3.9 SkillBuilder activity USING HISTORICAL SOURCES Historians develop skills to assess signiýcance and determine who makes these decisions. They use speciýc criteria and ask questions to evaluate individuals, including:
• Role in society: What was their importance? • Achievements: What did they accomplish? • Impact: Did their achievements change society or history? • Inþuences: What shaped their identity?
• Trustworthiness of information: How reliable is our knowledge of them? • Perception: How were they viewed at the time? Did perspectives vary? • Self-representation: How did they present themselves? • Cultural interpretation: Have historians from different cultures viewed their signiýcance differently? • Contemporary perspective: How do we perceive these individuals today? Some writers accept Rameses’s propaganda as fact without question, while others, like those in SOURCE7 , approach it with scepticism.
SOURCE6 From ‘Ramesses II — the greatest leader of all time?’ on Military History Matters website
Ramesses had walked blindly into a Hittite trap. With little warning, a huge detachment of 2500 Hittite chariots descended on the division of Ra as it marched toward the camp . . . Egyptian survivors of the initial assault þed in disarray as the Hittites poured into the Egyptian camp. Yet it was at this point, as the pharaoh stood alone and defeat seemed certain, that Ramesses proved his worth. He leapt into his war chariot and personally drove back the Hittite advance from the camp. As the Hittites faltered, they were hit by a second setback. Egyptian reinforcements had been sent by sea and fortuitously in time to help Ramesses repel the Hittites.
SOURCE7 From ‘Rameses II’ entry in the online World History Encyclopedia
The reign of Rameses II has become somewhat controversial in the last century, with some scholars claiming he was more of a showman and a propagandist than an effective king, and others arguing the opposite. The records of his reign, however — both the written and the physical evidence of the temples and monuments — argue for a very stable and prosperous reign.
Analyse the information about Rameses in this lesson and SOURCES6 and 7 by completing the table with one sentence for each entry.
By the Military History Matters website
By the World History Encyclopedia
Byhimself
How was Rameses II represented? Why was he represented that way? Was the representation from a reliable or unreliable source?
TOPIC3 Ancient Egypt 113
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