Comparison of Ancient Male Emperors: Ramses Ii and Charlemagne

The purpose of this essay is to compare two Ancient male rulers. One of the ancient rulers that I chose to speak about is Ramses II also known as “Ramesses the great”. Ramses was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the 19th dynasty. This ancient male ruler is celebrated as one of the greatest pharaohs in ancient Egyptian history. Ramses II was born on c. 1303 BC and ruled from 1279-1213 BC. The second Ancient male ruler I chose is Charlemagne known as “Charles the great” and was also called the father of Europe. He was the first recognized emperor to rule from western Europe. He ruled for the emperor of the Romans from 25 December 800 – 28 January 814 and the coronation took place at Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome on 25 December 800. He was born on April 2, 742 AD.

Ramses II ascended to the throne in his late teens after his father passed away. This ancient male ruler was also engaged in many military campaigns to retreat territories held by the Nubians and the Hittites. Ramses the great also defeated the sherden sea pirates, these sea pirates were attacking cargo-laden vessels traveling the sea routes to Egypt. In the fourth year of Ramses II reign his very first Syrian campaign took place, he was forced to fight a Canaanite price who was already wounded by an Egyptian archer. Charlemagne is also known as “Charles the great” was a powerful king he was famous for the development of education like building schools and he also ended the dark age in western Europe. One way these two ancient male rulers are like one another is that these two men did positive things, and both were great kings to their people.

One way this Ramses II was different from Charlemagne was in religion. Ramses worshiped many gods, for example, the god of Thebes who was associated with the sun god. There was also a festival called the Heb-sed festival it was a significant event that marked the reign of thirty years of a pharaoh and was celebrated by the empire. They also believed that the gods would protect and prevent the disorder from happening in Egypt. The way they would praise their gods is through temples and offerings. Charlemagne on the other hand was devoted to Christianity and spread his religion across his empire he also protected the popes and gave money to the Christian church.

I will be comparing both cultures Ramses II and Charlemagne. According to research, it states that the Nile river was the interstate in ancient Egypt, lower and upper classes traveled along with it in wooden boats to get from place to place. Ancient Egyptians practiced several advanced medical fields like dentistry, gynecology, surgery, and even autopsy. Egyptians both male and female shaved all their body hair even their heads. Both men and women also wore makeup. The writing was also very important to keep the government running and only scribes could read and write. The pharaohs were buried in giant pyramids, their beliefs were if they were buried with the treasure they would be helped in the afterlife. Now as for Charlemagne he stood out for many reforms for example monetary, governmental, military, cultural, and ecclesiastical. There were scholarly people very well educated and very interested in written works. Charles the Great was the proponent of the “Carolingian renaissance” which was a cultural activity in the Carolingian empire, during that time period there was an expansion in literature, writing, arts, architecture, jurisprudence, and scriptural studies.

In conclusion, what I learned after comparing both Ancient male emperors was that both had great roles as kings. I learned that both did very positive things for their people and we're both great kings and their kingdoms both grew. Ramses II was a great king by expanding the Egyptian empire and securing its borders from attackers. According to research Ramses II died in 1214 BC in Pi-Ramesses, Egypt due to severe arthritis. Charlemagne was a fierce warrior he went into the battlefield conquering almost all of Europe. He also spread Christianity and did many more positive things for his people, unfortunately, Charlemagne passed away in January 28, 814 AD in Aachen, Germany due to pleurisy after ruling as an emperor for 14 years.