Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh

by Joyce A. Tyldesley

Book Overview

Everyone has heard of Ramesses the Great - but what is the truth behind the legend? Joyce Tyldesley's lively book explores the life and times of Egypt's greatest king. Ramesses II was the archetypal... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140280979
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

I love this book

I am an ancient history buff (reading mainly about ancient Egypt and Rome) and have read this book twice so far. I love reading about Ramesses II in particular. It is a pretty quick read but that is because Tyldesley does such a wonderful job of describing Ramesses the Great. And great he was during his 66 year reign. His architectural, political, militaristic and personal endeavors have been unparalleled by any previous or subsequent human being. Tyldesley's book is very well written and accessible to all; I recommend it to even those who think history books are dry and boring. There is nothing boring about Ramesses the Great. Here are the chapter titles for those that are interested: 1-Introducing Ramesses 2-A New Beginning: Life Before Ramesses 3-Ramesses the Warrior 4-Ramesses the God 5-Ramesses the Husband 6-Ramesses the Father 7-Ramesses the Mortal 8-Decline and Decay: The last Ramesses The book also includes many photographs, figures, and maps. Other books from Joyce Tyldesley that I have read so far and would also recommend: Nefertiti : Egypt's Sun Queen Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt

Good Biography on Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh

Although the book is indeed a somewhat "quick read" as it as been dubbed before, this book is quite insightful on the very man who revolutionized Egypt and it's well being. This is only the main ideas one can find on the great pharaoh. There is more info on Ramesses out there; this primarily focuses on the "improtant" information you need to know about Ramesses. The book includes many things that made Ramesses so great including description of his tomb, his life as a warrior and head of the military, his alliance with adjacent kingdoms, his following of religion especially his loyalty to Re, and even describes the Pharaohs before and after Ramesses including his father Seti. Even though a lot more could have been said about this great man, it is a very insightful book and should be a must for anyone who has interest in Egyptian history (since Ramesses reigned for nearly 60 years this book covers a lot of ground in terms of history). This is an intriguing book on Ramesses and the best and most complete one I have seen.

A good update on Rameses II

Joyce Tyldesley's 2000 book on this great Pharaoh is a nice update on KA Kitchen's 1982 'Pharaoh Triumphant' on the same Pharaoh. Ms Tyldesley's prose, while scholarly, is warm and engaging and at all not cold or repetitious. She discusses what life was like in Ancient Egypt during the Egyptian New Kingdom era with the massive statues of Ramesses II covering the land from the Mediterranean coast southwards into Abu Simbel deep in Nubia and this king's popularity with his subjects. The author updates our knowledge of Rameses II's monumental construction including the rediscovery of the massive royal tomb KV5 in 1995 by Kent Weeks which proved to house over 150 passageways and chambers to house this king's many sons who predeceased their father, and the discovery of a Year 56 stela from his reign near Damascus. The location of the stela hints to Egyptian military activity in support of their new Hittite allies in Syria and the Levant after the signing of the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty in Year 21 of Ramesses II. Tyldesley notes that Ramesses II was a risk taker from the very beginning of his reign. Despite the spectacular failure of Akhenaten's decision to shift Egypt's political capital to a new city called Akhetaten (modern day El-Amarna), Ramesses proceeded to transform his father's summer palace in the Delta into a splendid new city called Pi-Ramesse Aa-nakhtu or the "House of Ramesses-Great-of-Victories." This city was about 60 miles northeast of modern day Cairo and served as both a military fortress, a springboard for his military campaigns into the Levant and a link to this region which was his family's spiritual heartland. (Ramesses II's family were northerners from the Delta) Ramesses' efforts was a great success unlike the fate which befell Akhenaten's isolated and ultimately doomed city of Akhetaten which was cut off from both Thebes and Memphis, Egypt's two great administrive centres. Pi-Ramesse Aa-nakhtu is likely the prominent Egyptian "treasure" city of 'Raamses' that the Ancient Israelites slaved in and eventually left behind in their great exodus to the Holy Land under Moses. (Exodus 1:11) In summary, Tyldesley's book is an excellent study of the man who dominated Egyptian's lives for an unprecedented reign of 66 years. It is a real page turner and one must be amazed at how the Egyptian's reacted to the death of this larger than life figure who had provided them with so many decades of stability and wealth. To her credit, Tyldesley does not neglect to highlight the gradual and painful decline in Egypt's fortunes in the later Twentieth Dynasty under a whole host of kings named Rameses from III to XI. However, it appears that little of the blame for these events can be placed directly upon Ramses II and more on mother nature as the continuous eruption of the Thera Volcano in Iceland from 1159-1140 BC depressed Egypt's agricultural production leading to severe economic difficulties in conjuction with the arrival of the aggres

A Hero Demythologized (and Defumigated Too)

Ramses the Great may, as the title claims, have been the Greatest Pharoah, but perhaps it is more accurate to describe him as Egypt's Last Great Pharoah. Coming towards the start of the New Kingdom (that of Seti the Great), Ramses is credited with restoring peace with Assyria and restabilizing the borders. He may also have been the Ramses of Exodus, though the Egyptian recollection of this (perhaps unsurprisingly) is less fulsome than the Canaanites'. Tyldesley writes in an extremely approachable, literate way and avoids whenever possible the extremes of Egyptology-speak. She also gives a fascinating update on the state of Ramses' mummy - including rather macarbre deatails of its recent fumigation by the French. Apparently gamma rays were involved (which fuels the most lurid of B-movie fantasies. Don't worry -he's still dead.)

A quick and informative read

I picked up this book at the local B & N and I couldn't put it down - b4 i knew it I had already read the first chapter at the bookstore and had to buy it! This is a good book on Ramses II and the period in which he reigned - it's really well researched and the author presents it a well-organized manner. The author offers some nice descriptions and details about the Ramesside monuments I had not heard before. It made me want to hop the next plane to Egypt! It also has a nice list of books of further reading. I can't wait to pick up Tyldesly's "Daughters of Isis" or her book about Hatshepsut!