Usimare Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the
Twentieth DynastyThe Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom. This dynasty is considered to be the last one of the New Kingdom of Egypt, and was followed by the Third Intermediate Period....
and is considered to be the last great
New KingdomThe New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt....
king to wield any substantial authority over Egypt. He was the son of
SetnakhteUserkhaure-setepenre Setnakhte was the first Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and the father of Ramesses III....
and Queen
Tiy-MereneseTiy-merenese, Teye-Merenaset, Tiye-Mereniset was the Great Royal Wife of pharaoh Setnakht and mother of Ramesses III of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt....
. Ramesses III is believed to have reigned from March 1186 to April 1155 BCE. This is based on his known accession date of I Shemu day 26 and his death on Year 32 III Shemu day 15, for a reign of 31 years, 1 month and 19 days. (Alternate dates for this king are
1187 to 1156 BCE-Overview:The 12th century BC is the period from 1200 to 1101 BC. Although many human societies were literate in this period, most individual persons mentioned in this article ought to be considered legendary rather than historical...
).
Tenure and chaos
During his long tenure in the midst of the surrounding political chaos of the
Greek Dark AgesThe Greek Dark Age or Ages also known as Geometric or Homeric Age are terms which have regularly been used to refer to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorian invasion and end of the Mycenaean Palatial civilization around 1200 BC, to the first signs of the Greek city-states in the 9th...
, Egypt was beset by foreign invaders (including the so-called
Sea PeoplesThe Sea Peoples were a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty and especially during year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty...
and the
LibyansThe Latin name Libya referred to the region west of the Nile Valley, generally corresponding to modern Northwest Africa. Climate changes affected the locations of the settlements....
) and experienced the beginnings of increasing economic difficulties and internal strife which would eventually lead to the collapse of the Twentieth Dynasty. In Year 8 of his reign, the Sea Peoples, including
PelesetPhilistines , Pleshet or Peleset, were a people who occupied the southern coast of Canaan at the beginning of the Iron Age . According to the Bible, they ruled the five city-states of Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath, from the Wadi Gaza in the south to the Yarqon River in the north, but with...
,
DenyenThe Denyen are one of the groups constituting the Sea Peoples, who were of Indo-European origin.-Origin:Archeologists have described them as being of Indo-European origin....
,
ShardanaThe Sherden are one of several groups of "Sea Peoples" who appear in fragmentary historical records for the Mediterranean region in the second millennium B.C.; little is known about them. On reliefs they are shown carrying a round shield and a long thrusting Naue II type sword...
,
MeshweshThe Meshwesh were an ancient Libyan tribe from beyond Cyrenaica where the Libu and Tehenu lived according to Egyptian references and who were probably of Central Berber ethnicity. Herodotus placed them in Tunisia and said of them to be sedentary farmers living in settled permanent houses as the...
of the sea, and Tjekker, invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles. Although the Egyptians had a reputation as poor seamen they fought tenaciously. Rameses lined the shores with ranks of archers who kept up a continuous volley of arrows into the enemy ships when they attempted to land on the banks of the Nile. Then the Egyptian navy attacked using grappling hooks to haul in the enemy ships. In the brutal hand to hand fighting which ensued, the Sea People were utterly defeated. The Harris Papyrus state:
Ramesses III claims that he incorporated the Sea Peoples as subject peoples and settled them in Southern Canaan, although there is no clear evidence to this effect; the pharaoh, unable to prevent their gradual arrival in Canaan, may have claimed that it was his idea to let them reside in this territory. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states in this region such as Philistia after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. Ramesses III was also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his Year 6 and Year 11 respectively.
The heavy cost of these battles slowly exhausted Egypt's treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of these difficulties is stressed by the fact that the first known labor strike in recorded history occurred during Year 29 of Ramesses III's reign, when the food rations for the Egypt's favoured and elite royal tomb-builders and artisans in the village of
Set Maat her imenty Waset (now known as Deir el Medina), could not be provisioned. Something in the air (but not necessarily
Hekla 3The Hekla 3 eruption circa 1000 BC is considered the most severe eruption of Hekla during the Holocene. It threw about 7.3 km3 of volcanic rock into the atmosphere, placing its Volcanic Explosivity Index at 5...
) prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground and also arrested global tree growth for almost two full decades until 1140 BCE. The result in Egypt was a substantial inflation in grain prices under the later reigns of Ramesses VI-VII whereas the prices for fowl and slaves remained constant. The cooldown, hence, affected Ramesses III's final years and impaired his ability to provide a constant supply of grain rations to the workman of the Deir el-Medina community.
These difficult realities are completely ignored in Ramesses' official monuments, many of which seek to emulate those of his famous predecessor,
Ramesses IIRamesses II , referred to as Ramesses the Great, was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty. He is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire...
, and which present an image of continuity and stability. He built important additions to the
templesEgyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and commemoration of pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and in regions under Egyptian control. These temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated...
at
LuxorLuxor Temple is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the River Nile in the city today known as Luxor and was founded in 1400 BCE.,...
and
KarnakThe Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...
, and his funerary temple and administrative complex at
Medinet-HabuMedinet Habu is the name commonly given to the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III, an important New Kingdom period structure in the location of the same name on the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt...
is amongst the largest and best-preserved in Egypt; however, the uncertainty of Ramesses' times is apparent from the massive fortifications which were built to enclose the latter. No Egyptian temple in the heart of Egypt prior to Ramesses' reign had ever needed to be protected in such a manner.
Ramesses' two main names transliterate as wsr-m3‘t-r‘–mry-ỉmn r‘-ms-s–ḥḳ3-ỉwnw. They are normally realised as
Usermaatre-meryamun Ramesse-hekaiunu, meaning "Powerful one of Ma'at and
RaRa is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
, Beloved of
AmunAmun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a god in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
,
RaRa is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
bore him, Ruler of
HeliopolisHeliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, the capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome that was located five miles east of the Nile to the north of the apex of the Nile Delta...
".
Conspiracy against the king
Thanks to the discovery of
papyrusPapyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
trial transcripts (dated to Ramesses III), it is now known that there was a plot against his life as a result of a royal
haremHarem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
conspiracy during a celebration at
Medinet HabuMedinet Habu is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Luxor, Egypt...
. The conspiracy was instigated by
TiyeTiye was an Ancient Egyptian queen of the twentieth dynasty; a secondary wife of Ramesses III, against whom she instigated a conspiracy.Tiye is known from the Judicial Papyrus of Turin, which recorded that there was a conspiracy against Ramesses, in which several people in high positions in the...
, one of his two known wives (the other being
Iset Ta-HemdjertIset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis Ta-Hemdjert, simply called Isis in her tomb, was an Ancient Egyptian queen of the twentieth dynasty; the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses III and the Royal Mother of Ramesses VI....
), over whose son would inherit the throne. Iset's son, Ramesses (the future
Ramesses IVHeqamaatre Ramesses IV was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. His name prior to assuming the crown was Amonhirkhopshef...
), was the eldest and the successor chosen by Ramesses III in preference to Tiy's son Pentaweret.
The trial documents emphasize the extensive scale of the conspiracy to assassinate the king since many individuals were implicated in the plot. Chief among them were Queen Tey and her son Pentaweret, Ramesses' chief of the chamber,
PebekkamenPebekkamen was one of the primary conspirators in the Harem conspiracy, a plot to overthrow Ramesses III of the twentieth dynasty of Egypt. Papyrus transcripts indicate that prior to his arrest, Pebekkamen had served as chief of the chamber to Ramesses. Of his crimes, the court records state:He was...
, seven royal butlers (a respectable state office), two Treasury overseers, two Army standard bearers, two royal scribes and a herald. There is little doubt that all of the main conspirators were executed: some of the condemned were given the option of committing suicide (possibly by poison) rather than being put to death. According to the surviving trials transcripts, 3 separate trials were started in total while 38 people were sentenced to death. The tombs of Tiy and her son Pentaweret were robbed and their names erased to prevent them from enjoying an afterlife. The
EgyptiansEgyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
did such a thorough job of this that the only references to them are the trial documents and what remains of their tombs.
