King Rameses II Profile

King Rameses II, also mentioned as Ramesses the good, was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the 19th dynasty. He reigned from 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C. he’s often considered the best, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire. His successors and later Egyptians called him the “Great Ancestor.” Rameses II led several military expeditions into the Levant, reasserting Egyptian control over Canaan. He also led expeditions south into Nubia, commemorated in inscriptions at the temples at Beit el-Wali and Gerf Hussein.

At age 14, Ramesses was appointed prince regent by his father Seti I. he’s believed to possess taken the throne in his late teens. He is understood to possess ruled Egypt for 66 years and a couple of months, consistent with Egypt’s contemporary historical records. One account reports he lived to be 99 years old.

Queen Nefertari was the Nubian queen from 1292 to 1225 B.C. one among many great Nubian queens, Nefertari, is heralded because the queen who wed for peace. Her marriage to Rameses II began strictly as a political move, a sharing of power between two leaders. But not only did it grow into one among the best royal relationships in history, but it also brought the hundred-year war between Nubia and Egypt to an end.

Their union led to a truce that lasted over 100 years. Even today, a monument stands in Queen Nefertari’s honor. The temple which Ramesses built for her at Abu Simbel is one of the most important and most beautiful structures ever built to honor a wife.