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Primary sourceArtifact13th century BCE

Temple of Ramesses II at Karnak

13th century BCE

A temple built by Ramesses II at Karnak, known as the temple 'of the hearing ear,' where ordinary people could bring petitions.

This temple was commissioned by Ramesses II to let ordinary people bring petitions, showing his religious and political self-presentation.

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Ruins of an ancient Egyptian stone temple under a clear blue sky. Sandstone walls, a tall gateway with a doorway, columns with carved reliefs, and palm trees stand among gravel and dry grass.
Temple of Ramesses II, Precinct of Amun-Re, Karnak, Egypt.

About this source

What it is

This is a temple built during the reign of Ramesses II, located east of the Amun temple at Karnak, near Luxor, Egypt. Its ruins include sandstone walls, a gateway, and columns carved with reliefs.

Why it matters

Known as the temple 'of the hearing ear,' this building let ordinary people bring petitions and prayers close to the god Amun without entering the main temple. It reveals how Ramesses II presented himself as an intermediary between his people and the gods, strengthening his religious authority as pharaoh.

Look closer

  • Why might a king want to be seen as someone who could carry the prayers of ordinary people to the gods?
  • What do the carved reliefs on the gateway and columns suggest about the temple's purpose?
  • What has been lost from the original temple that we can no longer see in these ruins?

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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