Ramesses III
Ramesses III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ramses III, Rameses III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pharaoh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pharaoh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reign | 1186–1155 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor | Setnakhte | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Successor | Ramesses IV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Consort | Isis Ta-Hemdjert, Tiye | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | By Tyti: By Isis Ta-Hemdjert:
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Father | Medinet Habu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dynasty | 20th Dynasty |
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second
His long reign saw the decline of Egyptian political and economic power, linked to a series of invasions and internal economic problems that also plagued pharaohs before him. This coincided with a decline in the cultural sphere of Ancient Egypt.[1]
However, his successful defense was able to slow down the decline, although it still meant that his successors would have a weaker military. He has also been described as a "warrior Pharaoh" due to his strong military strategies. He led the way by defeating the invaders known as "the Sea Peoples", who had caused destruction in other civilizations and empires. He was able to save Egypt from collapsing at the time when many other empires fell during the Late Bronze Age; however, the damage of the invasions took a toll on Egypt.[2]
Rameses III constructed one of the largest mortuary temples of western Thebes, now called Medinet Habu.[3]
Ramesses III was the son of
Name
Ramesses' two main names transliterate as wsr-mꜢʿt-rʿ–mry-ỉmn rʿ-ms-s–ḥḳꜢ-ỉwnw. They are normally realised as Usermaatre-Meryamun Rameses-Heqaiunu, meaning "The
Accession
Ramesses III is believed to have reigned from March 1186 to April 1155 BC. 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.[4] Alternative dates for his reign are 1187–1156 BC.
In a description of his
Tenure of constant war
During his long tenure in the midst of the surrounding political chaos of the
As for those who reached my frontier, their seed is not, their heart and their soul are finished forever and ever. As for those who came forward together on the seas, the full flame was in front of them at the Nile mouths, while a stockade of lances surrounded them on the shore, prostrated on the beach, slain, and made into heaps from head to tail.[7]
Ramesses III incorporated the Sea Peoples as subject peoples and settled them in southern Canaan. 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. During the reign of Ramses III, Egyptian presence in the Levant is still attested as far as Byblos[8] and he may have campaigned further north into Syria.[9][10] Ramesses III was also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his Year 5 and Year 11 respectively.[11] By the early 12th century, Egypt claimed overlordship of Cyrenaican tribes. At one point a ruler chosen by Egypt was set up (briefly) over the combined tribes of Meshwesh, Libu, and Soped.[12]
Economic turmoil
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 labour strike in recorded history occurred during Year 29 of Ramesses III's reign, when the food rations for the 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.[13] Something in the air (possibly the Hekla 3 eruption) prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground and also arrested global tree growth for almost two full decades until 1140 BC. The result in Egypt was a substantial increase in grain prices under the later reigns of Ramesses VI-VII, whereas the prices for fowl and slaves remained constant.[14] Thus the cooldown affected Ramesses III's final years and impaired his ability to provide a constant supply of grain rations to the workmen 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,
Conspiracy and death
Thanks to the discovery of
The trial documents
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 were involved were severely punished.[19]
Ramesses IV, the king's designated successor, assumed the throne upon his death rather than Pentaweret, who was intended to be the main beneficiary of the palace conspiracy. Moreover, Ramesses III died in his 32nd year before the summaries of the sentences were composed,[21] but the same year that the trial documents[15] record the trial and execution of the conspirators.