Some of the accused harem women tried to seduce the members of the judiciary who tried them but were caught in the act. Judges who took part in the carousing were severely punished.
Historian Susan Redford speculates that Pentawere, being a noble, was given the option to commit suicide by taking
poisonIn the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
and so be spared the humiliating fate of some of the other conspirators who would have been burned alive with their ashes strewn in the streets. Such punishment served to make a strong example since it emphasized the gravity of their treason for ancient Egyptians who believed that one could only attain an afterlife if one's body was mummified and preserved — rather than being destroyed by fire. In other words, not only were the criminals killed in the physical world; they did not attain an afterlife. They would have no chance of living on into the next world, and thus suffered a complete personal annihilation. By committing suicide, Pentawere could avoid the harsher punishment of a second death. This could have permitted him to be mummified and move on to the afterlife.
It is not known if the assassination plot succeeded. However, Ramesses III died in his 32nd year before the
summaries of the sentencesThe Judicial Papyrus of Turin is an ancient Egyptian record of the trials held against conspirators plotting to assassinate Ramesses III in what is referred to as the "Harem Conspiracy"...
were composed, but the same year that the trial documents record the trial and execution of the conspirators.
Although it was long believed that Ramesses III's body showed no obvious wounds, a recent examination of the the mummy by a German forensic team, televised in the documentary
Rameses on the Science Channel in 2011, showed excess bandages around the neck. A subsequent CT Scan revealed that beneath the bandages was a deep knife wound across the throat, a wound deep enough to reach the vertebrae. According to the documentary narrator, "It was a wound no one could have survived."
Prior to this discovery, it had been speculated that Ramesses III may have been killed by means that would not have left a mark on the body. Among the conspirators were practitioners of magic, who might well have used poison. Some have put forth a hypothesis that a snakebite from a
viperThe Viperinae, or viperines, are a subfamily of venomous vipers found in Europe, Asia and Africa. They are distinguished by their lack of the heat-sensing pit organs that characterize their sister group, the Crotalinae. Currently, 12 genera and 66 species are recognized...
was the cause of the king's death but this proposal has not been proven. His mummy includes an amulet to protect Ramesses III in the afterlife from snakes. The servant in charge of his food and drink were also among the listed conspirators, but there were also other conspirators who were called the snake and the lord of snakes.
In one respect the conspirators certainly failed. The crown passed to the king's designated successor: Ramesses IV. Ramesses III may have been doubtful as to the latter's chances of succeeding him since, in the Great Harris Papyrus, he implored Amun to ensure his son's rights.
Legacy
The Great Harris Papyrus or
Papyrus Harris IPapyrus Harris I is also known as the Great Harris Papyrus and simply the Harris Papyrus . Its technical designation is Papyrus British Museum 9999...
, which was commissioned by his son and chosen successor
Ramesses IVHeqamaatre Ramesses IV was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. His name prior to assuming the crown was Amonhirkhopshef...
, chronicles this king's vast donations of land, gold statues and monumental construction to Egypt's various temples at Piramesse,
HeliopolisHeliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, the capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome that was located five miles east of the Nile to the north of the apex of the Nile Delta...
,
MemphisMemphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo.According to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an...
,
AthribisAthribis or Athlibis Athribis or Athlibis Athribis or Athlibis (Greek: or was the Greek name for two cities of ancient Egypt: this article concerns the chief town of the Athribite, the Tenth nome, in Lower Egypt...
,
HermopolisHermopolis Magna or simply Hermopolis or Hermopolis Megale or Hermupolis is the site of ancient Khmun, and is located near the modern Egyptian town of El Ashmunein in Al Minya governorate.-Etymology:Khmun, the Ancient Egyptian name of the city, means "eight-town", after the Ogdoad, a group of...
