📍Pi-Ramesses, Qantir, Egypt
“I built Pi-Ramesses from nothing, raising it on the eastern edge of the Delta as the greatest city Egypt had ever seen. Four great temples marked its quarters, dedicated to Amun, Ra, Ptah and Set, and at its heart stood my palace with walls of glazed tile that caught the sun like jewels. After the Battle of Kadesh I returned here in triumph, and it was here that I received the Hittite ambassadors who brought the world's first peace treaty.”
👍 LovedThe sheer scale and magnificence of what I built. The strategic position on the Delta trade routes. The temples which expressed the glory of Egypt in stone and gold.
👎 DislikedThe enormous labour required to build and maintain such a city. The constant threat from eastern peoples along our borders.
🗺️ Approximate location today
📷 Location image · via Wikimedia Commons
Sources: Kitchen, K.A. Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II (1982), Aris & Phillips; Clayton, P. Chronicle of the Pharaohs (1994), Thames & Hudson