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Volume 10 issue 1 August 2009

ANCIENT EGYPT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

THE RAMESSIDE KINGS - PART TWO

This month’s NETFISHING continues its look at the history of Egypt by seeing what the World Wide Web has to say about the later Ramesside Kings, Rameses VII, VIII, IX and X, rulers at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty.

The latter part of the Twentieth Dynasty marks a period of gradual, but continual, economic decline in Egypt. The kings were ruling from the Delta, and increasingly the general administration of Upper Egypt was passing into the hands of the Priests of Amun, at Karnak. Despite incursions from Libyan tribes, the West Bank of Luxor remained the burial place of the kings, and these tombs in the Royal Valley often remain the only tangible evidence of the fleeting existence of these last Ramesside kings. Refer:

http://euler.slu.edu/~bart/egyptianhtml/kings%20and%20Queens/Ramesses_IV_-_XI.html

RAMESES VII

The length of Rameses VII’s reign is still disputed by Egyptologists, but it appears to have been only around seven years. A son of Rameses VI, his reign has left no major monuments apart from that of his royal tomb, KV1, in the Valley of the Kings. This small tomb is notable only for the use of an upturned sarcophagus trough, which was used as a cover for the royal interment made in the floor of the burial chamber itself. This tends to indicate that the second corridor was hastily converted into a burial chamber, perhaps because the king had died unexpectedly. Even the king’s body has yet to be identified, though it may be one of the unnamed bodies found in the cache burial of tomb DB320. Refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_VII

http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn20/06ramses7.html

KV1 http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/kv1.htm

http://www.narmer.pl/kv/kv01en.htm

http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_815.html

Cache DB320 http://www.narmer.pl/teby/db320_en.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB320

RAMESES VIII

Although known only from inscriptional sources, it is believed that Rameses VIII was a son of Rameses III, indicating that Rameses VII had no offspring to succeed him. Rameses VIII ruled for only about one year and his tomb and body have still to be located. It is possible that one of the newly-discovered tombs in the Royal Valley, KV64, may be his burial place, but this tomb has yet to be excavated and so we simply don’t yet know. Refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_VIII

http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn20/07ramses8.html

A possible tomb? KV64 http://www.kv64.info/2008/08/kv64-kv65.html

RAMESES IX

Rameses IX, a son of Montuherkhepshef (a son of Rameses III), reigned for some eighteen years, which enabled him to undertake construction work at Heliopolis and at the Temple of Amun at Karnak. His reign is remembered for the tomb robberies that were committed in the Valley of the Kings and are recorded in the Abbott Papyrus. His son, another Prince Montuherkhepshef, predeceased his father and was buried in KV19 in the Valley of the Kings – a tomb of remarkable beauty. Rameses IX was himself buried in KV6 and his body was discovered in the DB320

cache. Refer:

http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn20/08ramses9.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_IX

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/phar/ho_59.51a,b.htm

KV6 http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/ramesses9t.htm

http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_820.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_IX_Tomb-plan_Ostracon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KV6

http://www.narmer.pl/kv/kv06en.htm

The Mummy http://www.narmer.pl/ima_mum/ramzes9_1.jpg

KV19 http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_833.html

RAMESES X

Most probably a son of Rameses IX, the length of Rameses X’s reign is uncertain, estimates varying between three and nine years. Little is know about his reign and his only surviving monument is his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV18. This tomb has been open since antiquity and has suffered great damage from flooding. Because of this, it was chosen, in 1903, to house the electrical generating equipment for the Valley. It was roofed over and the damaged walls whitewashed! The tomb is now, finally, being conserved by the SCA. Refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_X

http://www.phouka.com/pharaoh/pharaoh/dynasties/dyn20/09ramses10.html

KV18 http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/kv18.htm

http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_832.html

The final king of the Ramesside Period was Rameses XI, whose complex reign will be considered in the next issue of AE.

Victor Blunden

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