Peter James Brand

Summary: Drawing heavily on archaeology, this lavishly illustrated work describes the life, historical and cultural context, and physical record of this arguably greatest of Egypt’s Pharaohs.

This is an impressive work about an impressive figure in human history. Peter J. Brand is an Egyptologist whose study focuses on the imperial age (ca. 1550–1100 BCE), during which Ramesses II ruled. He is also the “director of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall Project, which is recording, conserving, and interpreting hundreds of scenes and hieroglyphic texts carved on the walls and columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall” (from book website). In Ramesses II, Egypt’s Ultimate Pharoah, he has given us a lavishly illustrated and extensively documented account of the life of Ramesses II, who ruled longer than any other pharaoh at 67 years [some believe Pepi II in the Sixth Dynasty ascended to rule at age six for 94 years] and left more monuments to his rule than any other. The book is printed on high quality paper rendering the many full-color images of monuments, temples, and renderings of ancient paintings and inscriptions that serve as documentation of Ramesses II’s reign.

The book begins by setting the rule of the Ramessides within a chronology of the successive kingdoms of Egypt and tells the story of his family including his father, Sety 1 who ruled for just ten years, but long enough to train his son and establish him as Crown Prince. He ascended to rule in his early twenties, and immediately occupied himself with building monuments and producing heirs. A major event in his career is covered extensively by Brand, the Battle of Kadesh against the rival Hittite Kingdom, in 1274 BC. It was a near disaster, with Ramesses II nearly defeated after being ambushed. Accounts emphasize personal heroism in repelling the attack and the eventual “victory” of Ramesses after reinforcements arrive, although Kadesh remained in Hittite hands. Brand reveals an the impressive public relations effort it took to turn this near disaster into a glorious victory. The victory is disputable but Ramesses II’s courage is not. Later wars in the first two decades protect Egypt’s territories but don’t change the balance of power.

It was perhaps the realization of this that led to negotiations with the Hittites that led to the Silver Treaty in the third decade of Ramesses II’s rule. It didn’t turn the two kings into friends although Brand shares the diplomatic exchanges calling each other brothers and the snide ways each sought to assert his own greatness, even after the peace. Perhaps as extensive were the negotiations for Ramesses to marry not one, but eventually two Hittite princesses, always the way of sealing accords.

Two marks of Ramesses II’s success were his children and his Jubilees. Altogether, Ramesses sired at least 45 sons and more than fifty daughters with his various wives. For a godlike figure to have so many children was a good sign for the fertility of the nations crops, and indeed, Egypt of these years was the grainary of the Middle East. Brand gives us brief biographies of the successive heirs to the throne, three of whom pre-deceased Ramesses, We also learn of his five daughter wives.

The Jubilees both celebrated the length of his reign and were cermonies of renewal The first was held at year 30 of his reign, with twelve more Seds held at intervals of three years. Many Pharaohs never made it to the first. These were the occasion of building more monuments including the Temple at Abu Simbel in southern Egypt, the object of an extensive rescue effort when the construction of the Aswan High Dan threatened it with inundation.

Brand’s account concludes with briefer coverage of the later and twilight years, Ramesses death, and his successors, and how he has lived on including his treatment in literature and in Hollywood. There is even a fascinating account of a trip his mummy took to Paris for preservation treatments, requiring a passport and royal honors upon arrival.

And what of Israel? Most of the discussion of Israel comes in discussion of the Hollywood accounts. Otherwise, the only places it comes up in the text postdate Ramesses rule–one to Solomon’s marriage alliance with Egypt, and one to an inscription on the Stela of Merenptah, Ramesses II’s son, from 1210 BCE, listing them as an ethnic group in Canaan. Given the absence of archaeological evidence, Brand remains silent about Israel, treating them as insignificant to Ramesses II’s reign. Of course, this hinges on the dating of the exodus, which biblical scholars date between c. 1400 and 1280 BC, the latter date falling within Ramesses II’s reign and the more widely accepted.

Peter J. Brand has given us an up-to-date and illuminating account in this work, the first since Kenneth Kitchen’s Pharaoh Triumphant forty years ago. It reveals both the culture and the man behind the legends of this great ruler of Egypt at the zenith of Egypt’s power. We stand in wonder at the works portrayed in images that celebrate this Pharaoh three millenia later. While he made much of his “victory” at Kadesh, one cannot help wonder if his greater victory was the decades of peace and stability resulting from the Silver Treaty, that allowed the time and resources to build so many monuments. Brand’s work helps us appreciate one of the greatest rulers in human history, often hidden in the mists of time and legend.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.… (más)