Ramesses III was assassinated in the Harem conspiracy led by his secondary wife Tiye and her eldest son Pentawere.
Curated/Reviewed by Matthew A. McIntosh
Public Historian
Brewminate
Introduction
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses IIIย was the secondย Pharaohย of theย Twentieth Dynastyย inย Ancient Egypt. Some scholars date his reign from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC, and he is considered to be the last great king of theย New Kingdom.
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 “theย Sea Peoples”, who had caused destruction in other civilizations and empires. He was able to save Egypt from collapsing at the time whenย 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 calledย Medinet Habu.[3]ย He was assassinated in theย Harem conspiracyย led by his secondary wifeย Tiyeย and her eldest sonย Pentawere. This would ultimately cause a succession crisis which would further accelerate the decline ofย Ancient Egypt. He was succeeded by his son and designated successorย Ramesses IV, although many of his other sons would rule later.
Name, Early Years, and Accession
Ramesses (also writtenย Ramsesย andย Rameses) two main names transliterate as wsr-m๊ขสฟt-rสฟโmry-แปmn rสฟ-ms-sโแธฅแธณ๊ข-แปwnw. They are normally realised asย Usermaatre-Meryamun Rameses-Heqaiunu, meaning “Theย Ma’atย ofย Raย is strong, Beloved ofย Amun, Born ofย Ra, Ruler ofย Heliopolis”.
Ramesses III was the son ofย Setnakhteย andย Tiy-Mereneseย who wrote her name in a cartouche.
Ramesses III is believed to have reigned from March 1186 to April 1155ย BC. This is based on his known accession date of Iย Shemuย day 26 and his death on Year 32 IIIย Shemuย day 15, for a reign of 31 years, 1 month and 19 days.[4]ย Alternative dates for his reign are 1187โ1156ย BC.
In a description of hisย coronationย from Medinet Habu, fourย dovesย were said to be “dispatched to the four corners of the horizon to confirm that the livingย Horus, Ramses III, is (still) in possession of his throne, that the order ofย Maatย prevails in the cosmos and society”.[5][6]
Tenure of Constant War
During his long tenure in the midst of the surrounding political chaos of theย Late Bronze Age collapse, Egypt was beset by foreign invaders (including the so-calledย Sea Peoplesย and theย Libyans) 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, includingย Peleset,ย Denyen,ย Shardana,ย Meshweshย of the sea, andย Tjekker, invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles. First, he defeated them on land in the Battle of Djahy on the Egyptian Empire’s easternmost frontier in Djahy or modern-day southern Lebanon. The second one was the Battle of the Delta, in which Ramesses enticed the Sea Peoples and their ships into the mouth of the Nile, where he had assembled a fleet in ambush. 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 Peoples were utterly defeated. Theย Harris Papyrusย states:
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 southernย 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 asย Byblos[8]ย and he may have campaigned further north into Syria.[9][10]ย 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]ย 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 ofย Set Maat her imenty Wasetย (now known asย Deir el-Medina), could not be provisioned.[13]ย Something in the air (possibly theย Hekla 3 eruption) prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground and also arrested global tree growth for almost two full decades until 1140ย 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]ย 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,ย Ramesses II, and which present an image of continuity and stability. He built important additions to theย templesย atย Luxorย andย Karnak, and his funerary temple and administrative complex atย Medinet-Habuย 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 temple in the heart of Egypt prior to Ramesses’ reign had ever needed to be protected in such a manner.
Conspiracy and Death
Thanks to the discovery ofย papyrusย trial transcriptsย (dated to Ramesses III), it is now known that there was aย plotย against his life as a result of a royalย harem conspiracyย during a celebration atย Medinet Habuย On day 15 of month 2 ofย Shemuย 1155 BCE. The conspiracy was instigated byย Tiye, one of his three known wives (the others beingย Tytiย andย Iset Ta-Hemdjert), over whose son would inherit the throne. Tyti’s son, Ramesses Amenherkhepshef (the futureย Ramesses IV), was the eldest and the successor chosen by Ramesses III in preference to Tiye’s sonย Pentaweret.
The trial documents[15]ย show that many individuals were implicated in the plot.[16]ย Chief among them were Queenย Tiyeย and her sonย Pentaweret, Ramesses’ chief of the chamber,ย Pebekkamen, 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.[17]ย According to the surviving trial transcripts, a total of three separate trials were started, while 38 people were sentenced to death.[18]ย The tombs of Tiye and her son Pentaweret were robbed and their names erased to prevent them from enjoying an afterlife. The Egyptians 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 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 theย summaries of the sentencesย were composed,[21]ย but the same year that the trial documents[15]ย record the trial and execution of the conspirators.
