The poem about Ozymandias is about Pharaoh Ramses (Ramesses) II. Ramses was a long-ruling pharaoh during whose reign Egypt was at its peak.
Of all the pharaohs of Egypt, none (except perhaps the unnamed “Pharoah” of the Old Testament — and they may be one in the same) is more famed than Ramses. The third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, Ramses II was an architect and military leader who ruled Egypt at the height of its empire, during the period known as the New Kingdom. Ramses led military campaigns to restore Egyptian territory and fought the Libyans and Hittites.
His visage stared from monumental statues at Abu Simbel and his own mortuary complex, the Ramesseum in Thebes. Nefertari was Ramses' most famous Great Royal Wife; the pharaoh had more than 100 children According to the historian Manetho, Ramses ruled for 66 years. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings.
Ramses’ father was the pharaoh Seti I. Both ruled Egypt following the disastrous Amarna period of pharaoh Akhenaten, a brief period of dramatic cultural and religious upheaval that saw the Egyptian Empire lose land and treasure. Ramses was named Prince Regent at age 14, and took power shortly thereafter, in 1279 B.C.
Ramses led a decisive naval victory of a host of marauders known as the Sea People or Shardana (likely Anatolians) early in his reign. He also took back territory in Nubia and Canaan that was lost during Akhenaten’s tenure.
Ramses fought the famous chariot Battle at Kadesh against the Hittites in what is now Syria. The engagement, contested over a number of years, was one of the reasons why he moved the Egyptian capital from Thebes to Pi-Ramses.
From that city, Ramses oversaw a military machine that was aimed at the Hittites and their land.
The outcome of this relatively well-recorded battle is unclear. It may have been a draw. Ramses retreated, but saved his army. Inscriptions -- at Abydos, Temple of Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum -- are from an Egyptian perspective. There are only bits of writing from the Hittites, including correspondence between Ramses and the Hittite leader Hattusili III, but the Hittites also claimed victory. In 1251 B.C., after repeated stalemate in the Levant, Ramses and Hattusili signed a peace treaty, the first on record. The document was rendered in both Egyptian hieroglyphics and Hittite cuneiform.
The pharaoh lived to a remarkable 90 years old. He had outlived his queen, most of his children, and nearly all of the subjects who saw him crowned. Nine more pharaohs would take his name. He was the greatest ruler of the New Kingdom, which would come to an end soon after his death.
The melancholy nature of Ramses’ might and its twilight is captured in the famous Romantic poem by Shelley, Ozymandias, which was the Greek name for Ramses.
Of all the pharaohs of Egypt, none (except perhaps the unnamed “Pharoah” of the Old Testament — and they may be one in the same) is more famed than Ramses. The third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, Ramses II was an architect and military leader who ruled Egypt at the height of its empire, during the period known as the New Kingdom. Ramses led military campaigns to restore Egyptian territory and fought the Libyans and Hittites.
His visage stared from monumental statues at Abu Simbel and his own mortuary complex, the Ramesseum in Thebes. Nefertari was Ramses' most famous Great Royal Wife; the pharaoh had more than 100 children According to the historian Manetho, Ramses ruled for 66 years. He was buried in the Valley of the Kings.
Early Life
Ramses’ father was the pharaoh Seti I. Both ruled Egypt following the disastrous Amarna period of pharaoh Akhenaten, a brief period of dramatic cultural and religious upheaval that saw the Egyptian Empire lose land and treasure. Ramses was named Prince Regent at age 14, and took power shortly thereafter, in 1279 B.C.
Military Campaigns
Ramses led a decisive naval victory of a host of marauders known as the Sea People or Shardana (likely Anatolians) early in his reign. He also took back territory in Nubia and Canaan that was lost during Akhenaten’s tenure.
The Battle of Kadesh
Ramses fought the famous chariot Battle at Kadesh against the Hittites in what is now Syria. The engagement, contested over a number of years, was one of the reasons why he moved the Egyptian capital from Thebes to Pi-Ramses.
From that city, Ramses oversaw a military machine that was aimed at the Hittites and their land.
The outcome of this relatively well-recorded battle is unclear. It may have been a draw. Ramses retreated, but saved his army. Inscriptions -- at Abydos, Temple of Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum -- are from an Egyptian perspective. There are only bits of writing from the Hittites, including correspondence between Ramses and the Hittite leader Hattusili III, but the Hittites also claimed victory. In 1251 B.C., after repeated stalemate in the Levant, Ramses and Hattusili signed a peace treaty, the first on record. The document was rendered in both Egyptian hieroglyphics and Hittite cuneiform.
Death of Ramses
The pharaoh lived to a remarkable 90 years old. He had outlived his queen, most of his children, and nearly all of the subjects who saw him crowned. Nine more pharaohs would take his name. He was the greatest ruler of the New Kingdom, which would come to an end soon after his death.
The melancholy nature of Ramses’ might and its twilight is captured in the famous Romantic poem by Shelley, Ozymandias, which was the Greek name for Ramses.
OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1819)