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Secondary sourceBook1896

The Struggle of the Nations: Egypt, Syria and Assyria

Gaston Maspero · 1896

An 1896 scholarly history by Gaston Maspero covering ancient Egypt's wars, including the campaigns of Ramesses II.

This book studies and interprets the military campaigns and reign of Ramesses II long after his death.

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About this source

What it is

This is a late-19th-century history book written by the Egyptologist Gaston Maspero, translated into English and edited by A. H. Sayce. Published in 1896, it covers the history of Egypt, Syria, and Assyria, including the military campaigns of Ramesses II.

Why it matters

Maspero was one of the leading Egyptologists of his time, and this book reflects how scholars in the 1800s pieced together ancient Egyptian history from archaeological finds and inscriptions. It shows how later generations studied and interpreted the achievements of pharaohs like Ramesses II, long after his reign ended.

Look closer

  • Why might a book written thousands of years after Ramesses II still be useful to historians?
  • What kinds of evidence might Maspero have used to write about ancient wars?
  • How might a historian's own era affect how they write about the past?

This book 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

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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

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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

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