ra-am'-sez, ram'-e-sez (Exodus 1:11), (Genesis 47:11 Exodus 12:37 Numbers 33:3, 5) (ra`mecec, ra`amcec; Rhamesse; Egyptian Ra-messu, "Ra created him" (or "it")):

1. The Meaning of "Store-Cities":

One of the two "settlements" (mickenoth) built, or "built up," by the Hebrews for the Pharaoh, the other being Pithom, to which the Septuagint adds a third, namely, "On which is Heliopolis," a town near Cairo (Exodus 1:11). The Hebrew term mickenoth comes from a root meaning "to settle down" (Arabic sakan, "settlement," Assyrian sakanu or shakanu, "to set"), but it is rendered "strong cities" in Septuagint, "treasure cities" in the King James Version, and (incorrectly) "store-cities" in the Revised Version: The "land of Rameses," where Jacob and his sons settled, was apparently the "field of Zoan" (see ZOAN), thus lying in the Delta East of the Bubastic branch of the Nile.

2. The Meaning of the Name:

It is often assumed that no city called Rameses would have existed before the time of Rameses II, or the 14th century B.C., though even before Rameses I the name occurs as that of a brother of Horemhib under the XVIIIth Dynasty. The usual translation "Child of Ra" is grammatically incorrect in Egyptian and as Ra was an ancient name for the "sun" it seems possible that a town may have borne the title "Ra created it" very early. The mention of Rameses in Genesis (47:11) is often regarded as an anachronism, since no scholar has supposed that Jacob lived as late as the time of Rameses II. This would equally apply to the other notices, and at most would serve to mark the age of the passages in the Pentateuch where Rameses is mentioned, but even this cannot be thought to be proved (see EXODUS). According to De Rouge (see Pierret, Vocab. Hieroglyph., 1875, 143) there were at least three towns in Lower Egypt that bore the name Pa Rames-ses ("city of Rameses"); but Brugsch supposes that the place mentioned in the Old Testament was Zoan, to which Rameses II gave this name when making it his capital in the Delta. Dr. Budge takes the same view, while Dr. Naville and others suppose that the site of Raamses has still to be found.

3. Situation:

There appears to have been no certain tradition preserving the site, for though Silvia (about 385 A.D.) was told that it lay 4 miles from the town of Arabia (see GOSHEN), she found no traces of such a place. Brugsch ("A New City of Rameses, 1876," Aegyptische Zeitschrift, 69) places one such city in the southern part of Memphis itself. Goodwin (Rec. of Past, Old Series, VI, 11) gives an Egyptian letter describing the "city of Rameses-Miamun," which appears to be Zoan, since it was on the seacoast. It was a very prosperous city when this letter was written, and a pa-khennu or "palace city." It had canals full of fish, lakes swarming with birds, fields of lentils, melons, wheat, onions and sesame, gardens of vines, almonds and figs. Ships entered its harbor; the lotus and papyrus grew in its waters. The inhabitants greeted Rameses II with garlands of flowers. Besides wine and mead, of the "conqueror's city," beer was brought to the harbor from the Kati (in Cilicia), and oil from the "Lake Sagabi." There is no reason to suppose that Zoan was less prosperous in the early Hyksos age, when the Hebrews dwelt in its plain, whatever be the conclusion as to the date when the city Rameses received that name. The description above given agrees with the Old Testament account of the possession given by Joseph to his family "in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses" (Genesis 47:11).