Although it was long believed that Ramesses III’s body showed no obvious wounds,[19]ย an examination of the mummy by a German forensic team, televised in the documentaryย Ramesses: Mummy King Mysteryย on the Science Channel in 2011, showed excessive bandages around the neck. A subsequentย CT scanย that was done in Egypt by Ashraf Selim andย Sahar Saleem, professors ofย radiologyย atย Cairo University, revealed that beneath the bandages was a deep knife wound across the throat, deep enough to reach the vertebrae. According to the documentary narrator, “It was a wound no one could have survived.”[22]ย The CT scan revealed that his throat was cut to the bone, severing theย trachea,ย esophagus, and blood vessels, which would have been rapidly fatal.[23][24]ย The December 2012 issue of theย British Medical Journalย quoted the conclusion of the study of the team of researchers, led byย Zahi Hawass, the former head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquity, and his Egyptian team, as well as Albert Zink from the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman ofย Eurac Researchย inย Bolzano,ย Italy, which stated that conspirators murdered Ramesses III by cutting his throat.[23][25][26]ย Zink observed in an interview that:
The cut [to Ramesses III’s throat] isย … very deep and quite large, it really goes down almost down to the bone (spine) โ 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]ย who might well have used poison. Some had put forth a hypothesis that a snakebite from aย viperย was the cause of the king’s death. His mummy includes anย amuletย 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 theย Great Harris Papyrus, he implored Amun to ensure his son’s rights.[30]
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’sย STR-predictor to share the Y chromosomal haplogroupย E1b1a-V38ย 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 Kingย Tutankhamunย Family Project. The objectives included attempting to determine familial relationships among 11 royal mummies of the New Kingdom, as well to research for pathological features including potential inherited disorders and infectious diseases.[32]ย In 2012, Hawass et al undertook an anthropological, forensic, radiological, and genetic study of the 20th dynasty mummies of Ramesses III and an unknown man which were found together.[23]ย In 2022, S.O.Y. Keita analysed 8ย Short Tandem lociย (STR) data published as part of these studies by Hawass et al, using an algorithm that only has three choices: Eurasians, sub-Saharan Africans, and East Asians. Using these three options, Keita concluded that the majority of the samples, which included the genetic remains of Rameses III and Tutankhamun had a population “affinity with ‘sub-Saharan’ Africans in one affinity analysis”. However, Keita cautioned that this does not mean that the royal mummies โlacked other affiliationsโ which he argued had been obscured in typological thinking. Keita further added that different โdata and algorithms might give different resultsโ which reflects the complexity of biological heritage and the associated interpretation.[33]
Legacy
The Great Harris Papyrus orย Papyrus Harris I, which was commissioned by his son and chosen successorย Ramesses IV, chronicles this king’s vast donations of land, gold statues and monumental construction to Egypt’s various temples atย Piramesse,ย Heliopolis,ย Memphis,ย Athribis,ย Hermopolis,ย This,ย Abydos,ย Coptos,ย El Kabย and various cities in Nubia. It also records that the king dispatched a trading expedition to theย Land of Puntย and quarried the copper mines of Timna in southern Canaan. Papyrus Harris I records some of Ramesses III’s activities:
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, 1โ4)[34]
Ramesses began the reconstruction of theย Temple of Khonsuย atย Karnakย from the foundations of an earlier temple ofย Amenhotep IIIย and completed the Temple ofย Medinet Habuย around his Year 12.[35]ย He decorated the walls of his Medinet Habu temple with scenes of his naval and land battles against theย Sea Peoples. This monument stands today as one of the best-preserved temples of the New Kingdom.[36]
Theย mummyย of Ramesses III was discovered by antiquarians in 1886 and is regarded as the prototypical Egyptian Mummy in numerous Hollywood movies.[37]ย His tomb (KV11) is one of the largest in theย Valley of the Kings.
In 1980, James Harris andย Edward F. Wenteย 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 theย 19thย Dynastyย andย 20thย Dynastyย withย Mesolithicย 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 theย Museum of Egyptian Antiquitiesย to theย National Museum of Egyptian Civilizationย along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed theย Pharaohs’ Golden Parade.[39]
Chronological Dispute
There is uncertainty regarding the exact dates of the reign of Ramesses III. This uncertainty affects the dating of theย Late Bronze/Iron Age transitionย in theย Levant. This transition is defined by the appearance ofย Mycenaeanย LH IIIC:1b (Philistine) pottery in the coastal plain ofย Palestine, generally assumed to correspond to the settlement of Sea Peoples there at the 8th year of Ramesses III.[40]ย 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 1159ย BC, based on a 1999 dating of theย Hekla 3 eruptionย of the Hekla volcano in Iceland. Since contemporary records show that the king experienced difficulties provisioning his workmen atย Deir el-Medinaย with supplies in his 29th Year, this dating of Hekla 3 might connect his 28th or 29th regnal year to c. 1159ย BC.[42]ย 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 1155ย BC. A rival date of “2900ย BP” (950ย BC) has since been proposed by scientists based on a re-examination of the volcanic layer.[43]ย Given that no Egyptologist dates Ramesses III’s reign to as late as 1000ย 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 1087โ1006 BC.[44]
See endnotes and bibliography at source.
Originally published by Wikipedia, 11.06.2002, under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
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