Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BCE to 1213 BCE - also known as Ramesses the Great, from Egyptian *Riʻmīsisu, alternatively transcribed as Ramses and Rameses), the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty, is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire.
His successors and later Egyptians called him the "Great Ancestor".
Ramesses II leads several military expeditions into the Levant, reasserting Egyptian control over Canaan.
He also leads expeditions to the south, into Nubia, commemorated in inscriptions at Beit el-Wali and Gerf Hussein.
At age fourteen, Ramesses was appointed Prince Regent by his father Seti I.
He is believed to have taken the throne in his late teens and is known to have ruled Egypt from 1279 BCE to 1213 BCE for a total of 66 years and 2 months, according to both Manetho and Egypt's contemporary historical records.
He was once said to have lived to be 99 years old, but it is more likely that he died in his 90th or 91st year.
If he became Pharaoh in 1279 BCE as most Egyptologists today believe, he would have assumed the throne on May 31, 1279 BCE, based on his known accession date of III Shemu day 27.
Ramesses II celebrated an unprecedented 14 sed festivals during his reign—more than any other pharaoh.
On his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings; his body was later moved to a royal cache where it was discovered in 1881, and is now on display in the Cairo Museum.
The early part of his reign is focused on building cities, temples and monuments.
He establishes the city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta as his new capital and main base for his campaigns in Syria.
This city is built on the remains of the city of Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos when they took over, and is the location of the main Temple of Set.
He is also known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources, from a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses' throne name, User-maat-re Setep-en-re)