Although it was long believed that Ramesses III's body showed no obvious wounds,
The cut [to Ramesses III's throat] is ... very deep and quite large, it really goes down almost down to the bone (spine) – it must have been a lethal injury.[27]
A subsequent study of the CT scan of the mummy of Ramesses III's body by Sahar Saleem revealed that the left big toe was likely chopped by a heavy sharp object like an ax. There were no signs of bone healing so this injury must have happened shortly before death. The embalmers placed a prosthesis-like object made of linen in place of the amputated toe. The embalmers placed six amulets around both feet and ankles for magical healing of the wound for the life after. This additional injury of the foot supports the assassination of the Pharaoh, likely by the hands of multiple assailants using different weapons.[28]
Before this discovery it had been speculated that Ramesses III had been killed by means that would not have left a mark on the body. Among the conspirators were practitioners of magic,[29] who might well have used poison. Some had put forth a hypothesis that a snakebite from a viper was the cause of the king's death. 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, given that, in the
DNA and possible relationship with his son Pentawaret
The Zink unit determined that the mummy of an unknown man buried with Ramesses was, because of the proven genetic relationship and a mummification process that suggested punishment, a good candidate for the pharaoh's son, Pentaweret, who was the only son to revolt against his father. It was impossible to determine his cause of death. Both mummies were predicted by Whit Athey's STR-predictor to share the Y chromosomal haplogroup E1b1a-V38 and 50% of their genetic material, which pointed to a father-son relationship.[31]
In 2010 Hawass et al undertook detailed anthropological, radiological, and genetic studies as part of the King
Legacy
The Great Harris Papyrus or
I sent my emissaries to the land of Atika, [i.e., Timna] to the great copper mines which are there. Their ships carried them along and others went overland on their donkeys. It had not been heard of since the [time of any earlier] king. Their mines were found and [they] yielded copper which was loaded by tens of thousands into their ships, they being sent in their care to Egypt, and arriving safely. (P. Harris I, 78, 1–4)[34]
Ramesses began the reconstruction of the
The mummy of Ramesses III was discovered by antiquarians in 1886 and is regarded as the prototypical Egyptian Mummy in numerous Hollywood movies.[37] His tomb (KV11) is one of the largest in the Valley of the Kings.
In 1980, James Harris and Edward F. Wente conducted a series of X-ray examinations on New Kingdom Pharaohs crania and skeletal remains, which included the mummified remains of Ramesses III. The analysis in general found strong similarities between the New Kingdom rulers of the 19th Dynasty and 20th Dynasty with Mesolithic Nubian samples. The authors also noted affinities with modern Mediterranean populations of Levantine origin. Harris and Wente suggested this represented admixture as the Rammessides were of northern origin.[38]
In April 2021 his mummy was moved from the
Chronological dispute
There is uncertainty regarding the exact dates of the reign of Ramesses III. This uncertainty affects the dating of the Late Bronze/Iron Age transition in the Levant. This transition is defined by the appearance of Mycenaean LH IIIC:1b (Philistine) pottery in the coastal plain of Palestine, generally assumed to correspond to the settlement of Sea Peoples there at the 8th year of Ramesses III.[40] Radiocarbon dates and other external evidence permit this transition to be as late as 1100 BC, compared to the conventional dating of c. 1179 BC.[41]
Some scientists have tried to establish a chronological point for this pharaoh's reign at 1159 BC, based on a 1999 dating of the Hekla 3 eruption of the Hekla volcano in 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 c. 1159 BC.[42] A minor discrepancy of one 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 three to four years later, around 1156 or 1155 BC. A rival date of "2900 BP" (950 BC) has since been proposed by scientists based on a re-examination of the volcanic layer.[43] Given that no Egyptologist dates Ramesses III's reign to as late as 1000 BC, this would mean that the Hekla 3 eruption presumably occurred well after Ramesses III's reign. A 2002 study, using high-precision radiocarbon dating of a peat deposit containing ash layers, put this eruption in the range 1087–1006 BC.[44]
Gallery
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Ramesses III's mummy
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Finely painted reliefs from Ramesses III's Khonsu temple at Karnak
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Amorite, Syrian, Hittite
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Ramesses III's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu.
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A painted ceiling of Nekhbet at Ramesses III's mortuary temple at Medinet Habu.
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Medinet Habu – the severed hands of the defeated enemies
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Ramesses III talking with the Theban Triad: Amun, Mut and Khonsu. The ‘Great Harris Papyrus’ at the British Museum, c. 1150 BC. Image taken from the book The Search for Ancient Egypt (p. 91) by Jean Vercoutter.
References
- ^ Robins, Gay. The Art of Ancient Egypt.
- JSTOR 43077586.
- ISBN 978-1119620877.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 0-918986-01-X
- ^ Murnane, W. J., United with Eternity: A Concise Guide to the Monuments of Medinet Habu, p. 38, Oriental Institute, Chicago / American University in Cairo Press, 1980.
- ISBN 978-1-57506-004-0. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
- ^ Hasel, Michael G. "Merenptah's Inscription and Reliefs and the Origin of Israel" in The Near East in the Southwest: Essays in Honor of William G. Dever" edited by Beth Albprt Hakhai The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research Vol. 58 2003, quoting from Edgerton, W. F., and Wilson, John A. 1936 Historical Records of Ramses III, the Texts in Medinet Habu, Volumes I and II. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 12. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
- ^ James, Peter (2017), The levantine war-records of Ramesses III : changing attitudes, past, present and future, p. 71
- ^ Kitchen, K.A. (2012). Ramesses III: The Life and Times of Egypt's Last Hero. University of Michigan Press. p. 14.
