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Volume 10 issue 2 October 2009

ANCIENT EGYPT explores the WORLD WIDE WEB ...

THE LAST RAMESSIDE KING

This month’s NETFISHING continues its look at the history of Egypt by seeing what the World Wide Web has to say about the end of the Twentieth Dynasty & the complex reign of Rameses XI, the last Ramesside king.

Rameses XI was probably a son of Rameses X. He ruled Egypt not from Memphis but from the city founded by Rameses the Great, Piramesse in the Delta. Although his reign lasted for some twenty-eight years, during most of this time he was in effect only the ruler of Northern Egypt, as much of the rest of the country was ‘ruled’ by the High Priests of Amun at Karnak. Refer:

http://touregypt.net/featurestories/ramessesxi.htm

During his reign the increasing power of the priesthood at Thebes came to a head. Egypt was divided, and it suffered from economic problems, which were not helped by the famine of ‘the year of the hyenas’. Tombs were robbed, and civil unrest stalked the land. The king’s major concern was, however, to establish control once more over Thebes and Upper Egypt.

The High Priest of Amun, one Amenhotep, appears to have taken on a kingly role, seemingly in direct challenge to the authority of Rameses XI; Amenhotep even had himself depicted on the same scale as the king on the walls of the 7th Pylon at Karnak. The challenge could not be ignored, and the king ordered the Viceroy of Kush (Nubia) to move north and remove High Priest Amenhotep from power. Refer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep,_Priest_of_Amun

The resulting battles lasted for some nine months as ‘The War of the High Priest’ raged across Thebes. The workers of Deir el-Medina took refuge within the Temple of Medinet Habu, which was at one point held under siege, but by Year 12, High Priest Amenhotep had been deposed. Refer:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/habu.htm

The victorious Viceroy of Kush, Panehesy, duly assumed the role of High Priest of Amun, and so once again effective control of Upper Egypt passed into the hands of a High Priest, rather than that of the king. Panehesy’s rule lasted until Year 19, when Rameses XI sent the general Herihor, to deal with matters and restore royal authority once more. Panehesy evaded capture, however, and retreated back into Nubia, where the loss of control of the gold mines there contributed to Egypt’s financial problems.

It is possible that Panehesy’s decendents returned to Egypt much later in Egyptian history – founding the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Nubian Pharaohs. The victorious general, Herihor, was made ‘Vizier of Upper Egypt’ and was later even appointed as High Priest of Amun. The position suited him; and he, like his predecessor, duly depicted himself on the same scale as the king in the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak. He also took to putting his name in a cartouche. The king was in no position to do anything about this usurpation by his High Priest and documents of the period duly recognise the true state of affairs by recording a dual dating system: Year 1 of Herihor being the same as that of Year 19 of Rameses XI.

During the ‘reign’ of King Herihor a Priest of Amun called Wenamun was sent to procure wood to build a new Barque of Amun. His sorry treatment by the Princes of Lebanon reflects the diminished stature of the kings of Egypt. Refer:

http://www.touregypt.net/wenamensjourney.htm

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

Herihor ‘ruled’ for some six years but died around Year 24 of Rameses XI. His tomb has yet to be discovered. Refer:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/herihor.htm

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/khonsutemple.htm

www.geocities.com/anubis4_2000/egyptpages/herihor.htm

Rameses XI died a few years later, but his tomb, KV4, the last royal tomb to be built in the Valley, appears never to have been used. His death marks the end of the Twentieth Dynasty and the transition into the Late Period. Refer:

www.touregypt.net/featurestories/ramessest11.htm

http://narmer.pl/kv/kv04en.htm

www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_818.html

The next king of Egypt was Smendes, the first king of the Twenty-first Dynasty, a son of Herihor and son-in-law of Rameses XI. The Two Kingdoms had been united once more, but the rule of the High Priests was not yet over – as the story of the Twenty-first Dynasty will show.

Victor Blunden

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