Ramesses I
Ramesses I | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Menophres | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pharaoh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reign | 1292–1290 BC or 1295–1294 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor | Horemheb | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Successor | Seti I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Consort | Sitre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | Seti I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Father | Seti | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 1290 or 1294 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Burial | KV16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dynasty | 19th Dynasty |
Menpehtyre Ramesses I (or Ramses) was the founding pharaoh of ancient Egypt's 19th Dynasty. The dates for his short reign are not completely known but the timeline of late 1292–1290 BC is frequently cited[2] as well as 1295–1294 BC.[3] While Ramesses I was the founder of the 19th Dynasty, his brief reign mainly serves to mark the transition between the reign of Horemheb, who had stabilized Egypt in the late 18th Dynasty, and the rule of the powerful pharaohs of his own dynasty, in particular his son Seti I, and grandson Ramesses II.
Origins
Originally called Pa-ra-mes-su, Ramesses I was of non-royal birth, being born into a noble military family from the Nile Delta region, perhaps near the former Hyksos capital of Avaris. He was a son of a troop commander called Seti. His uncle Khaemwaset, an army officer, married Tamwadjesy, the matron of Tutankhamun's[4] Harem of Amun, who was a relative of Huy, the viceroy of Kush, an important state post.[5] This shows the high status of Ramesses' family. Ramesses I found favor with Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the tumultuous Eighteenth Dynasty, who appointed the former as his vizier. Ramesses also served as the High Priest of Set[6] – as such, he would have played an important role in the restoration of the old religion following the Amarna heresy of a generation earlier, under Akhenaten.
Horemheb himself had been a nobleman from outside the immediate royal family, who rose through the ranks of the Egyptian army to serve as the royal advisor to Tutankhamun and Ay and, ultimately, pharaoh. Since Horemheb had no surviving children, he ultimately chose Ramesses to be his heir in the final years of his reign presumably because Ramesses I was both an able administrator and had a son (Seti I) and a grandson (the future Ramesses II) to succeed him and thus avoid any succession difficulties.
Upon his accession, Ramesses assumed a
Reign Length
Ramesses I enjoyed a brief reign, as evidenced by the general paucity of contemporary monuments mentioning him: the king had little time to build any major buildings in his reign and was hurriedly buried in a small and hastily finished tomb.
Ramesses I's only known action was to order the provision of endowments for the aforementioned Nubian temple at Buhen and "the construction of a chapel and a temple (which was to be finished by his son) at Abydos."[11] The aged Ramesses was buried in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb, discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817 and designated KV16, is small in size and gives the impression of having been completed with haste. Joyce Tyldesley states that Ramesses I's tomb consisted of a single corridor and one unfinished room whose walls, after a hurried coat of plaster, were painted to show the king with his gods, with Osiris allowed a prominent position. The red granite sarcophagus too was painted rather than carved with inscriptions which, due to their hasty preparation, included a number of unfortunate errors.[7]
Rediscovery and repatriation
A mummy currently believed to be that of Ramesses I was stolen from Egypt and displayed in a private Canadian museum for many years before being repatriated. The mummy's identity cannot be conclusively determined, but is most likely to be that of Ramesses I based on CT scans, X-rays, skull measurements and radio-carbon dating tests by researchers at Emory University, as well as aesthetic interpretations of family resemblance. Moreover, the mummy's arms were found crossed high across his chest which was a position reserved solely for Egyptian royalty until 600 BC.[13]
The mummy had been stolen from the
When the owner of the museum decided to sell his property, Canadian businessman
Portrayals in fiction
- In The Ten Commandments (1956 film), he was played by Ian Keith, as the Pharaoh of the Oppression.
- In the miniseries Joseph. Lee had previously played Ramses' grandson Ramesses II in Moses.
References
- ^ OCLC 869729880.
- ^ OCLC 932193922.
- ^ Rice, Michael (1999). Who's Who in Ancient Egypt. Routledge. p. 165.
- ^ Kawai, N., 2015: The Administrators and Notables in Nubia under Tutankhamun. In: R. Jasnow and K.M. Cooney (Ed.) with the assistance of K.E. Davis, Joyful in Thebes Egyptological Studies in Honor of Betsy M. Bryan (Material and Visual Culture of Ancient Egypt 1), Atlanta.
- S2CID 162197658.
- ^ P. Montert, Everyday Life in Egypt in the Days of Ramesses The Great, 1974, p. 197.
- ^ OCLC 932221233.
- OCLC 247341737.
- . Retrieved 25 November 2023.
- ^ The Monuments of Seti I and their Historical Significance: Epigraphic, Art and Historical Analysis (PDF) 1998 pp.339-341 by Peter Brand
- OCLC 872585819.
- JSTOR 594071.
- ^ "U.S. Museum to Return Ramses I Mummy to Egypt". National Geographic. April 30, 2003. Archived from the original on May 2, 2003. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ Hawass & Saleem 2016, p. 32.
- ^ Wilson 1964, p. 74.
- ^ a b c d Gorr, Robbie (Winter 2022–23). "The Pharaoh of Niagara Falls". History Magazine. pp. 28–32.
- ^ "Canada's favourite mummy hunter returns". Niagara Falls Review. Archived from the original on 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
- ^ "Egypt's 'Ramses' mummy returned". BBC. October 26, 2003. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
Bibliography
- Hawass, Zahi A.; Saleem, Sahar (2016). Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9789774166730.
- Wilson, John A. (1964). "Signs & Wonders upon Pharaoh" (PDF). The University of Chicago Press.