Reign of Ramesses II

Ramesses II ruled during the Nineteenth Dynasty and became one of the best-known pharaohs of ancient Egypt. His reign was marked by military display, major building projects, royal family politics, treaty diplomacy and the cultivation of a powerful public image.

The reign mattered because it connected war, religion and monumentality on an exceptional scale. Kadesh, the later peace with the Hittites, the Ramesseum, Pi-Ramesses and Abu Simbel all helped create a royal memory that lasted far beyond his lifetime.

Christian Jacq’s Ramses novels use the long reign as a biographical frame, while The Judge of Egypt and Stone of Light draw on the same Ramesside world. The context suits fiction about divine kingship, palace intrigue, temples, scribes, royal women, chariot warfare and the problem of succession after a long-lived ruler.