Why is Ramses II so important?

Ramses II is important for many reasons.

1. He was very active in building monuments in Egypt and Nubia

2. He led several campaigns into Syria, Libya and Nubia and negotiated a treaty with the Hittites

3. He is one of only a handful of Egyptian kinds to have held a Sed fesitival. This means that in the 30th year of his reign, he was ritually transformed into a God.

4. He has been identified as being the Pharaoh of whom Moses demanded to let his people go (this may or may not be a correct identification)

5. He also inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" and the character Ozymandias from the popular Watchmen graphic novel and movie takes his inspiration from Ramses II.

Ramses II had a 66 year reign and in the 30th year, he had already eclipsedmost pharaohs; he had brought peace, maintained Egyptian borders, built great and numerous monuments across his empire and his country was more prosperous and powerful than it had been in almost 100 years.