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RAMESES

(Heb. Ramʿamsēs)

(PLACE)

(also RAAMSES)

The region in which the Hebrews settled during their Egyptian sojourn (Gen. 47:11) and the name of a store-city they were forced to build (Exod. 1:11, Raamses). Rameses was the starting point for the Exodus (Exod. 12:37; Num. 33:3, 5). The city was named after Rameses II of the 19th Dynasty (Egyp. pr-rʿ-ms-sw, “House of Rameses”). It was during this time that the capital of Egypt was moved from Thebes in the south to Rameses in the Delta.

Rameses was long identified with Tanis (Zoan; modern San el-Hagar) based on the presence of numerous monuments of Rameses II, but the site was unoccupied before the 21st Dynasty and the monuments were found to have been moved there from other locations. Earlier scholars had suggested Tell er-Raṭabeh and Pelusium. Current consensus places Rameses at Qantir (Khatana), 24 km. (15 mi.) S of San el-Hagar and 14 km. (9 mi.) N of Fagus. Evidence of occupation includes palaces and administrative buildings of the Ramesside period. Important finds in the surrounding area indicate that the city of Rameses extended out from Qantir which was the center and included such sites at Tell el-Dabʿa (location of Avaris, the Hyksos capital) and Tell Abu el-Shafiʿa.

Bibliography. M. Bietak, “Avaris and Piramesse,” Proceedings of the British Academy 65 (1979): 225-89; Avaris, the Capital of the Hyksos (London, 1996); E. P. Uphill, “Pithom and Raamses: Their Location and Significance,” JNES 27 (1968): 291-316; 28 (1969): 15-39.

Lawrence A. Sinclair

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

RAMESES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)