Akkadian) versions, the oldest known peace treaty, in 1256 BC. e. it was secured by the marriage of the already middle-aged Ramesses II and the Hittite princess. By this time, the Hittites themselves are striving to normalize relations with Egypt, fearing the threat from Assyria in the east and the migrating peoples of the Caucasus and Asia Minor in the north and west.

Transfer of the capital

Under Ramesses II, peaceful ties with the Middle East were developing, the center of which was the newly built new capital in the east of the Nile Delta - the city of Tanis, called Per-Ramses (ancient Egyptian "House of Ramses"), with Asian quarters and temples of the gods. Ramses II continues the policy begun by Akhenaten of opposing the north of the country to Thebes with their influential priesthood: the political and economic center of Egypt under him is the Nile Delta, but Memphis, the capital of his predecessors, also plays a significant role.

Under Ramses II, construction is underway in the temples of Amun in Thebes and Osiris in Abydos; the grandiose memorial complex Ramesseum is being built on the west bank of the Nile opposite Thebes. In Nubia, which, under Ramesses II, is firmly subordinate to Egypt, temples are being built in his honor. The most famous among them is the rock temple in Abu Simbel.

The name Ramses was worn by many pharaohs of the XIX and XX dynasties, it means "Ra gave birth to him" (Ra-Mess). Ramses II was the grandson of the founder of the dynasty, Ramses I, and the son of Seti I. Having ascended the royal throne in 1279 BC, he proclaimed himself "the son of the sun god Ra, a god incarnated in man." It is interesting that, having become the son of Amon-Ra, he did not cease to be the son of the Set. Ramses II ruled for about 67 years and died a very old man, leaving behind more than 90 sons and daughters.

https://youtu.be/v8QCtnUvd7Y

http://www.ice-nut.ru/egypt/egypt024.htm

http://www.piplz.ru/page.php?id=530

EGYPT

Ramesses II the Great - the pharaoh of ancient Egypt, who ruled approximately in 1289 - 1222. BC e., from the 19th dynasty. Son of Seti I.

The head of the statue of Ramesses II in the Luxor Temple. Egypt

One of the greatest pharaohs of ancient Egypt. He was mainly given the honorary title of A-nakhtu, that is, "Winner". Monuments and papyri often call him the popular nickname Sesu or Sessu. This is undoubtedly the same name that is mentioned in the tradition of Manetho in this way: "Setosis, which is also called Ramesses." Among the Greeks, this name turned into Sesostris, the hero and world conqueror of legendary tales. The number of his monuments of various degrees of preservation in Egypt and Nubia is extremely large.

Ramses II as a child

Accession to the throne

Ramesses II ascended the throne on the 27th day of the third month of the Shemu season (i.e. Drought). The young king was at that time about twenty years old. Despite the huge number of monuments and documents bearing the name of Ramses II, the history of his more than 66-year reign is covered rather unevenly in the sources. Dated documents exist for each year of his reign, but they are extremely heterogeneous: from religious monuments to honey pots from Deir el-Medina.

Ramses II

Victory over the Nubians and Libyans

The change of pharaohs could, as in former times, inspire the hopes of successful uprisings among the oppressed peoples. From the first months of the reign of Ramesses, the image of the bringing of the Canaanite captives to the pharaoh has been preserved, but it is somewhat arbitrary. But the uprising in Nubia was, apparently, so significant that it took the personal presence of the pharaoh to suppress it. The country was pacified. During this campaign, only in one sparsely populated region of Irem, 7 thousand people were captured. The governor of Ramesses in Nubia was able to deliver him a rich tribute in the first months of his reign, and was made happy for this with awards and royal favor. It is possible that at the very beginning of his reign, Ramesses also had to deal with the Libyans. In any case, an image of his triumph over his western neighbor has been preserved, referring to the first months of his reign.

Defeat of the Sherdans

Not later than the 2nd year of his reign, Ramesses defeated the Sherdans - representatives of one of the "peoples of the sea" (it is believed that they subsequently settled the island of Sardinia). Egyptian inscriptions speak of enemy ships and their defeat during sleep. From this we can conclude that the case took place at sea or on one of the Nile branches and that the warlike Sherdans were taken by surprise by the Egyptians. The captured Sherdans were included in the ranks of the Egyptian army. They seemed to feel quite well in the service of the pharaoh, as later images show them fighting in Syria and Palestine in the front ranks of the soldiers of Ramesses.

Successes in domestic affairs

Certain successes have been achieved in domestic affairs. In the autumn of the 1st year of his reign, in the vacant place of the first priest of Amon, Ramesses appointed the faithful Nebunenef (Nib-unanaf), who previously held the post of the first priest of the Tini god Onuris (An-Khara). In the 3rd year of the reign of Ramesses, only at a depth of 6 meters, water was finally found in the gold mines in Wadi Alaki, which significantly increased gold production there.

War with the Hittites

First campaign

Having thus strengthened the state, Ramesses began to prepare for a big war with the Hittites. Since Ramesses referred to the "second expedition" as the campaign that ended with the Battle of Kadesh in the 5th year of his reign, it can be assumed that the stele erected in the 4th year at Nahr el-Kelb, north of Beirut, is a reminder of the first campaign . Despite the fact that almost the entire text has been lost, the image of Ra-Horakhti stretching out his hand to the king leading the captive, allows us to talk about some kind of military event. Apparently, in the 4th year of his reign, Ramesses undertook his first campaign in Asia Minor, aimed at subjugating the sea coast of Palestine and Phenicia, as a necessary prerequisite for further successful struggle against the Hittites. During this campaign, Ramesses took the city of Berit and reached the Eleutheros River (El-Kebira, "Dog's River"), where he set up his memorial stele. The fact that Nahr el-Kelb is located on the territory occupied by the Amurru tribes probably indicates the subordination of the Amurru king Bentechin to the Egyptian authorities. This happened, first of all, due to the intensification of the Hittite raids, while the Egyptian presence guaranteed at least some calmness. It was this event that became the reason for declaring war between Ramesses II and the Hittite king Muwatalli: this is quite clear from the text of the treaty signed by Shaushkamuya, the son of Benteshin and Tudhaliya, the son of Muwatalli.

