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Primary sourceArtifact

Ramesseum Relief of the Siege of Dapur

A carved relief at the Ramesseum showing Ramesses II's capture of the city of Dapur in Syria.

This relief depicts Ramesses II's siege of Dapur, part of his northern military campaigns.

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Close view of a sandstone wall covered in raised and sunken Egyptian relief carvings in registers, showing rows of figures, some with weapons, and hieroglyphic inscriptions in the upper left. The carvings are lit by warm sidelight.
Siege of Dapur relief, Ramesseum. Photograph by Alex Lbh, April 2005.

About this source

What it is

This is a bas-relief carving at the Ramesseum, the memorial temple of Ramesses II, showing the siege of the city of Dapur in Syria. The photograph of the relief was taken in 2005.

Why it matters

The scene records one of Ramesses II's northern military campaigns, in which his young sons took part. Like other battle reliefs he commissioned, it presented his military success to all who visited his temple, shaping how he wanted to be remembered as a warrior king.

Look closer

  • What details in the carving show that this is a battle scene?
  • Why would a pharaoh want scenes of war carved into his memorial temple?
  • What parts of the story of this campaign might such a carving leave out?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ramses II (Ramses the Great) on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Two clay cuneiform tablets on a clear acrylic stand against a red background. The larger tablet is broken into several fragments, covered in dense wedge-shaped writing. A smaller tablet fragment sits at lower right, also inscribed.Document

Primary source

Egyptian–Hittite Peace Treaty

c. 1258 BCE

Sepia photograph of the facade of the Abu Simbel temple in Egypt, with four seated colossal statues of Ramesses II carved into the rock. A small standing man at lower left shows scale. A doorway lies between the middle statues, and hieroglyphs are carved across the upper wall.Photograph

Secondary source

Abu Simbel Temple Colossi

Pascal Sébah · 1875

Facade of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel carved into a sandstone cliff under a clear blue sky. Four seated colossal statues of a pharaoh flank the central doorway, with a sand-covered walkway leading up to the entrance.Artifact

Primary source

Abu Simbel

Ramesses II · c. 1273 BCE

Sepia photograph of the Abu Simbel temple facade in Egypt. A colossal seated stone statue of a pharaoh with a striped headdress dominates the right. Beside it stands a statue of a falcon-headed god wearing a sun disk. Relief carvings and hieroglyphs cover the wall, and a small seated man at the bottom gives scale. Caption reads Abou Simbel, Gd Temple, Le dieu Soleil Ra et Rhamses II, P. Sébah.Photograph

Secondary source

Facade Detail of Abu Simbel Showing Ramesses II and Ra

Pascal Sébah · 1875

Sepia photograph of the ruined Ramesseum temple at Luxor, Egypt. Four fallen-headed colossal seated statues stand before a sandstone gateway with carved hieroglyphs on its lintel. A broken statue lies in the foreground, and a small figure sits near the base of the statues. Desert and a column are visible on the left.Photograph

Secondary source

Ramesseum Colossi in Ruins

Pascal Sébah · c. 1875

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