Scope: After a brief attempt to restore Egypt’s stability during the reign of Ramses III, the downward slide continues. We will discuss who the mysterious Sea Peoples were and how they contributed to the weakening of Egypt. We will closely examine the reign of Ramses III to see glimpses of the subsequent decline.
Outline
I. Setnakht, “Set is victorious” (1185-1182 BC), is a mystery. Who was he?
A. As soon as he became king, Setnakht erased Twosret’s name from her tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
B. Papyrus Harris, 113 feet long and dated the day Ramses III died, gives some other clues about him.
1. The papyrus was supposed to be buried with Ramses III but was found in a private tomb in 1855. Perhaps the robbers of Ramses Ill’s tomb found the papyrus and sold it as a Book of the Dead. Because most of them couldn’t read, they may not have even known it was a historical papyrus.
2. The papyrus tells of the beginning of the dynasty. Setnakht put down Asiatic rebellions, reopened temples, and restored order.
II. Ramses III (1182-1151 BC) was perhaps the last great Egyptian pharaoh.
A. The Libyans tried to invade (year 5), but Ramses crushed them.
B. The Sea Peoples, a confederation of Philistines, Sicilians, and other Mediterranean peoples, also attempted to invade Egypt.
1. For them, this was a period of large-scale emigration. On walls are carved depictions of women and children in ox carts.
2. A land battle repelled them at the border of Egypt.
3. At the mouth of the Nile, a landlocked sea battle favored the Egyptians, who were not great sailors. Again, the Sea Peoples were repelled.
C. Papyrus Harris tells of Ramses’s great achievements.
1. He gave immense gifts to the temples: land, cattle, cloth, oil, wine.
2. Numerous successful military campaigns were chronicled.
3. The economy of Egypt was described as booming.
D. Medinet Habu, Ramses’s mortuary temple, served different purposes.
1. Its main function was as a mortuary temple where Ramses could be worshipped after his death.
2. It has fortress-like towers that show a Syrian influence.
3. Medinet Habu was also used as a palace when Ramses was in Thebes for official occasions.
E. Ramses III buried his sons Amunhirkcpshef and Khaemwaset in the Valley of the Queens. (These are also the names of the sons of Ramses the Great [II]; Ramses III was unrelated to Ramses the Great but wanted to be like him.)
F. The Harem Conspiracy Papyrus tells of a plot by one of Ramses’s queens to kill her husband so her son could become king.
1. Magic was used to try to kill Ramses.
2. More than two dozen conspirators close to the king were convicted.
3. The records indicate that Ramses died before the conspirators were executed.
G. Ramses’s tomb (KV 11) was intended for Setnakht originally but abandoned when it hit another tomb. Good spaces in the Valley were running out.
1. There is an unusual secular scene of two harpists painted on the tomb wall. Because James Bruce discovered it in 1769, it has been called “Bruce’s tomb.”
2. Ramses’s mummy, found in the Deir el Bahri cache, became the model for mummy movies.
3. Ramses III was succeeded by three sons.
III. Ramses IV, the first son to succeed, ruled for just six years (1151-1145 BC).
A. He was the son of Ramses III, so his claim to the throne was legitimate.
B. He sent workers to the Wadi Hammamat for black granite to make statues of the gods, a sign of prosperity.
IV. Ramses V (1145-1141 BC) was another legitimate successor with a short reign.
A. He was another son of Ramses III.
B. His mummy has spots on the face that suggest smallpox.
V. Ramses VI (1141-1133 BC) was probably a weak ruler.
A. He was the third son of Ramses III to become king.
B. Foreign territories were slipping away during his reign; the turquoise mines were abandoned.
VI. Ramses VII (1133-1126 BC) was a grandson of Ramses III.
A. The son of Ramses VI, he saw the decline of the dynasty continue.
B. There was economic turmoil in Egypt, and prices soared.
VII. Not a great deal is known of the next several pharaohs.
A. Ramses VIII (1126 BC) ruled for only a year, and little is known of him.
B. Ramses IX ruled from 1126-1108 BC.
1. He had a long reign, during which the royal tombs were robbed.
2. The king could no longer protect the Valley. Depositions by participants even date the tomb robbing.
C. Of Ramses X (1108-1098 BC) little is known, other than that all foreign territories were lost during his reign.
VIII. Ramses XI (1098-1070 BC) was last of the dynasty.
A. The “Tale of Wenamum” aptly describes the times. Wenamum, an official, was sent to Byblos to buy cedarwood but was robbed and treated poorly, a sign of the declining reputation of the kingdom. He procured the wood but only after waiting for months.
B. The “Tale of Wenamum” refers to Heri-Hor, the powerful high priest Amun who took control of Egypt.
1. He first held the officer of viceroy to Kush.
2. He decorated the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak and is shown to be the same size as the king.
3. In year 24, he wrote his name in a cartouche.
C. He ruled in the south while Ramses XI ruled from the Delta.
D. He called the years of his reign “repetition of births,” literally renaissance.
Essential Reading:
N. K. Sandars, The Sea Peoples.
Supplementary Reading:
Peter A. Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, pp. 160-171.
Questions to Cinsider:
1. What new indications of a decline do we get in this dynasty?
2. What must have been the main concern of Ramses III?