Scope: Here we will see Egypt begin a long slide from greatness that will finally end 1,200 years later with the death of Egyptian civilization. One indication of decline is the short reigns; another, the absence of major building projects.
Outline
I. The mummy of Ramses revealed a great deal about his last years.
A. Discovered in the Deir el Bahri cache, it remained in Cairo for a century, rehydrating and growing fungi. No one ever thought a mummy needed conservation like other objects. It is the only pharaoh’s mummy ever to leave Egypt.
B. Taken to Paris (in 1976) for treatment, Ramses had eighty-nine species of fungi growing on him. Gamma-ray irradiation was used to kill the growths; we’re not sure whether the DNA was affected.
C. Placed in a case of nitrogen “azote” made by the Getty Conservation Institute, Ramses was now fully sterilized and given a clean bill of health before being returned to Cairo.
D. Ramses also had arteriosclerosis, not to mention a hole in his mandible from an infection that may have killed him. X-rays show Ramses’s heart on the wrong side, sewn in with gold thread. Perhaps the embalmers made a mistake and repaired it with gold “eternal” thread.
E. Ramses’s red hair may have had religious significance, because the followers of Seth were said to be red-headed.
II. Merneptah, “the beloved of Ptah,” ruled from 1212-1202 BC.
A. The thirteenth son of Ramses, he must have been sixty when he became king.
B. His famous Victory Stela (year 5) was found by Petrie at his mortuary temple at Thebes. It describes his Canaanite campaign: “Israel is devastated, its seed is no more.” For a long time, some thought he was the pharaoh of the Exodus.
C. One of his inscriptions on Karnak Temple tells of “the uncircumcised phalli of 6,359 Libyans killed [and] carried off.” Because the Egyptians were circumcised, they cut the penises off the enemy corpses as proof of a body count. Although traditionally the Egyptians cut off enemy hands, perhaps they used a different tack this time to avoid the accusation that they killed women.
D. Merneptah built a palace at Memphis, now mostly lost because of the high water table.
E. His tomb in the Valley of the Kings is one of the most interesting. In 1920, Howard Carter discovered thirteen large alabaster jars near the tomb; the inscriptions on the jars indicated that they had held the sacred oils used in the mummification of Merneptah.
F. Merneptah was buried in three nested sarcophagi of pink Aswan granite. The sarcophagi and walls of his tomb were decorated with religious texts from “The Book of Gates.”
III. Amenmesses, son of Merneptah (1202-1199 BC), is a mystery king. He was not the crown prince but became pharaoh. The son of a minor wife, Takhat, he built a tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV 10).
IV. Seti II (1199-1193 BC) succeeded Amenmesses and erased his name, a common practice in ancient Egypt. The worst fate that could befall a pharaoh was to be ignored by history—it was also a convenient way to take credit for other pharaohs’ work.
A. He had three queens, or wives. Tiaa was the mother of Siptah, the next king. Twosret would later actually rule Egypt.
B. Seti II built a boat shrine at Karnak for the sacred barques of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.
V. The mummy of Siptah (1193-1187 BC), the son of Seti II, was found in the Deir el Bahri cache. He had a deformed foot, possibly from polio.
VI. Twosret (1187-1185 BC), the stepmother of Siptah, ruled as king, a sign of turmoil in Egypt.
A. She had a small tomb (KV 14) for herself in the Valley of the Kings.
B. She had a separate small burial for jewelry that was discovered in 1908. One level contained a considerable amount of gold leaf, but most impressive was a necklace and pair of silver gloves containing eight finger rings.
Essential Reading:
Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, pp. 156-159.
Supplementary Reading:
Aidan Dodson, Monarchs of the Nile, Chapter XII.
Questions to Consider:
1. Why is Merneptah considered by some to be the pharaoh of the Exodus?
2. What indications are there of Egypt’s eventual decline?