A secret messenger delivered to the Hittite king Muwatallah a letter from a Hittite agent operating in Egypt. The report said that the young pharaoh Ramses II was preparing his army for a campaign against the Hittites. This message was a surprise: Ramses has only five years on the throne. At the royal council, Muwatalli outlined his plan: to lure the army of Ramses into a trap and defeat the Egyptians. Mobilizing the country, Muwatatally ordered his citizens and allies to gather troops and move them to the assembly point, to the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River. From a military point of view, Kadesh was convenient: located on a hill, it dominated the river valley. It was possible to observe the movement of the enemy from a distance unnoticed. Trade routes and strategic roads crossed there, from here the paths went to northern Syria and to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Battle of Kadesh

Egyptian army

In the spring of the 5th year of his reign, Ramesses, having gathered more than 20,000 troops, set out from the border fortress of Chilu on the second campaign. After 29 days, counting from the day of the departure from Chilu, four military units of the Egyptians, named after Amon, Ra, Ptah and Seth, each of which had about 5 thousand soldiers, camped at a distance of one march from Kadesh. One of the formations, called in Canaanite "well done" (non-arim), and composed by the pharaoh, apparently from the best warriors, was sent along the sea coast even earlier, for subsequent reunion with the main forces at Kadesh. The next day, in the morning, an army of thousands of Egyptians began crossing the Orontes at Shabtun (later known to the Jews as Ribla). Misled by Hittite scouts sent to the Egyptian camp, who assured that the Hittites had retreated far to the north, to Aleppo, Ramesses with one detachment of "Amon" that had already crossed, without waiting for the crossing of the rest of the army, moved to Kadesh.

Hittite army

The following tribes allied to the Hittites are named in the list of Ramses II:

pedasians - inhabitants of Mysia of Troy (south of Troy); dardani; people of southwestern Anatolia; people from Caria; people from Lycia; people from the country of Artsava in southwestern Anatolia.

In the north, on a small headland at the confluence of the Orontes with its left tributary, battlements and towers of Kadesh were piled up. And in the trans-river plain, to the north-east of the fortress, hidden by the city, the entire army of the Hittite kingdom and its allies stood in full combat readiness. According to Egyptian sources, the Hittite army consisted of 3,500 chariots with three warriors each and 17,000 infantry. The total number of soldiers was approximately 28 thousand. But the Hittite army was extremely mixed and largely mercenary. In addition to the Hittite warriors, almost all the Anatolian and Syrian kingdoms were represented in it: Artsava, Lucca, Kizzuvatna, Aravanna, Euphrates Syria, Karchemish, Halab, Ugarit, Nukhashshe, Kadesh, nomadic tribes and so on. Each of these multi-tribal allies appeared under the command of their rulers and, consequently, it was extremely difficult for Muwatalli to manage all this crowd. King Hatti Muwatalli had every reason to avoid fighting the Egyptians in open battle. It was difficult to count on such hordes to defeat the Egyptian army in open battle, united, well-trained and guided by a single will. The ensuing sixteen-year struggle showed that Hatti's troops avoided battles in the open field and holed up more in Syrian fortresses. In any case, none of the innumerable monuments of Ramesses II shows a single major battle with the kingdom of Hatti outside the city walls after the battle of Kadesh. But the battle of Kadesh itself proves that the Hittites relied more on deceit and surprise attacks than on their military strength.

Battle

The final stage of the Battle of Kadesh. The defeated Hittite chariot army is trying to cross the stormy waters of the Orontes. The Hittite foot soldiers, who did not participate in the battle, rush to the rescue of their drowning comrades-in-arms. The warriors of King Aleppo are trying to revive their drowned ruler by turning him upside down and shaking the water out of him. Relief on the wall of the Ramesseum

Having crossed the Orontes, the “Ra” unit did not wait for the parts of “Ptah” and “Set”, which had not yet even approached the ford, and went north to meet with the pharaoh. Meanwhile, south of Kadesh, out of sight of the Egyptians, the bulk of the enemy's chariot troops concentrated. The crossing of his chariots across the Orontes, obviously, was carried out in advance and passed unnoticed by the Egyptians. The “Ra” unit in marching order, not ready for battle, was attacked by enemy chariots, and was dispersed with lightning speed, and the chariots fell on the “Amon” unit, which was engaged in setting up the camp. Part of the Egyptian soldiers fled, and part, along with the pharaoh, was surrounded. The Egyptians suffered huge losses. Ramesses managed to rally his guard around him and take up a circular defense. Only the fact that the Hittite infantry could not cross the stormy waters of the Orontes and did not come to the aid of their chariots contributed to the salvation of Ramesses from inevitable defeat. A happy accident - the unexpected appearance on the battlefield of another detachment of the Egyptians, the same one that was walking along the seashore, somewhat straightened out the situation, and the Egyptians were able to hold out until the evening, when the Ptah detachment approached Kadesh. The Hittites were forced to retreat behind the Orontes, receiving, in turn, damage while crossing the river. In this battle, two brothers of the Hittite king Muwatalli, several military leaders and many other notable Hittites and their allies died. The next day, in the morning, Ramesses again attacked the Hittite army, but it was not possible to break the enemy in this battle either. In any case, no source says that the pharaoh took possession of Kadesh. The bloodless opponents were clearly unable to defeat each other. The Hittite king Muwatalli offered the pharaoh a truce, which gave Ramesses the opportunity to honorably retreat and return safely to Egypt.

The Hittite king successfully continued his actions in order to subjugate Amurra and, as a result, removed the ruler Benteshin. The Hittites even moved further south and captured the country of Ube (that is, the oasis of Damascus), formerly belonging to Egypt.

The war dragged on. For ten years there were battles on the plains of Syria and Palestine. When King Muwatalli died, he was replaced by his brother, Hattusili III. At that time, the Hittite kingdom was in a difficult situation: mountain tribes attacked from the north, Assyria started a war from the east.

Sources for the Battle of Kadesh

The Battle of Kadesh greatly impressed Ramesses II, who ordered the story of this event and grandiose panoramic "illustrations" to be reproduced on the walls of many temple complexes, including those in Abydos, Karnak, Luxor, Ramesseum and Abu Simbel. The main sources that tell about what happened are three different texts: a long detailed story with included lyrical digressions - the so-called "Pentaur's Poem"; a short story dedicated to the events of the battle itself - "Report" and comments on relief compositions. Several Hittite documents also mention the Battle of Kadesh.

Capture of Dapur

Capture of Dapur. Relief on the wall of the Ramesseum

Sources regarding the further course of the war with the Hittites are very scarce, and the order of events is not entirely reliable. The wars in Asia that Ramesses II waged after the 5th year of his reign were caused, first of all, by the new strengthening of the Hittite kingdom, the hostility of the Syrian north and the loss of Amurru. In the 8th year of his reign, Ramesses again invaded Asia Minor. The result of this campaign was the capture of Dapur. With the assistance of his sons, Ramesses besieged and took this strategically important fortress. The capture of Dapur, depicted on the walls of the Ramesseum, Ramesses considered one of his most glorious deeds. He gave this feat second place after the "victory" at Kadesh. Dapur, located according to the Egyptian texts “in the country of Amur, in the region of the city of Tunip”, probably by this time had already entered the Hittite Empire, since some sources mention its location at the same time “in the country of Hatti”. As usual, the attack was preceded by a battle on the plain under the fortress, and soon she herself was taken, and a representative of the king of Hatti came out to Ramses, leading a calf intended as a gift to the pharaoh, accompanied by women carrying vessels and baskets of bread.

