Ramses II (the Great) was an Egyptian pharaoh (lived c. 1320 BC to 1224 BC, reigned 1290 BC-1224 BC). His name is sometimes spelled Rameses, and was known to the Ancient Greeks as Sesostris.
At the Battle of Qadesh in 1296 BC, Rameses II met the forces of Mutawallis, King of the Hittites.
He was the third king of the 19th dynasty, a son of Seti I and his Queen Tuya. The most memorable of Ramses' wives was Nefertari. Anothers of his wives was Istnofret and Maetnefrure, Princess of Khatti. It is said that Ramses II had over 200 children. Some of his children were Bintah (Bintanath) (Princess and her father's wife), Setakht (Sethnakhte), Merneptah (PHARAOH), and Kha'emweset (Prince).
Ramses II made war expeditions as far as Beirut against the Hittites to the north and extended Egyptian control well into Ancient Ethiopia (Modern Sudan) to the south. He constructed many impressive monuments, and more statues of him exist than of any other Egyptian Pharaoh. He is also the Pharaoh of whom the biblical figure Moses is popularly believed to have demanded that his people be released from slavery.
His mummy was found at Deir-al-Bahari in 1881 and placed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo 5 years later, where it is still exhibited.
See also: Ozymandias
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