"He very much understood that being visible was central to the success
of the kingship, so he put up as many colossal statues as he could, very
very quickly. He built temples to the traditional gods of Egypt, and
this kind of activity has been interpreted as being bombastic - showing
off and so on, but we really need to see it in the context of the
requirements of the kingship. People needed a strong leader and they
understood a strong leader to be a king who was out there campaigning on
behalf of Egypt, and was very visible within Egypt."
Source: A History of the World in 100 Objects-Statue of Ramesses II
