considering how many pharaohs there were in ancient egypt's 2500 year history, it's really remarkable how often ramses the second comes up. about 1/2 the monuments and temples i've seen were built by him and he was actually one of the few pharaohs i knew something about before i got submerged in pharaohnisity here in egypt.
one of the things i knew about ramses 2 before the trip is that he's the pharaoh in the moses story in the bible. i don't remember how i knew that, but that factoid got into my head somehow. it's not only me either. i heard one of the tour guides say the same thing back in the memphis museum (it's also mentioned on ramses II's wiki page). so now every time i see a ramses 2 statue (and there are lots), my first thought is: that guy doesn't look like yul brynner.
anyway, today in the excellent (albeit expensive) luxor museum (in terms of presentation, probably the best museum in egypt) they had a map of the egyptian empire by ramses the second's reign. it stretched not only down the nile, but also along the mediterranean coast, up into what is now syria and lebanon.
so here's the thing: if moses really led the jews to canaan/palestine/israel whatever you wanna call it, he didn't lead them out of egypt. at least not in the time of ramses the second. all of what is now israel was part of the egyptian empire back then.
not that i'm shocked when some story relating to the bible turned out to be horseshit. i just wonder how the bible story was first linked to ramses 2. i wonder if the originators of the myth didn't choose ramses 2 because he was one of the most powerful pharaohs. you know, to raise the stakes in the moses/god vs. pharaoh face-off.
