Ramesses II
Sixty-six years on the throne, and more surviving monuments than any other pharaoh.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 66 years
- Known to
- ± 10 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
Ramesses II rules from 1279 BCE for sixty-six years, fathers around a hundred children, and builds or usurps monuments on a scale that dominates the Egyptian landscape — Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum, additions at Karnak and Luxor. He is a relentless self-publicist: the Battle of Kadesh, at best a draw, is commemorated across Egypt as a personal triumph. His mummy survives, and was issued an Egyptian passport in 1974 to fly to Paris for conservation.