The Ego of Ramses II

The Sun Temple at Abu Simbel epitomizes Ramses' megalomaniacal tendencies. The temple was precisely oriented so that the sun's rays illuminated its sanctuary on his birthday and on his coronation.
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To visit the famous Sun Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, we were up at 3 AM for a 4 AM bus ride (3 hours one way) in a police-escorted convoy. Once there, we joined the throngs of visitors pouring out of their tourist buses and endured the crush of mass tourism as we pondered the megalomaniacal personality of Ramses II (his wife is always depicted knee-high to him, he deified himself and is always just a head taller than the other gods, he is always shown beating up on his hordes of enemies, etc., etc., etc.).  To his credit, he reigned for something like 67 years, which would have been quite a feat for 1300 BC.

Ramses II had these four gigantic statues of himself hewn into the side of a mountain to impress his power and majesty on the Nubians. It was strategically situated near Egypt's southernmost border so as to be the first impression of Egypt for travellers crossing over from Africa.
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So wouldn't he be pleased to know that every day of the year, hundreds of people awake at 3 AM for a 3-hour bus journey to join thousands more tourists on-site for a glimpse of his likenesses carved into a rock face!  Egotistical mission accomplished!