The Harem Conspiracy the assassination of Ramesses III in the royal coup - Tiye (20th Dynesty)

• published: 07 Jul 2015
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Egyptologists have long known that 20th Dynasty pharaoh Ramesses III was the target of a palace coup at the end of his life. The Judicial Papyrus of Turin, a 3000-year-old trial record that was translated into English and published as early as 1865, documents the aftermath of the Harem Conspiracy in which Queen Tiye, one of Pharoah Ramesses III’s wives, enlisted the aid of various members of the pharaoh’s household to assassinate him while he spent the evening in the royal harem. Tiye wanted her son Pentawere to succeed his father as pharaoh, while Ramesses had designated his eldest surviving son Amonhirkhopshef, the future Ramesses IV, as his heir. She conspired with her son, other women in the harem, the pharaoh’s chief of chamber, treasury officials, butlers, court magicians, army commanders, royal scribes and a passel of harem inspectors to kill Ramesses and incite a rebellion that would oust Amonhirkhopshef and put Pentawere on the throne. In April 1155 B.C., 31 years and one month into Ramesses’ reign, the coup was discovered and the conspirators tried for their great crimes. It’s not clear from the historical record if the plot was foiled before assassination was attempted, or if it was attempted and failed or what injuries Ramesses III might have suffered as a result. The Judicial Papyrus describes him as convening the court that presided over the trials of the conspirators, but it also refers to him as “Great God,” a naming convention only applied to deceased pharaohs at that time. One theory posits that he was poisoned (court magicians were particularly good at that sort of thing) but survived just long enough to appoint the 12 judges before succumbing. Another suggests that Ramesses III was indeed felled in the Harem Conspiracy and the trial was convened by his son Ramesses IV, but since the son didn’t want to start his reign with an investigation into such the sordid, bloody, black magical murder of his father, he retconned the trial as having been ordered by Ramesses III. The mummy of Ramesses III, discovered in 1886 in Valley of the Kings tomb KV11, doesn’t show any obvious wounds. Previous forensic examination found no cause of death or telltale signs of assassination. To finally answer the question of whether Ramsesses III was killed in the Harem Conspiracy, a team of Egyptologists and biologists led by Dr. Albert Zink from the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman of the European Academy of Bolzano/Bozen in Italy (known for his wor