Defeat of Syria and Phoenicia

By the time of Ramesses II, the military art of the Egyptians had stepped far ahead compared to the time of the slow methods of Thutmose III, who founded the "Egyptian world power" two centuries earlier. He preferred to starve the fortified cities and often, not having achieved his goal, in impotent rage devastated the surrounding gardens and fields. On the contrary, the wars of Ramesses II turned into a continuous assault on large and small fortresses. With the difficult situation in which the Egyptians found themselves in Syria-Palestine, the pharaoh could not waste time on a long siege. A list of cities "captured by His Majesty" in Asia is preserved on the wall of the Ramesseum. Many toponyms are poorly preserved, some are still not localized. In the country of Kede, possibly located on the outskirts of Anatolia, a fortified city with a magnificent princely palace was taken. Apparently, at the same time, Akko on the Phoenician coast, Yenoam on the border with southern Lebanon, and other northern Palestinian cities were taken and plundered, are also mentioned in the Ramesseum list. Although none of the documents speak of the capture of Kadesh, but in view of the fact that Ramesses made conquests far north of this city, the latter was undoubtedly captured by the Egyptians. Ramesses also took the city of Tunip, where he erected his own statue. But when Ramesses returned to Egypt, the Hittites again occupied Tunip, and in the 10th year of his reign, Ramesses was again forced to take this city. Moreover, during this, some incident happened to him again; Ramesses, for some reason, even had to fight without armor, but information about this feat, unfortunately, is too fragmentary to accurately form an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat happened to him. This event is mentioned in the text of a stele in the Nahr el-Kelb valley.

Continuation of hostilities

Apparently, during the struggle of Ramesses in Syria or somewhat later, there were some unrest in Palestine. An undated scene at Karnak depicts the subjugation of the city of Ascalon. In the 18th year, Ramses conducted military operations in the area of ​​the city of Beit Shean. Between the 11th and 20th years of his reign, Ramesses was busy consolidating Egyptian rule in Palestine. Undated military campaigns are depicted on the walls of Luxor, Karnak and Abydos. Among the reliefs of Luxor, a military campaign in the region of Moab is mentioned; it is also known that Ramesses fought with the Shasu tribes in the south of the Dead Sea in the region of Seir, later renamed Edom. To the east of the Lake of Gennesaret, Ramesses erected a slab to commemorate his visit to the area. The Ramesseum List mentions Beth Anat, Kanach, and Merom, cities that, by biblical tradition, are located in Galilee. The inscriptions of Ramesses claim that he conquered Naharin (the Euphrates regions), Lower Rechen (Northern Syria), Arvad, Keftiu (Cyprus Island), Katna. However, despite the large number of victories, the “world” power of Thutmose III was not fully restored: in all endeavors, the kingdom of Hatti interfered with Ramses, being the support of the petty princes of Syria-Palestine. Ultimately, Northern Syria and even the kingdom of Amurru remained under the kingdom of Hatti. Only in the coastal strip, according to Egyptian sources, did the pharaoh's possessions reach at least as far as Simira.

Peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittites

With the death of Muwatalli, which probably took place in the 10th year of the reign of Ramesses II, the climate of relations between Egypt and Hatti became noticeably warmer. The son of Muwatalli, Urhi-Teshub, inherited the throne under the name of Mursili III, but was soon removed by his uncle Hattusili III, who made peace with Egypt. It may be that the formation of a strong Assyrian state and the fears associated with it gradually contributed to the reconciliation of rivals.
At the beginning of the winter of the 21st year of the reign of Ramesses II, the ambassador of Hattusili, accompanied by an Egyptian translator, arrived in the capital of the pharaoh Per-Ramses and handed the Egyptian king on behalf of his sovereign a silver tablet with a cuneiform text of the treaty, certified by seals depicting the king and queen of Hatti in the arms of their deities. The treaty was translated into Egyptian and subsequently immortalized on the walls of Karnak and the Ramesseum. The text of the treaty, which the pharaoh sent to Hattusili in exchange for his tablet, was also in cuneiform, drawn up in the then international Akkadian language. Its fragments are preserved in the archives of Bogazkoy. Basically, the agreement was aimed at ensuring the mutual inviolability of possessions and providing assistance, infantry and chariots, in the event of an attack on one of the contracting parties or an uprising of subjects. Both sides pledged to hand over the defectors. It was the first diplomatically formalized treaty in world history that has survived to this day.
Whether due to the signing of this treaty or due to poor health, the period of active military campaigns of Ramesses II came to an end. The time of active diplomatic correspondence between the two countries began. Messages from Ramesses II, his family and the vizier Paser, addressed to King Hattusili III and his wife Puduhepa, were found in the archives of Bogazkey. Egyptian doctors were often sent to the Hittite court.

Marriage of Ramesses to Hittite Princesses

The consequence of the agreement, thirteen years after its signing, in the 34th year of the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh, was the marriage of Ramesses II and the eldest daughter of Hattusili, who took the Egyptian name Maathornefrura. Maatnefrura (Ma-nafru-Ria, "Seeing the beauty of the Sun", that is, the pharaoh). The princess became not one of the minor wives of the king, as was usually the case with foreign women at the Egyptian court, but the “great” wife of the pharaoh. The meeting of the future queen was arranged very solemnly. The princess was accompanied by her father's warriors. A lot of silver, gold and copper were carried in front of her, slaves and horses stretched "endlessly", whole herds of bulls, goats and sheep moved. From the Egyptian side, the princess was accompanied by the "royal son of Kush." The daughter of the king Hatti "was brought to his majesty, and she fell in love with his majesty." On the reliefs of the stele in Abu Simbel, which tells about this event, Hattusili III is depicted accompanying his daughter to Egypt; indeed, a letter from Ramesses II was found in the archives of Bogazkey with an offer to visit Egypt for his father-in-law, but whether such a trip was made is not known for certain. The second daughter of Hattusilis III also became the wife of Ramesses. The exact date of this marriage is unknown, but it happened already shortly before the death of the Hittite king, approximately in the 42nd year of the reign of Ramesses II.

Expansion of world trade

Peace between Egypt and Asia has been established for more than a century, which caused an "explosion" of trade activity in the region. For many cities, such as, for example, Ugarit, this era was a time of unprecedented growth and strengthening of economic well-being. Since that time, relations between Egypt and Asia have undergone qualitative changes. If earlier the participants of the Egyptian military campaigns with booty returned to the banks of the Nile, now some of them remained to live in many Syrian-Palestinian cities. In any case, such a population was recorded under Ramesses III (XX dynasty).

