Ramesses-Meryamun-Nebweben was an ancient Egyptian prince, a son of

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, wikt:rꜥ-ms-sw, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is oft ...

. Since he is not shown or mentioned anywhere among the children of Ramesses, he is likely to have been one of the youngest of Ramesses' sons. He is known to us only from the inscriptions of his coffins. The identity of his mother is unknown. He spent his life in the Mer-wer harem, and was buried nearby after his death in his 30s. His body was found, and it is apparent that he had a deformed spine and was hunchbacked. It is likely that because of his deformity it was difficult to find an adequate coffin for him. He was buried in an unused outer coffin of his great-grandfather, which

Ramesses I Menpehtyre Ramesses I (or Ramses) was the founding pharaoh of ancient Egypt's 19th Dynasty. The dates for his short reign are not completely known but the time-line of late 1292–1290 BC is frequently cited as well as 1295–1294 BC. While Ra ...

had had made when he was still a vizier. Although the inner coffin was also altered for Ramesses-Meryamun-Nebweben's burial, and the inscriptions were changed to his name instead of that of his great-grandfather, only the outer coffin was used, and the inner one was found by archeologists in a pit in

Medinet Habu Medinet Habu ( ar, مدينة هابو; Egyptian: ''Tjamet'' or ''Djamet''; cop, ''Djeme'' or ''Djemi'') is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Lux ...

. Unlike several of his brothers, whose name also includes the name ''Ramesses,'' in his name "Ramesses Meryamun" was enclosed in a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

, making it explicit that it is not used in its literal meaning ("Born of

Rê Ra (; egy, wikt:rꜥ, rꜥ; also transliterated ; cuneiform: ''ri-a'' or ''ri-ia''; Phoenician language, Phoenician: 𐤓𐤏,Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, CIS I 3778 romanized: rʿ) or Re (; cop, ⲣⲏ, translit=Rē) was the ancient ...

, Beloved of

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

") but refers to the pharaoh. ''Nebweben'' means "lord of sunshine", the meaning of the prince's name is thus "Pharaoh Ramesses is the Lord of Sunshine". Such names, glorifying the pharaoh, are often found as names taken by high officials, but are relatively rare as given names within the royal family during the

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

.Dodson & Hilton, p.285

References

{{reflist, 30em Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt Ramesses II Egyptian people with disabilities Children of Ramesses II

See also

References