What is Ramses II most known for?
In ‘Chronicle of the Pharoahs’ Peter A. Clayton writes: ‘During his long reign of 67 years everything was done on a grand scale. No other pharoah constructed so many temples or erected so many colossal statues and obelisks. No other pharoah sired so many children. Ramesses”s ‘victory’ over the Hittites at Kadesh was celebrated in one of the most repeated Egyptian texts ever put on record. By the time he died, aged more than 90, he had set his stamp indelibly on the face of Egypt. As a monument builder, Ramessses II stands pre-eminent amongst the pharoahs of Egypt. He added to the great temples at Karnak and Luxor, completed his father Seti’s mortuary temple at Gourna (Thebes), and alsso his Abydos temple, and built his own temple nearby at Abydos. On the west bank at Thebes he constructed a giant mortuary temple, the Ramesseum. Inscriptions in the sandstone guarries at Gebel el Silsila record at least 3000 workmen employed there cutting stone for the Ramessseum alone. Other major mortu