Construction activity

Founding of Per Ramesses

Ramesses is characterized by an extremely wide construction activity. The war with the Hittites prompted Ramesses to move his residence to the northeastern part of the Delta, perhaps on the site of the former capital of the Hyksos, Avaris, the city of Per-Ramses was built (the full name is Pi-Ria-mase-sa-Mai-Amana, "House of Ramses, beloved by Amun). Per Ramses grew into a large and prosperous city, with a magnificent temple. Above the huge pylons of this temple towered a monolithic colossus of Ramses made of granite, more than 27 m high and weighing 900 tons. This colossus was visible for many kilometers from the flat plain surrounding the Delta.
Wadi Tumilat, through which the Nile Canal, which constituted the natural route of communication between Egypt and Asia, probably already passed east to the Bitter Lakes, was also the object of careful care on the part of Ramesses. Pharaoh built on it, halfway to the Isthmus of Suez, a "storage yard" by Pete or "House of Atum". At the western end of Wadi Tumilat, he continued the construction of the city founded by his father, known as Tel el Yehudiyeh, and located just north of Heliopolis. Ramesses built temples in Memphis, of which only meager remnants have survived; buildings in Heliopolis, of which nothing remains at all. Ramesses also built in Abydos, where he completed the magnificent temple of his father, but was not satisfied with this and erected his own mortuary temple not far from the temple of Seti. Ramesses ordered another memorial temple to be built in Thebes. This temple (the so-called Ramesseum), built by the architect Penra, was surrounded by a brick wall, inside which there were storerooms, outbuildings and dwellings for an entire army of priests and servants. Granite monolithic statue in front of the pylons of the Ramesseum, although it was somewhat lower than in Per-Ramesses, but weighed 1000 tons. Ramesses expanded the Luxor Temple, adding a vast courtyard and pylons there. He also completed the colossal Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Karnak, the largest building in size, both ancient and modern. This hall covered an area of ​​5000 sq. m. Twelve columns on the sides of the middle aisle of the Hypostyle Hall were 21 m high, and together with the tops (architraves) and crossbars resting on them - 24 m. At the top of such a column, 100 people could accommodate. The remaining 126 columns, arranged in 7 rows on each side of the middle aisle, had a height of 13 m.
In Nubia, in Abu Simbel, a huge cave temple was carved into a sheer rock. The entrance to this temple, carved in the form of a pylon, was decorated with 4 twenty-meter statues of Ramesses, embodying the idea of ​​glorifying the power of the pharaoh. A cave temple dedicated to his wife, Queen Nefertari (Naft-era) was carved nearby.
However, during the construction, Ramesses destroyed the ancient monuments of the country. Thus, the buildings of King Teti (VI Dynasty) served as material for the temple of Ramses in Memphis. He plundered the pyramid of Senusret II at El Lahun, destroyed the paved area around it and smashed to pieces the magnificent buildings that stood in this area in order to obtain material for his own temple in Heracleopolis. In the Delta he used the monuments of the Middle Kingdom with equal arrogance. In order to obtain the necessary space for the expansion of the Luxor Temple, Ramesses dug down the exquisite granite chapel of Thutmose III and used the materials obtained in this way.
Wars and huge funds spent on the construction and maintenance of temples ruined the working people, enriching the nobility and priests. The poor became enslaved, the middle strata gradually lost their economic independence. Ramesses had to resort to the help of mercenaries, which weakened the military potential of the country.

Wives of Ramesses

The large family of Ramesses II is well known. In addition to the countless concubines of the harem, four of his legal spouses are known, at least 111 sons and 67 daughters.
The first legal wife of the young Ramesses II was the famous beauty Nefertari, who was considered a queen, as evidenced by the inscription in the tomb of the priest Amon Nebunenef, already in the 1st year of her husband's independent reign. Surprisingly, almost nothing is known about the origin of the queen.

Statue of Ramesses II. Turin Museum.

During his long reign, rightfully considered one of the eras of the highest flowering of Egyptian civilization, a huge number of temple complexes and monumental works of art were created, including the unique rock temples of Nubia - in Abu Simbel, Wadi es-Sebua, western Amar, Bet el-Wali, Derre, Gerf Hussein, Anibe, Kaveh, Buhene and Gebel Barkale. Even more striking in its scope is the construction program of the king in Egypt itself: several temples and the famous colossi in Memphis; the courtyard and colossal first pylon of the temple at Luxor, adorned with royal colossi and obelisks; Ramesseum - a mortuary complex on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes; temple in Abydos, completion of construction and decoration of the grandiose hypostyle hall of the temple of Amun-Ra in Karnak. In addition, the monuments of Ramses II are recorded in Edfu, Armant, Akhmim, Heliopolis, Bubastis, Athribis, Herakleopolis. Under Ramesses II, part of the temple of the goddess Hathor was built at Serabit el-Khadim in Sinai. In general, Ramesses II built many statues and temples in his honor in various parts of Egypt. The largest to date are two 20-meter statues of a seated Ramesses II in Abu Simbel in the south of the country.
The “marriage stelae” of Ramesses II that have come down to our time testify not only to the strengthening of good relations between the powers, two marriages of Ramesses II and Hittite princesses, one of which occupied a very high place at the court and received the Egyptian name Maathornefrura.
The first main wife of Ramesses II was the famous beauty Nefertari Merenmut, to whom the small temple in Abu Simbel was dedicated; after the premature death of the queen, who was buried in a uniquely beautiful tomb in the Valley of the Queens (QV66), her eldest daughter, Princess Meritamon, took her place. Among the other wives of the king, the most famous are queens Isitnofret I, her daughter Bent-Anat, as well as queens Nebettawi and Khenutmir. Ramesses II himself had at least seven wives and dozens of concubines, from whom he had 40 daughters and 45 sons.
In the northeast of the Nile Delta, where his family came from, Ramesses II founded a new capital, Per-Ramses (modern Kantir and Tell ed-Daba), on the site of the old palace of his father Seti I. This city remained the main residence of the kings of the XIX-XX dynasties. Nevertheless, the religious capital of the country remained in Thebes, and royal burials were still carved in the rocks of the Valley of the Kings. The tomb of Ramesses II (KV7) was not completed and is currently in extremely poor condition due to the damaging effects of groundwater and rainstorms; his mummy remained there for an extremely short time due to ancient grave robbers.
In the reign of Ramesses II, the cults of Amun, Ra, Ptah and Set enjoyed special reverence; however, it was precisely at this time that Asian influence became more and more noticeable in the religious life of the country, expressed in the inclusion in the Egyptian pantheon of foreign deities associated with war or the sea element hostile to the Egyptians.
In the last years of his reign, Ramesses II was deified as the "Great Soul of Ra-Khorakhte", thus declaring himself the incarnation of the sun god on earth. Ramesses II died in the 67th year of his reign and survived twelve of his sons, among whom two - the commander Amenherkhepeshef and Khaemuas, the high priest of the god Ptah in Memphis, bore the title of heir to the throne for a particularly long time. The Egyptian throne was inherited by the thirteenth son of the king - Merneptah, the son of Queen Isitnofret I, by this time - a middle-aged man. He was the first of several successors of Ramesses II, whose brief reigns ended the 19th dynasty.

