EGYPT 461 - PHARAOHS of the XIXth Dynasty - (by Egyptahotep)
The
XIX Dynasty:
RAMESSES I : he was , the commander of royal archers. He held many weighty offices in army, he was later vizier and confidant of
Horemheb, appointed by him as heir to the throne. As a vizier he ordered to build for himself a tomb at Gourab. After he had been designated heir to the throne he built for himself a
KV16 tomb in the
Kings' Valley. The king's mummy was found in
Deir el-Bahari, his mummy is now in
Luxor museum and his sarcophagus in
Cairo Museum.
Ramesses I ruled one year and 4 months, as co-regent with his son and successor,
Seti I
SETI I : Son of Ramesses I. After coming to the rule he was forced to undertake series of war campaigns to
Asia and
Libya. He made wars with Hittites, conquered the land of Amurru and city of
Kadesh. In his 8th regnal year he made war expedition to the land of Jam in
Sudan.
History records of his warlike deeds add splendor to walls of many
Egyptian temples. He erected magnificent temple at
Abydos and a number of building structures all over
Egypt, among others great hypostyle of the temple of
Karnak, mortuary temples in
Western Thebes and
Memphis. He erected temple of Amun at
Napata in
Nubia, as well as in other cities. Many temples, destructed during
Amarna period, were restored and covered with new reliefs and polychrome. He started building new capital of Ramessides in the
Delta.
Burial place of the ruler became the finely decorated tomb
KV17 in the Kings' Valley. The king's mummy was found in the Deir el-Bahari.
RAMESSES II :Son of Seti I by queen Tui. He had 7 legal, royal wives and
200 concubines. Historical sources record that he had 96 sons and 60 daughters.
Ramesses II was regarded one of the mightiests (if not the one mightiest)
Egyptian pharaohs. Certainly he is the best known ruler of ancient Egypt and a
symbol of this land. Three facts went into the making thereof: tremendous building activity, traces of which can be found all over Egypt; active internal policy and presence of military force keeping strong position of
Egyptian Empire as well as immensely long rule, comprising 67 years. He was crowned the king after his father's death in June 1279 BC. In his 4th regnal year he made first military campaign into
Syria which resulted in relieving of the principality of Amurru ruled by Betneshina. The next year took place battle at Kadesh by Orontes.
The course of this most famous in
Egyptian history battle is recorded in wall presentations of temples at Abydos, Thebes and
Abu Simbel, also in papyri and is called
Poem of Pentewere.
Egyptian sources present the battle as a great triumph of
Egyptian army and pharaoh Ramesses II in person, Hittite sources - in contrary. The fact that in consequence the land of Amurru had been annexed to Hittites' influence zone allows us to conclude that closer to the truth are Hittite sources which record failure (if not complete defeat) of Egyptian army.
Next over a dozen-or-so years
Ramesses was making numerous war campaigns into Syria-Palestine, consolidating his own influence zone.
Treaty made in 1258 with Hittites warranted in writing non-aggression and mutual relieving of political refugees. This is an oldest known historical document made between two foreign countries. In 1245 and 1240 BC to the royal harem arrived two Hittite princesses thus consolidating the
peace with the land of Hatti. There are known to us expeditions to land of Jam in Sudan in year 21 of Ramesses reign and to Nubia in year 44, under command of Setau, the viceroy of
Kush. Ramesses II reinforced fortresses in the Western Delta which protected from the "sea people" attacks and
Libyan tribes.
Building activity of the king exceeds that of any other pharaoh and counting out at least part of buildings erected or restored in his times seems to be impossible. There is no city in Egypt where the ruler would not have left traces of his building activities.
Temples in Western Thebes (
Ramesseum) and Abu Simbel are masterpieces of ancient
Egyptian architecture.
MERNEPTAH (or Meremptah):The thirteenth son of Ramesses II, his mother was queen
Isetnofret I. The most significant event during Merenptah's rule was repulse of
Libyans. Building activity of Merenptah focused mainly in Western Thebes and Memphis.
SETI II: he was a son of Merenptah. Seti II founded a station for a barge on the courtyard in front of the pylon II at Karnak.Amenemesse Usurped him the throne.
AMENEMESSE:he usurped the throne illegally by 4 years in times of Seti II.
SIPTAH:was a Son of Seti II and
Syrian concubine.In his behalf the rule was held by Twosret, his step mother. Another interesting figure
of those times was chancellor Bay, usurping the right to the rule.
TWOSRET:
Wife of Seti II, step-mother of Siptah. The queen held rule as regent . She started even counting length of her reign including years of regency