,
ThisGirga is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile River.Girga was the capital of the Girga Governorate until 1960, when the capital was moved to Sohag and the name of the governorate changed accordingly....
,
AbydosAbydos is one of the most ancient cities of Upper Egypt, and also of the eight Upper Nome, of which it was the capital city. It is located about 11 kilometres west of the Nile at latitude 26° 10' N, near the modern Egyptian towns of el-'Araba el Madfuna and al-Balyana...
, Coptos, El Kab and other cities in Nubia and Syria. It also records that the king dispatched a trading expedition to the
Land of PuntThe Land of Punt, also called Pwenet, or Pwene by the ancient Egyptians, was a trading partner known for producing and exporting gold, aromatic resins, African blackwood, ebony, ivory, slaves and wild animals...
and quarried the copper mines of Timna in southern Canaan. Papyrus Harris I records some of Ramesses III activities:
More notably, Ramesses began the reconstruction of the
Temple of KhonsuLocated with the large Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak, in Luxor, Egypt, the Temple of Khonsu is an example of an almost complete New Kingdom temple, and was originally constructed by Ramesses III, on the site of an earlier temple . The gateway of this temple is at the end of the avenue of syphinxes...
at
KarnakThe Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...
from the foundations of an earlier temple of
Amenhotep IIIAmenhotep III also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC after his father Thutmose IV died...
and completed the Temple of
Medinet HabuMedinet Habu is the name commonly given to the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III, an important New Kingdom period structure in the location of the same name on the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt...
around his Year 12. He decorated the walls of his Medinet Habu temple with scenes of his Naval and Land battles against the
Sea PeoplesThe Sea Peoples were a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty and especially during year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th Dynasty...
. This monument stands today as one of the best-preserved temples of the New Kingdom.
The
mummyA mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
of Ramesses III was discovered by antiquarians in 1886 and is regarded as the prototypical Egyptian Mummy in numerous Hollywood movies. His tomb (
KV11Tomb KV11 is the tomb of Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses III. Located in the main valley of the Valley of the Kings, the tomb was originally started by Setnakhte, but abandoned when it broke into the earlier tomb of Amenmesse . Setnakhte was buried in KV14...
) is one of the largest in the
Valley of the KingsThe Valley of the Kings , less often called the Valley of the Gates of the Kings , is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom .The valley stands on the west bank of...
.
Chronological dispute
Some scientists have tried to establish a chronological point for this pharaoh's reign at 1159 BCE, based on a 1999 dating of the "
Hekla 3 eruptionThe Hekla 3 eruption circa 1000 BC is considered the most severe eruption of Hekla during the Holocene. It threw about 7.3 km3 of volcanic rock into the atmosphere, placing its Volcanic Explosivity Index at 5...
" of the Hekla volcano at Iceland. Since contemporary records show that the king experienced difficulties provisioning his workmen at Deir el-Medina with supplies in his 29th Year, this dating of Hekla 3 might connect his 28th or 29th regnal year to circa 1159 BCE. A minor discrepancy of 1 year is possible since Egypt's granaries could have had reserves to cope with at least a single bad year of crop harvests following the onset of the disaster. This implies that the king's reign would have ended just 3 to 4 years later around 1156 or 1155 BCE. A rival date of "2900 BP" or c.1000 BCE has since been proposed by scientists based on a re-examination of the volcanic layer. However, no Egyptologist dates Ramesses III's reign to as late as 1000 BC.
File:Ramses III mummy head.png|Ramesses III's mummy
File:KhonsuTemple-Karnak-Incredible.jpg|Finely painted reliefs from Ramesses III's Khonsu temple at Karnak
File:Medinet Habu Ramses III. Tempel 02.JPG|Ramesses III's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu.
File:SFEC-2010-MEDINET HABU-052.JPG|A painted ceiling of NekhbetIn Egyptian mythology, Nekhbet was an early predynastic local goddess who was the patron of the city of Nekheb, her name meaning of Nekheb...
at Ramesses III's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu.
External links