Millennia after the reign of Ramesses II, his cult flourished in Memphis and Abydos. The legacy of the image of the king and his sons in ancient Egyptian and ancient tales and legends has become very indicative. In Thebes around 300 BC. e. The priests of the god Khonsu, in order to maintain the authority of their temple, even erected a massive stele in the sanctuary of the god, the text of which, telling about the journey of the healing statue of the god Khonsu to the country of Bakhtan, was inspired by the Asian campaigns of Ramses II and his wedding with the Hittite princesses.
The text of the treaty of Ramesses II with the Hittite king Hattusili III carved on stone (this is the oldest of the peace treaties preserved in history) is on display in the lobby of the New York headquarters of the UN.

Daughter of Ramesses II - Bentanat or Bent Anat

Children

From Nefertari: Sons: Amenherkhepeshef, Paracherunemef, Merira, Meriatum. Daughters: Meritamon, Khenuttawi. From Isitnofret: Sons: Ramses, Khaemwas, Merneptah. Daughters: Bentanat.
When counting, it turns out that of the 16 eldest sons of Ramses II, seven were born to Nefertari and Isitnofret, while the mothers of the remaining nine sons are unknown. Of the nine senior princesses, only three were the daughters of the two main wives, while the remaining six, and then all subsequent children of the king, were born to unknown ladies of the harem.

Plan of Osirion at Abydos

posthumous fate

The body of Ramses in ancient times was buried by the priests five times (four were reburied) - because of grave robbers. First, he was transferred from his own tomb to the tomb of his father Seti the First. She was robbed. Then the mummy was reburied in the tomb of Queen Imhapi. She was also robbed. Then they transferred to the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep the First.

Statues of Ramses II, Ptah and Sekhmet. Egyptian Museum

Finally, in the end, the mummy of Ramses with the mummies of other robbed pharaohs (Thutmose III, Ramses III) was hidden by the priests in the rocky cache of Herihor in modern Deir el-Bahri.
In the second half of the 19th century, this cache was discovered by an Arab family of grave robbers, led by Sheikh Abd al-Rasul, who gradually sold valuables from there to European tourists. This attracted the attention of the Egyptian authorities. The Egyptian Antiquities Service conducted a whole special operation to identify the source of income, and as a result, the sheikh was forced to reveal the location of the underground rock cache Deir el-Bahri 320, built by order of King Herihor in the 11th century BC.
As a result, the well-preserved mummy of the pharaoh was discovered there in 1881 among other robbed royal bodies and became available to science.
In September 1975, the mummy of Ramesses II was subjected to a unique process of general conservation at the Institute of Man in Paris.
In September 2008, during excavations in the Ain Shams area in eastern Cairo, a group of Egyptian archaeologists discovered the ruins of the temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II, and fragments of a giant statue of Ramesses II were also found in the area.

One of the greatest Egyptian pharaohs was Ramses II. He made many victories and built many majestic temples, during his lifetime Ramses was recognized as a god, and his cult was preserved in Egypt for a long time.
Of the buildings of Ramses, the Hypostyle Hall in Karnak impresses with its scale, two majestic statues have been preserved there - Ramses himself and his beloved wife, Queen Nefertari. Her one Pharaoh, who had about 10 wives and an innumerable number of concubines, wanted to see with him in the afterlife kingdom of Osiris.
The inscription next to the statues reads:

“I put her on the left, where my heart is, so that in all ages people would know that I love her”

Almost nothing is known about the origin of the queen; nevertheless, she is referred to as a "noble lady" or "hereditary nobility", that is, a very noble lady, who by birth belonged to one of the court families. Judging by some data, she belonged to the family of Eye, the penultimate pharaoh of the 18th dynasty; this fact was apparently concealed, since kinship with the inner circle of the pharaoh-reformer Akhenaten could compromise the queen ... Some Egyptologists think that she was probably the daughter of Pharaoh Seti the First, and thus a sister or half sister of Ramses II. Other Egyptologists, however, think that her designation as "Crown Princess" might be in some way due to her being a Tebais nobility. These Egyptologists claim that nothing is known about her parents, but it seems that she was of royal lineage. Others say she is the granddaughter of Ahmose... At Gebel el-Silsileh there is a shrine to Ramses II where descriptions show him and Queen Nefertari performing religious functions before various deities. This shrine contains an indication that Queen Nefertari was already married to Ramses II when he came to the throne (1290 BC). So, the actual story of the queen:

In 1299 BC, a girl was born in the family of Aye, the penultimate pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. Her name is Nefertari Merenmuth. Nefertari means "Beautiful Companion" and Meretenmut means "Beloved of the Goddess Mut".She was born prematurely and was very weak. Mother, looking at her tiny thin body, thought with anguish that she would also lose this child ...

15 years have passed. Nefertari survived. But there was weakness in all her movements... One day the wives came to their house and announced the will of Pharaoh Seti I: Merenmut should become a fictitious wife to his eldest son, 19-year-old Ramesses. Marriage meant only a deal, and a few days later the girl, dressed in a wedding dress, was to be brought to the palace.

Nefertari treated this event as a gift of fate. And it is impossible to convey with what excitement she entered the chambers of Pharaoh Seti I. And at the moment when her eyes found the young man, her heart stopped beating. She began to fall and Ramesses rushed forward to support her. When the girl came to her senses, strong hands still held her, and from their warmth, from his glance, full of ardent sympathy for her, the blood in her veins ... changed its chemical composition. And the heart, which had been barely beating for 15 years, began to beat vigorously and passionately. Love with its divine radiance illuminated her entire being. And with such adoration she looked into the eyes of her savior that Ramesses could not remain indifferent.

A strange, exciting feeling of tenderness hit his breath and...
- He kissed her!
- He kisses her!
-They're kissing! - the whispers of those present accompanied their first kiss.

