Wilkinson, Toby. Ramesses the Great: Egypt's King of Kings. Yale University Press, 2023.
Though Ancient Egypt is a subject with mass appeal, it is not too often that historians zero in on one figure when writing a book, instead presenting generalized overall histories or broader cultural surveys (usually on religious practices and/or architectural feats). One figure who has gotten singular treatment is the famed pharaoh Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great. Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson has written an easy-to-red biography of this tremendous figure. It runs under 200 pages. As Wilkinson explains in his introduction, it is very difficult to actually determine and present the character of ancient people in the past, especially when they were carefully propagandized as God-kings. Though he confesses that he can accomplish no such character revelation, he does try to provide a few insights on Ramesses II. While he never outright argues it, Wilkinson's monograph suggests an egomaniac who was so determined to be remembered that spent his country's resources on vast, self-aggrandizing construction projects.
Wilkinson argues that Ramesses was not a first-rate military leader nor the most successful backer of artistic achievement. There were other pharaohs who conquered much more territory and led much more prosperous leaps. But thanks to his astonishingly lengthy reign of over sixty years, Ramesses provided Egypt with a period of stability and greatness that sustained its existence for centuries afterwards.
Wilkinson does not go in an entirely straight narrative, understandable given the difficulty of ancient sources, but divides his book into five chapters. Chapter one, Great Expectations, provides the background of the 19th Dynasty, of which Ramesses was a part of, and his grooming to succeed his father Seti as Pharaoh. Since people tended to die at much younger ages back then, he ascended the throne while still in his twenties. He quickly proved himself an ambitious ruler, creating a powerful military states. This leads into chapter two, War and Peace. Wilkinson points out that Ramesses was hardly the greatest military commander, whatever his propaganda said. He led relatively easy punitive raids against Libya and Nubia. His one great campaign was against the Hittites for the control of formerly Egyptian-held lands in what is not Syria and Lebanon. This culminated in the Battle of Kadesh, was was a tactical draw and a strategic defeat. Having failed to defeat the Hittites militarily, Ramesses pursued a peace policy that created a safe and stable Near East. Wilkinson believes this was Ramesses' greatest success in foreign affairs, even though the pharaoh was constantly proclaiming Kadesh as his great feat.
Chapter three, A New Colossus, focuses on Ramesses' building projects. All pharaohs sought to immortalize themselves through such projects, constructing temples, palaces, and grand tombs. Rameses took things to the extreme. Using land that was not consecrated to any gods, he sought to deify himself in the eyes of his people. The most famous of his works is, of course, the temple at Abu Simbel. Wilkinson manages to explain these projects in great detail without burdening the reader too much with technical details (an issue I've had with some books on Ancient Egypt). The next chapter, Sons and Lovers, is the closest Wilkinson gets into exposing the true man behind the god-king. He takes note of some key wives and sons of Ramses. The section on wives in particular ties back into Ramesses' successful peace-making accomplishments, as he married two Hittite princesses and a Babylonian as well.
The final chapter, From Here to Eternity, describes his death, mummification, and burial. Wilkinson then delves into Ramesses' legend. Several archaeologists in the 19th Century presented him as a grand, noble figure and something of a mascot for the careful preservation and study of ancient Egyptian monuments and goods. Others, however, saw him as a tyrannical despot who forced his people to slave away for his worship. Additionally, Wilkinson briefly covers his presence in popular culture, though he only goes in-depth into the famous "Ozymandias" poem (it turns out Ozymandias is a messed up Greekified spelling of Rameses name and title).
Wilkinson's concise work does a wonderful job laying out the reign of Ramesses the Great. He argues that he was indeed a great pharaoh while also making it clear that many of his accomplishments were exaggerations of propaganda. This is a good read for those who want a clear, demythologized presentation of one of the ancient world's better known rulers.
You can buy the book here.
Rating: Highly Recommend
Rating System
Must-Read: Definite read for history in general
Highly Recommend: Definite read within a certain subject
Adequate: Useful if looking for information or an intro on a certain topic
Pass: Not a good history book, useless, or absolutely farcical
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