MERNEPTAH

'Merneptah' (or 'Merenptah') was the fourth ruler of the 19th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He reigned Egypt for almost 10 years between late July/early August 1213 to May 2 1203 BC according to contemporary historical records.^[1] He was the 'thirteenth' son of Ramesses II^[2] and only came to power because all his older brothers had predeceased him, by which time he was almost sixty years old. His throne name was ''Ba-en-re Mery-netjeru'', which means "The Soul of Ra, Beloved of the Gods".

Merneptah was probably the fourth child of Ramesses II's second wife, ''Istnofret'' (Isisnofret). He was married to Queen Istnofret (Isisnofret) who was likely his sister, and possibly also to a Queen Takhat. One of his sons would become the later 19th dynasty pharaoh Seti II. They were also the parents of prince Merenptah and Khaemwaset or Khaemwase.

Contents

Campaigns

Succession

Mummy

References

External links

Campaigns

Merneptah had to carry out several campaigns during his reign, mainly fighting against the Libyans, who—with the assistance of the Sea Peoples—were threatening Egypt from the West. In the fifth year of his reign, Merneptah led a victorious six-hour battle against a combined Libyan and Sea People force at the city of Perire, probably located on the western edge of the Delta. His account of this campaign against the Sea Peoples and Libu is described in prose on a wall beside the sixth pylon at Karnak and in poetic form in the Merneptah Stele, widely known as the ''Israel Stele'', which makes reference to the supposed utter destruction of ''Israel'' during a prior campaign in Canaan: "Israel has been wiped out...its seed is no more." This is the only undisputedly recognised ancient Egyptian reference to Israel and the first explicit written record of the existence of the Ancient Israelites in this region.

Succession

Merneptah was the 13th son of Ramesses II, and he was in his late 50s to early 60s when he took the throne. Merneptah moved the administrative center for Egypt from Piramesse (Pi-Ramesse), his fathers capital, back to Memphis, where he constructed a royal palace next to the temple of Ptah. This palace was excavated in 1915 by the University of Pennsylvania Museum led by Clarence Fischer.

Mummy

He suffered from arthritis and arteriosclerosis in old age and died of natural causes after a reign which lasted for nearly a decade. Merneptah was originally buried within tomb KV8 in the Valley of the Kings, but his mummy was not found there. In 1898 it was located along with eighteen other mummies in the mummy cache found in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) by Victor Loret. Merneptah's mummy was taken to Cairo and eventually unwrapped by Dr. G. Elliott Smith on July 8 1907. Dr Smith commented that:
: ''The body is that of an old man and is 1 meter 714 millimeters in height. Merenptah was almost completely bald, only a narrow fringe of white hair (now cut so close as to be seen only with difficulty) remaining on the temples and occiput. A few short (about 2 mill) black hairs were found on the upper lip and scattered, closely clipped hairs on the cheeks and chin. The general aspect of the face recalls that of Ramesses II, but the form of the cranium and the measurements of the face much more nearly agree with those of his [grand]father, Seti the Great''.^[3]
Merneptah was succeeded by his son and chosen successor Seti II. However, Seti II's accession to the thrown was not unxchallenged: a rival king named Amenmesse who was either a son of Merneptah or Ramesses II soon revolted and seized control over Upper Egypt and Kush during the middle half of Seti II's reign. Seti was only able to reassert his authority over Thebes in his fifth year after he ousted Amenmesse.

References

1. J. von Beckerath, ''Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten'', Mainz, (1997), pp.190
2. Callender, Gae; The Eye Of Horus: A History of Ancient Egypt; p.263
3. Grafton Elliot Smith, The Royal Mummies, 1912, Cairo, pp.65-70


★ '', 1991, Christian Settipani, p. 153 and 175

External links

★ Merneptah - Archaeowiki.org

★ Hieroglyphic text of the Israel Stela

★ Merneptah