Five years have passed. During this time, Nefertari gave Ramesses three sons, with whom the young father spent all his time. In 1279 BC Networks I about officially announced his son as his successor. From that day on, all the thoughts of the Egyptian were occupied with state issues ... Ramesses reorganized the army and created a strong navy, which made it possible to repel the invasion of the peoples of the sea. The Hittite state caused a lot of anxiety. In the fifth year of his reign, after the Battle of Kadesh, which ended in a draw, Ramesses II decided to send marriage arrows to the Hittite princess Maathornefrura. He hoped that his marriage to the daughter of the ruler of the Hittites would help strengthen good relations between the powers.
- The most beautiful, beloved Mut, - Pharaoh Nefertari said, not letting go of her small hands from his palms, - From this day on, you will not completely own my body, but as before, my heart will love only your gentle hands, only your amazing eyes …
When the door closed behind her husband, Nefertari felt dizzy, her arms fell helplessly along her body, a pendant embroidered by her slipped onto the floor, which she wanted to put on her beloved, but did not have time ... he beat her with his murderous speeches and now it no longer mattered ... Her blood changed its chemical composition in a matter of seconds... The heart, which had been beating so joyfully all these happy years, began to count the beats slower and slower...
Upon learning of Nefertari's illness, Ramesses visited her. When he took her small hand in his and touched her forehead with hot lips, the body of the Egyptian woman started... Like a flower bud, Nefertari opened to meet her beloved...
-You are my life! My happiness! Please, stay!
But the pharaoh was waiting for important things. He left for a few days, and when he returned, he heard terrible news: Nefertari was unconscious ... Without taking off his travel clothes, he quickly ran into the bedroom of his first wife and, falling to his knees, pressed his lips to a lifeless hand ...
- My little Mut... the most beautiful... my beloved...
Ramesses began to cover her body with kisses, trying to kindle the fire of life ... He stroked her arms, shoulders, legs... mumbled some songs... In the morning he fell asleep...
Without regaining consciousness, Nefertari Merenmuth died in his arms...
Years will pass and Ramesses will erect the grandiose temple of Ibshek at Abu Simbel in Nubia. The facade of the sanctuary will be decorated on both sides of the entrance with paired colossal figures of Ramesses, between which will stand the colossi of Nefertari in the form of the goddess Hathor.

Nefertari, the beloved Queen of Ramses II, is known for the myriad images of her on the walls of the temples and colossi of the great pharaoh that were dedicated to her, along with the goddess Hathor, these images show her great influence on Ramses II.

Nefertari was not the only wife of Ramses II. Four other wives of his are attested in inscriptions about his reign and are known to have been crowned as queens. She was not an ordinary queen, however, her situation was superior to that of the previous ones. Her name was translated as "The most beautiful of Them"; the superlative, which denotes her most exclusive position, while the designation "Crown Princess", listed for her on several occasions, is a sign of her high-ranking origin in society. Her participation in the affairs of state is unprecedented outside of the Amarna Period and is reflected in her titles applied to her: "The Wife of the Great King". Her political role also reflected by the current designations "Lady of Upper and Low Egypt" and "Lady of the Two Lands".

The title of Nefertari meant "wife of the god", emphasized the apparent emulation of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, who was also the wife of the god... Her title and name show, obviously, that Nefertari played a special role in her time. The fact that Ramses II sought to show her escort, unusual feature suggests that she could influence his position in the country.

None of the Egyptian queens, as far as we know, was honored to have a temple, as Nefertari had in Abu Simbel ... A hundred meters north of the large temple of Ramses II, a sanctuary was created in honor of the great wife of the pharaoh, Queen Nefertari, "She for whom the sun shines." Six colossi 10 m high, frozen in motion, as if coming out of the rock, form an amazing facade. Two statues depict the queen, four - the king. Nefertari is crowned with a crown of two high feathers and horns, between which there is a solar disk. She is the incarnation of Hathor, the goddess of the sky and the patroness of Nubia. Next to Ramesses are small statues of the sons of the pharaoh; next to Nefertari - the daughter of the pharaoh. Both are represented in the images of priests and priestesses.

The plan of the temple is simple: the hall rests on six square pillars, the passage from it leads to the vestibule, located across the main axis, and further to the holy of holies.

The walls of the temple are decorated with various scenes; some represent the pharaoh defeating his enemies while the queen supports him, others represent the king and queen carrying offerings to goddesses and deities, asking for their blessings. The most interesting scene represents the coronation of Nefertari Isis and Hathor.

Ramesses is present in the sanctuary of his wife, he performs two functions there: a military leader, the winner of the forces of darkness, and a high priest who performs sacrifices. But the atmosphere in the temple of the queen is different from the atmosphere of the temple of the pharaoh. The columns here are crowned with the faces of the goddess Hathor, the ruler of love and joy, there are many images of flowers around, the high silhouette of Nefertari sanctifies everything around with its noble beauty. Those who enter are fascinated by the invisible presence of the great queen.

At the entrance to the temple, a pharaoh is depicted offering flowers to Hathor and the queen in the form of the goddess Isis. On the other side of the gate, Ramesses protects Nefertari, he strikes the Nubians and Asiatics, imposes tribute on the enemies and pays honors to Amun-Ra and Horus.

On the pillars, offerings of flowers to the deities are depicted. On the left wall of the hall, if you look from the entrance towards the altar, it is depicted how the pharaoh receives the menat necklace from the hands of Hathor. Horus and Set then crown him with a crown. This scene emphasizes the creative nature of royal power. The queen gives sistrum and flowers to the goddess Anuket, the pharaoh brings Maat to Amon-Ra.

On the right wall of the hall is a queen with a sistrum and flowers, behind her is the figure of Hathor; The pharaoh brings flowers to the ram-headed god, Harsafes. Further, the queen appears before Hathor of Dendera, the wife of the Horus of Edfus, and the pharaoh brings wine to Ra-Horakhti.

A scene of great artistic value is carved on the wall of the vestibule - Hathor and Isis crowning Nefertari. Nearby, the queen holds out flowers to Hathor, depicted as a cow with a solar disk between her horns.

Offering flowers to the goddess Ta-Uret, the "great", the royal couple asks that the heavenly forces patronize everything they have created on earth. Pharaoh brings flowers to Hathor so that their subtle fragrance will appease the goddess.

On both sides of the gate leading to the holy of holies, the pharaoh is depicted offering flowers to the three hypostases of Horus and the wine of Amon-Ra, the flowers of Khnumu, Satis and Anuket (the divine triad worshiped in Nubia) and the wine of Ra-Horakhti. The fragrances of flowers may be associated with the mysteries of Hathor, wine - with the mysteries of Osiris.

In the holy of holies, the royal couple is in the company of two divine mothers, Hathor and Mut. The cow Hathor is depicted on the walls of the main, most sacred part of the temple. She appears as if from another world, overcoming the border between the worlds...

