ANESSES, IiANESES, or RAmsEs, the name of several Egyptian monarchs. some of whom were known to the Greek and Roman writers and the chronologists; the mune signifies "born of the sun" or the '• nascent sun." The Rameses family is supposed to have been of Theban origin, and to have been descended from one of the later queens of the 18th dynasty. The exploits of nemeses are confounded by the Greek and Roman authors with those of Sesostris (see. SESOSTEIO, and mingled in the legend of Arnmis. the Danaus of the Greeks. Rameses is said to have had a great army and navy, and at the head of a force of 700,000 men to have conquered Ethiopia, Libya, Persia, and other east ern nations. Before his kingdom for these distant expeditious, he is said to have appointed his brother Annals or Danaus regent of the kingdom, charging him neither to assume the diadem, nor interfere with the royal harem. nemeses then proceeded to con quer Cyprus, Plimnicia, the Assyrians, and Medes. Armais contravened his orders; and Rameses, informed of this by the high-priest, suddenly returned to Pelusium, and resumed the kingdom, expelling his brother, who, fleeing with his daughters, the Danaids,to Argos, established himself in Greece. According to the Roman authors, however, Troy was taken in the reign of Rameses. The walls of the temples Of Thebes were said to be covered' with inscriptions and scenes recording his conquests and the tributes rendered to him, and these were interpreted to Germanicus by the priests on his visit to Egypt. Such is the account of a monarch called Rameses by the classical authors. The following are the principal princes and monarchs of this name, found on the monuments of Egypt. 1. A prince or king represented with the royal families of the 18th dynasty in a sepulcher at Thebes.-2. Thimeses I., chief of the 19th dynasty, who reigned hut a short time, and whose name is found on the monuments of Thebes and the Wady Halls —3. Rameses IL, or great, who mounted the throne at a very early age, con
quered the Khita or Hittites, and other confederate nations of central Asia, in his 7th year, and concluded an extraordinary treaty with the Khita in his 21st year. Other nations, European and African, fell under his sway, and his empire extended far south in Nubia, the ancient Ethiopia, which he governed by viceroys. lie erected fortresses and temples in foreign lands, and embellished all Egypt with his edifices. He had two wives, twenty-three sons, and seven daughters, and was finally buried in the Biban-El Meluk. He is the supposed Sesostris, according to most authors. He reigned GS years. —4. Rameses III., chief of the 20th dynasty, the Rhampsinitus of Herodoins, called Meriamoun. or beloved of Ammon, who defeated the Philistines, the Alashuash, and the Libyans. carrying on important wars from the to the 12th year of his reign; he also made conquests in the 16th, and seems to have reigned 55 more years. lIe founded the magnificent pile of edifices of Medinat Habu, embellished Luxor. Gurnah, and other parts of Egypt. Some attribute to him the exploits of the Rameses of the Greek and Roman writers.-5. Rameses IV. reigned a short time, and performed no distinguished actions.—G. Rameses V., of whom inscriptions are found at 8ilsilis.— 7. Rameses VI., whose tomb at the Biban-El-Meluk contains some astronomical records from which the date of his reign has been calculated at 1240 B.C.-8-12. Rameses VII., VIII., IX., X.; and XI., undistinguished monarchs.-13. Mimeses XII., who reigned above 33 years, in wuose reign the statue of the god Chows was sent from Egypt to the land of the Bakhten, to cure it princess of the royal family of that court, with which Rameses had contracted' an alliance.-14. Mimeses XIII., an unimportant monarch.