- ^ Kahn, D. (2016), The Historical Background of a Topographical List of Ramesses III, pp. 161–168
- ^ Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books, 1992. p.271
- ^ David O'Connor. "Expedition Magazine - Penn Museum". www.penn.museum. 29 (3). University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
- ^ William F. Edgerton, The Strikes in Ramses III's Twenty-Ninth Year, JNES 10, No. 3 (July 1951), pp. 137-145
- ^ Frank J. Yurco, "End of the Late Bronze Age and Other Crisis Periods: A Volcanic Cause" in Gold of Praise: Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honor of Edward F. Wente, ed: Emily Teeter & John Larson, (SAOC 58) 1999. p.456
- ^ a b J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, §§423-456
- ^ James H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, §§416-417
- ^ James H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, §§446-450
- ^ Joyce Tyldesley, Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt, Thames & Hudson October 2006, p.170
- ^ a b Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge University Press 2000, p.247
- ISBN 0801436931.
- ^ J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, p.418
- ^ Egyptologist: Ramses III assassinated in coup attempt Archived 2018-03-02 at the Wayback Machine, Dan Vergano, USA Today, December 17, 2012
- ^ S2CID 206896841. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2012.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ISBN 978-977-416-673-0.
- ^ King Ramesses III's throat was slit, analysis reveals Archived 2018-05-04 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
- ^ British Medical Journal, Study reveals that Pharaoh’s throat was cut during royal coup Archived 2019-05-18 at the Wayback Machine, Monday, December 17, 2012
- ^ AFP (December 18, 2012). "Pharaoh's murder riddle solved after 3,000 years". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on April 21, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
- ^ "Pharaoh Ramesses III Killed by Multiple Assailants, Radiologist Says". Live Science. Archived from the original on 2018-02-27. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
- ^ J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, pp.454-456
- ^ J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, §246
- S2CID 206896841. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
- PMID 20159872.
- ^ Keita, S. O. Y. (September 2022). "Ideas about "Race" in Nile Valley Histories: A Consideration of "Racial" Paradigms in Recent Presentations on Nile Valley Africa, from "Black Pharaohs" to Mummy Genomest". Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections.
- ^ A. J. Peden, The Reign of Ramesses IV, Aris & Phillips Ltd, 1994. p.32 Atika has long been equated with Timna, see here B. Rothenburg, Timna, Valley of the Biblical Copper Mines (1972), pp.201–203 where he also notes the probable port at Jezirat al-Faroun.
- ^ Jacobus Van Dijk, 'The Amarna Period and the later New Kingdom' in The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, ed. Ian Shaw, Oxford University Press paperback, (2002) p.305
- ^ Van Dijk, p.305
- ^ Bob Brier, The Encyclopedia of Mummies, Checkmark Books, 1998. p.154
- ISBN 0226317455.
- ^ Parisse, Emmanuel (5 April 2021). "22 Ancient Pharaohs Have Been Carried Across Cairo in an Epic 'Golden Parade'". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- JSTOR 27925978.
- from the original on 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2014-10-16.
- ^ Frank J. Yurco, "End of the Late Bronze Age and Other Crisis Periods: A Volcanic Cause" in Gold of Praise: Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honor of Edward F. Wente, ed: Emily Teeter & John Larson, (SAOC 58) 1999, pp.456-458
- ^ At first, scholars tried to redate the event to "3000 BP": TOWARDS A HOLOCENE TEPHROCHRONOLOGY FOR SWEDEN Archived 2009-04-07 at the Wayback Machine, Stefan Wastegǎrd, XVI INQUA Congress, Paper No. 41-13, Saturday, July 26, 2003. Also: Late Holocene solifluction history reconstructed using tephrochronology Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine, Martin P. Kirkbride & Andrew J. Dugmore, Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2005; v. 242; p. 145-155.
- S2CID 140611931.
Further reading
- Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor, eds. Ramesses III: The Life and Times of Egypt's Last Hero (University of Michigan Press; 2012) 560 pages; essays by scholars.
- Conspiracies in ancient Egypt