By order of Ramses II, a grave was created for Nefertari carved in the Valley of the Queens, called by the ancients "Place of Beauty". This tomb is the most beautiful in the Valley of the Kings, and is generally worthy of its position in history. The decorative motifs on the walls and ceilings are mythological and tell of life in hell, encounters with gods, deities, spirits and monsters, and entry into the realm of eternity. In these scenes, Nefertari is always shown wearing long, transparent white garments, with two long feathers on her headdress of gold. She wears rich jewels, in addition to royal items and a wide golden collar...

In 1904, Ernesto Schiaparelli made his greatest discovery, discovering the famous tomb of Nefertari, carved into the rocks of the Valley of the Queens; its painted reliefs, covering an area of ​​520 m2, are rightfully considered one of the best works of art of the entire era of the New Kingdom.

Alas, the tomb was robbed in antiquity, and what little remains for archaeologists - a broken granite sarcophagus lid, reed sandals, a fragment of a gold bracelet and several amulets - is currently stored in the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Turin. Covered with unfading colors, the reliefs of the tomb illustrate some chapters of the book "The Sayings of Exit to the Day" ("Books of the Dead") and show the path of the queen, led by the gods to the underworld to be judged by Osiris.

Eighteen steps lead from the entrance carved into the rocks to the inner chambers of the tomb. The portico of the door in front of the first chamber is badly damaged, but the queen's titles are still read on its right side:
"Hereditary nobility, Great in mercy, beauty, sweetness and love, Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt, reposed, Lady of the Two Lands, Nefertari, Beloved Mut, Right-voiced before Osiris."

The first chamber of the tomb (5x5.2 m) is equipped with a table carved into the wall for offerings. Its walls are covered with images - fragments of the 17th chapter of the Book of the Dead. The queen is represented in three incarnations: playing senet, in the form of the soul of Ba, and, finally, worshiping Aker, the lion-headed god of the earth, who is at the same time the horizon - a symbol of the rebirth of the solar deity.

Nearby are shown the "soul of Ra" - the snow-white phoenix Benu, symbolizing the eternal cyclic return of life, as well as a kiosk, inside which the mummy of Nefertari lies on a lion-headed bed; at the head and at the feet, the mummy is accompanied by two weeping falcons - Nephthys and Isis.
The god of the Nile water, Hapi, grants Nefertari a palm leaf, symbolizing millions of years, and the syncretic sign shen-ujat, which guarantees eternity and resurrection for the deceased. Nearby are the Heavenly Cow Nut and the four sons of Horus - the guardians of the deceased and her entrails, laid in canopies. To the right of the entrance to the tomb, Nefertari appears before Osiris and Anubis.

She is depicted as entering the room, and the faces of the gods, the "lords of the Duat", the true inhabitants of this place, are shown facing the exit and the queen walking towards them.
Nefertari is dressed in magnificent snow-white clothes made of linen, which Egypt was so famous for in ancient times; they are tied under the chest with a red belt in the form of an amulet tet - the knot of Isis. On the shoulders of Nefertari is a rich necklace of usekh. On the queen's head is a Shuti ceremonial dress, consisting of a dark blue wig, decorated with the golden wings of the kite of the goddess Mut, a stand, a golden solar disk and two ostrich feathers.

The passage from the first chamber leads to an additional room on this level. The passage is flanked on both sides by the standing figures of Osiris and Anubis; above the door there is a frieze consisting of uraeus, ostrich feathers, symbols of the goddess Maat, and a human figure in the center, based on the already mentioned syncretic shen-ujat amulets. On the sides of the passage are depicted two goddesses - Neith and Selket, giving Nefertari "protection, life, steadfastness, power, all protection, like Ra, forever." The goddesses utter magic spells and sayings to protect the queen:
“It is said by Selket, Lady of Heaven, Lady of all gods. I walk before you, oh (...) Nefertari (...), Right-voiced before Osiris, who is in Abydos; I gave you a stay in the sacred land (Ta-Jesert), so that you could appear victoriously in heaven like Ra.

Further, the passage widens; the pilasters formed during the expansion are decorated with images of the anthropomorphic djed pillar - the symbol of Osiris, a sign of inviolability and constancy. On the left side of the passage, the goddess Isis, wearing a menat necklace, leads the queen by the hand to the god of the morning sun, Khepri, who has a head in the form of a scarab. On the right, Horus, the son of Isis, leads the deceased to the thrones of Ra-Horakhta and Hathor, the mistress of the Theban necropolis. Between the thrones of Khepri and Hathor is the door to the side chamber. The kite goddess Nekhbet, the patroness of Upper Egypt, hovers above the door, clutching the symbols of eternity shen in her hands.

Two great deities - the personification of immortality and the creator of the universe are united here in an almost symmetrical composition. The next scene, illustrating chapter 148 of the Book of the Dead, occupies the entire south wall of the chamber. Framed with the sign of heaven and the uas scepters, seven cows and a bull are depicted in two registers, in front of each of which is a small altar with offerings. All animals "walk" towards the queen, standing in the pose of adoration.
The text of chapter 148 speaks of the purpose of these seven cows to supply the spirit of the deceased with milk and bread. Steering oars are also mentioned here, which help the deceased to swim among the stars. None of the queen's enemies will recognize her thanks to these "named" oars and the god Ra - the steering boat.

Near the figure of the queen is one of the most famous scenes of the tomb: a deity in the form of a mummy with the head of a ram, crowned with a solar disk, stands on a small podium; on both sides it is supported by Nephthys and Isis. Each wears a long-ended white afnet wig tied with red ribbons. Between the figures of the goddesses and the ram-headed deity are two columns of text "This is Osiris resting in Ra" and "This is Ra resting in Osiris".

The scene is of the highest quality and is very important from the theological point of view, illustrating, as already mentioned, the central idea of ​​the Egyptian funeral texts - the union of Ra and Osiris in the form of a single eternal deity.

A descending passage leads from the chamber to the lower level of the chambers of the tomb. On both sides of the passage door, on the paired pillars of the djed, cartouches of the queen are depicted, accompanied by the goddesses Wadjet and Nekhbet in the form of snakes with the heraldic attributes of Lower and Upper Egypt, respectively. The staircase itself is 7.5 meters long. The images of each wall are divided into two triangular registers. The upper left register shows the offering of the sacred Nemset vessels by the queen to the goddesses Hathor, Selket and the winged Maat.

On a similar scene in the right register, there are Isis, Nephthys, and a symmetrically located Maat, between the wings of which a shen is shown - a symbol of eternity and the name of the queen in a cartouche, the shape of which, as is known, originated from this sign. On the “shelves” formed in the rock at both doors of the corridor there are images of two anthropomorphic symbols of Osiris djed (upper level of the stairs) and the goddesses Neith and Selket (lower level of the stairs). Djed, as a sign of inviolability, constancy, is in this case a mighty pillar of "heaven" - a dark blue ceiling covered with golden stars of the night sky. In the lower registers of the walls, the god Anubis in the form of a jackal and Isis and Nephthys kneeling on the signs of the gold of the sky.

