Dr. Campbell Price

But as a boy, he must know he's destined for greatness.

That's not simply a back projection from when he becomes king as some...

other pharaohs imagine as if they'd been selected from the egg.

They conquered in the egg.

That is something that's said of other kings.

Ramesses II, as a prince, really does seem to be groomed for greatness.

And when he gets the chance, when his father eventually dies, he really goes for it on quite a scale.

No, exactly.

Yes, exactly.

So he's, to himself, he's blue-blooded, but the family...

They're fairly new kids on the block, given the previous dynasty.

The 18th dynasty is a long stretch of very interesting characters.

Oh, well, that's very difficult.

Okay, so you get some heavy hitters early on.

So you have essentially the War of Liberation against the Hyksos, these northerners who have ruled Egypt and who need to be expelled.

And that happens, that really heralds the beginning of the 18th dynasty, about 1500 and something.

BCE and that's Achmosy Achmosy we're now calling him the second he used to be called Achmosy the first but because we've discovered an earlier Achmosy we're calling him Achmosy the second then he initiates

a line of not necessarily blood relations because we get Amenhotep I, who's a son of Ahmose, but then we get Thutmose I. So he's a real warrior king and he not only repels foreign invasions, he doesn't just expel people like Ahmose I, but he actively seeks to expand that field of influence, that sphere of influence of Egypt.

And I think it's that that sets the precedent

for Rameses to look back on.