Egyptian History



| |Ancient Egypt |Name ______________________________ |

| |Dynasties and Pharaohs |Core_____ |

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Pharaoh Rameses II

Rameses II was considered to be one of the greatest pharaohs who ever lived. Also he was the longest living pharaohs. His rule was roughly 67 years long. He had five or six main wives and is said to have had more than 100 children. Rameses II is thought to have been Moses' nemesis who kept the Hebrews as slaves in Egypt in the book of Exodus from the Christian Bible.

Rameses II was an important and famous ruler that fought to reclaim territory in Africa and Western Asia. The Hittites in Asia were his main opponents or his main enemies. During his fifth year as Pharaoh, he led a campaign known as the Battle of Kadesh. Ramses II tried to keep the newly acquired territory (today it is known as Syria) but lost the battle to one of his opponents - the Hittites. Later, a treaty was signed, the territory was divided, and Ramses II agreed to marry the daughter of the Hittite King. This is believed to possibly be the first written peace treaty in all of human history.

The tomb of Rameses II is located in the Valley of the Kings and remains empty. After years or being looted (robbed) and weathered, it remains destroyed. Great amounts of effort are in progress with the hope of returning the tomb to a somewhat presentable stage. Although the tomb remains empty of riches, the mummy of the Pharaoh has been found. Ramses II’s mummy is thought to be one of the best-preserved mummies ever found.

The 20th dynasty Pharaohs, around 1200 BC, continued the same policies, and were all called Rameses. There were many attacks on Egypt, first from Libya to the west and then from West Asia, by a group that the Egyptians called the Sea Peoples. The Hittites were destroyed, though around 1100 BC the Egyptians fought off the Sea Peoples in a great naval battle. But the trouble in West Asia seems to have caused a general economic depression in the whole Eastern Mediterranean and West Asia, and soon afterwards the New Kingdom collapsed.

Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile

By the time of the Roman Julius Caesar, around 50 BCE, the Ptolemies, who were the Greek kings of Egypt, were much weaker than the Romans. When Julius Caesar visited Egypt, the Ptolemaic (Greek) queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, begged him to help her fight a civil war against her teenaged brother and husband, Ptolemy.

Julius Caesar did help her, and with his troops she defeated Ptolemy and gained control of Egypt. Cleopatra was so loved by her people that they believed she was the Egyptian goddess Isis in human form. Cleopatra allowed both Greek and Egyptian religious practices.

Cleopatra became Julius Caesar’s girlfriend and travelled with him to Rome. She stayed with him until he was assassinated in 44 BCE, after which she fled back to Egypt for her own safety. She soon started dating a general and former friend of Caesar’s named Marc Antony. A civil war broke out between Marc Antony and Caesar’s nephew Octavius. Antony lost in the Battle of Actium, after which he and Cleopatra committed suicide.

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