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Ramesses II
The pharaoh who fought the Hittites to a draw and then out-built every ruler before him.
The rise
Born around 1303 BC into Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty, Ramesses was made co-regent by his father Seti I in his teens and trained for years in warfare and administration before taking the throne alone around 1279 BC.
What they did
He fought the Hittite Empire to a stalemate at the Battle of Kadesh in 1274 BC, then sealed the world's earliest known peace treaty with them in 1258 BC, and commissioned Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum and major additions to Karnak across a 66-year reign.
The full picture
His own temple inscriptions inflated Kadesh into a personal triumph despite the battle ending in stalemate, and his enormous building program relied on forced and conscripted labor; he outlived most of his roughly 100 children, complicating the succession that followed his death.
Why it matters
Ramesses II set the template for pharaonic self-promotion and monumental power, and his reign remains the benchmark against which later rulers of Egypt were measured.
“What is this, father Amun? Is it right for a father to ignore his son?”