C. R. Conder

The Training of a Statesman.
... The one contemporary reference to Israel thus far found in the Egyptian inscriptions
comes from the reign of Merneptah the son of Ramses II. ...
/.../kent/the making of a nation/study viii the training of.htm

History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6
... THE CLOSE OF THE THEBAN EMPIRE -- (continued). RAMSES III.: MANNERS AND CUSTOMS --
POPULATION -- THE PREDOMINANCE OF AMON AND HIS HIGH PRIESTS. ...
/.../history of egypt chaldaea syria babylonia and assyria v 6/title page.htm

The Nations of the North-East
... from the Book of Judges, held Palestine in subjection for eight years, until he
was driven out by the Kenizzite Othniel, and about the same time Ramses III. ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter iv the nations of.htm

The Eighteenth Theban Dynasty
... We have no direct information respecting the armies acting in Syria; we only know
that, at the battle of Qodshu, Ramses II. ... The army of Ramses II. ...
/.../chapter iiithe eighteenth theban dynasty.htm

The Israelites
... A new dynasty, the Nineteenth, arose under Ramses I., whose grandson, Ramses II.,
reigned for sixty-seven years, and crowded Egypt with his buildings and ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter i the israelites.htm

Canaan
... Under Ramses II. of the Nineteenth dynasty, Canaan still yielded a reluctant obedience
to Egypt. ... Ramses III. of the Twentieth dynasty was now on the throne. ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter ii canaan.htm

Bunsen's Biblical Researches.
... The event is more natural in Egypt's decline under Menephthah, the exiled son of
the great Ramses, than amidst the splendour of the eighteenth dynasty. ...
/.../essays and reviews the education of the world/bunsens biblical researches.htm

Egypt
... Ramses I. was regarded as the founder of the Nineteenth dynasty. ... The treaty was cemented
by the marriage of the Hittite princess with the Pharaoh. Ramses II. ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter v egypt.htm

Introduction
... And yet in 1886 a granite stela was found by Professor Flinders Petrie containing
a hymn of victory in honour of Meneptah the son of Ramses II., and declaring ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/introduction.htm

The Revelation to which the Scripture of the Old Testament Owes ...
... into death: on Moriah; in Jacob's flight; in the distresses of Joseph, and in the
fears of Moses; alongside the fiery furnaces of Pithon and Ramses; when the ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/xiv the revelation to which.htm

Jebusi (2 Occurrences)
... of Jerusalem was Babylonian, Uru-Salim, "the city of Salim," shortened into Salem
in Genesis 14:18 and in the inscriptions of the Egyptian kings Ramses II and ...
/j/jebusi.htm - 11k

Jebus (5 Occurrences)
... of Jerusalem was Babylonian, Uru-Salim, "the city of Salim," shortened into Salem
in Genesis 14:18 and in the inscriptions of the Egyptian kings Ramses II and ...
/j/jebus.htm - 13k

Jebusite (39 Occurrences)
... of Jerusalem was Babylonian, Uru-Salim, "the city of Salim," shortened into Salem
in Genesis 14:18 and in the inscriptions of the Egyptian kings Ramses II and ...
/j/jebusite.htm - 25k

Gebal (3 Occurrences)
... Gebal afterward became independent, as is shown by the records of Ramses IX
(1442-1423 BC) and of Ramses XII, for its king retained the emissaries of the ...
/g/gebal.htm - 11k

Canaan (102 Occurrences)
... In spite of Hittite attacks the country on both sides of the Jordan acknowledged
the rule of Seti and his son Ramses II, and in the 21st year of the latter ...
/c/canaan.htm - 64k

Amorites (82 Occurrences)
... Palestine, against Egypt, carrying with them "the king of the Amorites." The invaders,
however, were defeated and practically exterminated by Ramses III of the ...
/a/amorites.htm - 50k

Canaanites (63 Occurrences)
... In spite of Hittite attacks the country on both sides of the Jordan acknowledged
the rule of Seti and his son Ramses II, and in the 21st year of the latter ...
/c/canaanites.htm - 55k

Girgashite (7 Occurrences)
... The inscriptions of the Egyptian king, Ramses II, mention the Qarqish who sent help
to the Hittites in their war with Egypt; but Qarqish was more probably in ...
/g/girgashite.htm - 11k

Foreskin (12 Occurrences)
... We find in Egyptian history at the time of Ramses III, that an invasion into Egypt
had been made by several Libyan tribes (see Diimichen, Histor. ...
/f/foreskin.htm - 14k