Both hands are laid on the signs of shen. Nearby are voluminous texts-spells, which are unique examples of calligraphy:
“Words spoken by Anubis Imiut, the great god who dwells in the sacred land (Ta-Jesert). I go before you, O great royal wife, mistress of both lands, mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, Reposed, Nefertari, beloved Mut, right-handed before Osiris, the great god who is in the West. I go before you and I have given you a place in the sacred land, so that you may appear triumphant in heaven, like your father Ra. Put diadems on top of your head. Isis and Nephthys rewarded you and created your beauty, like your father, so that you could appear triumphant in heaven, like Ra, so that you could illuminate Igeret with your rays. The great host of gods on earth has given you a place. Nut, your mother, greets you, just as she greets Ra-Khorakhte. May the souls of Pe and Buto rejoice, just as they rejoiced at your father who is in the West... Approach your mother and sit on the throne of Osiris. May the lords of the sacred land receive you. May your heart rejoice forever, O great royal wife ... Nefertari ... right-handed before Osiris.
The grandiose image of the flying goddess Maat crowns the space above the door leading to the "Golden Peace" - the burial chamber of the tomb (10.4x8.2 m). Low "benches" along the entire perimeter of the room were once intended for grave goods. The walls of the chamber are covered with images illustrating chapters 144 and 146 of the Book of the Dead, and contain a description of the kingdom of Osiris. The queen appears before the guardians of the underworld and correctly names the names of the spirits and the names of the gates of otherworldly regions.

The top of the walls is decorated with a hecker frieze; countless stars of the night sky cover the ceiling. The recess, which was the place for the sarcophagus, was in the middle of the room, framed by four pillars. The sixteen planes of the pillars preserved the magnificent scenes of Nefertari's presence before the deities - Anubis, Isis, Hathor, the mighty djed pillars, as well as the figures of two priests of the funeral cult - Khor Iunmutef ("Hor-Support-His Mother") and Khor Nejitef ("Hor-Defender -His Father").

Incarnations of Horus, son of Isis, priests in leopard skins, present Nefertari to Osiris:
“Words spoken by Khor Iunmutef. I am your beloved son, my father Osiris. I have come to honor you. Forever I have cast down your enemies for you. May you allow the daughter of your beloved, the great royal wife ... Nefertari, beloved Mut, right-handed, to remain in the host of great deities, those that accompany Osiris .. ".
Osiris, the king of the host of gods, is depicted on two planes of pillars facing towards the entrance to the chamber. In both scenes, he stands on a small plinth inside a yellow naos. On his head is an atef crown, in his hands is a heket scepter and a nehehu whip. On the shoulders of the great god, a necklace is used, he is tied with a red belt, the symbol of his wife Isis. Inside the naos next to Osiris are the emblems of Anubis Imiut, consisting of a wooden stand and a leopard skin.

A small niche for canopic canopies is carved into the left wall of the chamber. Its walls are decorated with images of Anubis and spirits, the sons of Horus, the patrons of the canopic; on the central wall there is an image of the winged goddess of the sky Nut with the signs of eternal life ankh in her hands.
On three sides of the burial chamber there are passages to small side rooms intended for storing grave goods. The decoration was preserved almost completely only in one chamber. The doorway is flanked by images of the goddesses Wadjet and Nekhbet in the form of snakes resting on djed pillars. On the walls are images of the anthropomorphic Osiris-Djed with the scepters of the UAS in his hands, Nefertari herself in the form of a mummy, Isis and Nephthys with the four sons of Horus. Under their protection, the queen "follows" the image of the legendary house of Osiris in Abydos.

On the walls of the chamber of the second chamber, heavily damaged images of the queen reciting prayers before Hathor, Lady of the West, have been preserved. On the right side, Nefertari appears before Isis and Anubis, seated on thrones. Two altars with flowers and bread stand in front of the deities. The central wall is filled with the winged figure of Maat. The surviving fragment of the text on behalf of the goddess speaks of "the creation of a place for the queen in the house of Amon." Perhaps there was a statue of Nefertari here.

The decoration of the third chamber was practically not preserved. The figure of Isis on the southern wall, fragments of the procession of the gods, a djed pillar between two amulets of Isis tet - these are the main images from this room that have come down to our time.

It is known that craftsmen who created ordinary tools in the light of special, non-smoking oil lamps the tombs of Ramesses II, Nefertari and their children were "head of work" Neferhotep the Elder, Nebnefer, Neferhotep the Younger, Kakha and his son Inerhau. The scribes Ramose, Kenherkhepeshef, Amenemope and Khevi followed the work.

The poor quality of the limestone in which the tomb was carved, as well as salty soil waters, led to the fact that by the 70s of our century, the paintings of the unique monument were in danger of disappearing. The special restoration project "Nefertari" of the Egyptian Antiquities Service and the Paul Getty Conservation Institute, carried out from 1986 to 1992, has become one of the most important works of the 20th century to preserve the heritage of antiquity. Unique restoration methods allowed the tomb to be reopened to visitors in November 1995.

In the Ramesseum, the imposing mortuary temple of Ramesses II at Thebes, at the top of the second pylon, at a height of more than 10 m, there is an unusual image of the Ming festival, in which Nefertari dances before the sacred bull. Was it a tribute to the father of the bride, Tutankhamun's successor? Although she gave birth to Ramesses 5 or 6 sons, some of whom, like the most beloved - the first-born Amun-Khi-Benemeth, died in their youth. Fate wanted none of them to ascend the throne. Ramesses II's heir was his son (Prince Merneptah) from another royal bride, Queen Isis-Nofret, whose tomb has not yet been discovered and is presumably located in the Saqqara necropolis. The time and cause of Nefertari's death are not known exactly, but it happened before the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the reign of Ramses - the commemorative inscription of this and subsequent periods no longer mentions the name of his beloved wife.

General view of the Valley of the Queens

The Valley of the Queens, known in antiquity as the "Valley of the Children of the Pharaoh", is an archaeological area on the west bank of the Nile, next to the Valley of the Kings, on the opposite bank from Luxor (ancient Thebes). In the valley, up to seventy rock-cut tombs of the wives and children of the pharaohs, as well as priests and nobles, were discovered. All burials belong to the 18th, 19th or 20th dynasties (c. 1550-1070 BC). More impressive than others is the tomb of the wife of Ramses the Great, Nefertari, in which an extensive complex of polychrome frescoes has been perfectly preserved.