katebosco said:
hey i am finding it really hard to get any info on economic achievements of ramesses II during new kingdom egypt
Some things to consider:
1. The move to Pi-Ramesses:
- Traditionally, the country was ruled at Thebes. This was because moves away from it, eg the Middle Kingdom move to Itj-Tawi, the Hyksos move to Avaris, etc, resulted in political fragementation. Having the capital up in the north, and having it up there for 200 years, shows us that Ramses laid a economic and political foundation.
- It allowed much greater trade with the north; everything important, trade-wise, was in the north. Ships from all over the Mediterranean landed directly at the Tell el Dab'a port, which was nearby to Pi-Ramesses. Land-born cargo could come direcly along the trade paths from the Sinai and the north. Furthermore, the huge Nile Delta system allowed extensive resource management in the fertile area, not to mention a trade link (the Nile) all the way down to Ethiopia.
2. Building and propaganda:
- Ramses' building campaigns were funded by his economic stability. Gardiner makes only a small exaggeration when he says that the number of Ramses' buildings equates to that of all the Pharaohs' put together.
- The Egyptians themselves saw their existence as a Golden Age;
The Tale of Two Brothers is a good example of this.
3. Resources:
- Egypt was the wealthiest it had ever been.
- The bureaucratic system was a well-oiled machine, with the Temples creating sub-divisions of states that allowed almost internal governance.
4. Empire:
- Geographically, Egypt was the biggest it had ever been. This allowed for things like booty, taxation / upkeep, and investments.
- The culture of Egypt was becoming truly heterogeneous. There were entire settlements of foreigners. Culturally and ethnically, Egypt itself was an achievement.
- This allowed huge increase in technology - for instance, Egypt could now produce its own glass-ware out of globlets. Previously, Egyptians had to buy premade items from foreign merchants, or via retail systems.
and i have to write an essay assessing all of his achievements so yea any help with the political, religious, social, economic and military achievements would be greatly appreciated.
For something as broad as that, my best piece of advice would be to find Kenneth A Kitchen's
Pharaoh Triumphent: The Life and Times of Ramesses II.
If you have any specific questions, feel free to post them. Also note that we have lots of
resources that have been submitted by students. An Alt+f (as in hold the key Alt, and hit f) search of the page for ' Ramses ' and ' Ramesses ' is the way to go.
also i am finding it hard to find ancient sources to refer to for Ramesses II.
can ancient sources be archaeological or do they have to be like herodotus or thucydides?
An ancient source is anything that is not modern. Archaeological sources (artefacts, ecofacts, art/architecture are the three types of archaeological study) are certainly an ancient source. The main ancient Egyptian sources for the HSC are either archaeological or philological (written).
Philological sources are good to have, although I don't think there's much about Ramses in Thucydides!
