Ramesses VI Nebmaatre-Meryamun (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses, also known under his princely name of Amenherkhepshef C) was the fifth ruler of the
Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore toget ...
. He reigned for about eight years in the mid-to-late
12th century BC
The 12th century BC is the period from 1200 to 1101 BC. The Late Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean is often considered to begin in this century.
Events
* 1200 BC: The first civilization in Central and North ...
and was a son of
Ramesses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...
and queen
Iset Ta-Hemdjert
Iset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis Ta-Hemdjert, simply called Isis in her tomb, was an ancient Egyptian queen of the Twentieth Dynasty; the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses III and the Royal Mother of Ramesses VI., pp.186-187
She was probably of Asian ori ...
. As a prince, he was known as Ramesses Amunherkhepeshef and held the titles of royal scribe and cavalry general. He was succeeded by his son,
Ramesses VII Itamun, whom he had fathered with queen
Nubkhesbed
Nubkhesbed ("Gold and Lapis lazuli") was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 20th Dynasty. She was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses VI and mother of Pharaoh Ramesses VII, Princess Iset (God's Wife of Amun) and Princes Amenherkhepshef and P ...
.
After the death of the ruling pharaoh,
Ramesses V
Usermaatre Sekheperenre Ramesses V (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the fourth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and was the son of Ramesses IV and Duatentopet.
Reign
Ramesses V's reign was characterized by the continued growth of t ...
, who was the son of Ramesses VI's older brother,
Ramesses IV
Heqamaatre Setepenamun Ramesses IV (also written Ramses or Rameses) was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. He was the second son of Ramesses III and became crown prince when his elder brother Amenherk ...
, Ramesses VI ascended the throne. In the first two years after his
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
, Ramesses VI stopped frequent raids by Libyan or Egyptian marauders in Upper Egypt and buried his predecessor in what is now an unknown tomb of the Theban necropolis. Ramesses VI usurped
KV9
Tomb KV9 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings was originally constructed by Pharaoh Ramesses V. He was interred here, but his uncle, Ramesses VI, later reused the tomb as his own. The layout is typical of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt, 20th Dynasty &nd ...
, a tomb in the
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...
planned by and for Ramesses V, and had it enlarged and redecorated for himself. The craftsmen's huts near the entrance of KV9 covered up the entrance to
Tutankhamun's tomb
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb consists of four chambers a ...
, saving it from a wave of tomb robberies that occurred within 20 years of Ramesses VI's death. Ramesses VI may have planned and made six more tombs in the
Valley of the Queens
The Valley of the Queens ( ar, وادي الملكات ) is a site in Egypt, where the wives of pharaohs were buried in ancient times. It was known then as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning "the place of beauty". It was most famous for being the burial site ...
, none which are known today.
Egypt lost control of its last strongholds in
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
around the time of Ramesses VI's reign. Though Egyptian occupation in
Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...
continued, the loss of the Asiatic territories strained Egypt's weakening economy and increased prices. With construction projects increasingly hard to fund, Ramesses VI usurped the monuments of his forefathers by engraving his cartouches over theirs. Yet he boasted of having "
overedall the land with great monuments in my name
..built in honour of my fathers the gods". He was fond of cult statues of himself; more are known to portray him than any Twentieth-Dynasty king after Ramesses III. The Egyptologist Amin Amer characterises Ramesses VI as "a king who wished to pose as a great pharaoh in an age of unrest and decline".
The pharaoh's power waned in Upper Egypt during Ramesses VI's rule. Though his daughter
Iset
Iset or Aset is an Ancient Egyptian name, meaning "(She) of the throne". It was the name of the goddess better known by her Greek name Isis. For its etymology see Isis – Etymology.
Its notable bearers were:
* Iset, mother of Thutmose III
* ...
was named
God's Wife of Amun
God's Wife of Amun (Egyptian: ''ḥm.t nṯr n ỉmn'') was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twenty ...
, the
high-priest of Amun,
Ramessesnakht
Ramessesnakht was High Priest of Amun during many years in the 20th Dynasty. He was appointed as the High Priest at Thebes under Ramesses IV. He served in office until the reign of Ramesses IX. It was during Ramessesnakht's tenure that the ...
, turned Thebes into Egypt's religious capital and a second center of power on par with
Pi-Ramesses
Pi-Ramesses (; Ancient Egyptian: , meaning "House of Ramesses") was the new capital built by the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) at Qantir, near the old site of Avaris. The city had served as a summer palace under Seti I ...
in
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...
, where the pharaoh resided. In spite of these developments, there is no evidence that Ramessesnakht's dynasty worked against royal interests, which suggests that the Ramesside kings may have approved of these evolutions.
Ramesses VI died in his forties, in his eighth or ninth year of rule. His mummy lay untouched in his tomb for fewer than 20 years before pillagers damaged it. The body was moved to
KV35
Tomb KV35 is the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898.
Layout and history
It has a dog's leg shape, ...
during the reign of
Pinedjem I
Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 to 1032 BC and the ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC. He was the son of the High Priest Piankh. However, many Egyptologists today believe that t ...
, and was discovered in 1898 by Victor Loret. His mummy is currently kept in the
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) is a large museum ( ) in the ancient city of Fustat, now part of Cairo, Egypt. The museum partially opened in February 2017 and will display a collection of 50,000 artefacts, presenting Egyptian ...
.
Family
Parents and early life
Ramesses VI was a son of
Ramesses III
Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt. He is thought to have reigned from 26 March 1186 to 15 April 1155 BC and is considered to be the last great monar ...
, the latter being considered the last great pharaoh of the
New Kingdom period. This filiation is established beyond doubt by a large relief found in the portico of the
Medinet Habu temple of Ramesses III known as the "Procession of the Princes". The relief shows ten princes including Ramesses VI, worshipping their father. Ramesses III's sculptors seem to have left the relief incomplete; only the figures of the king and princes appear and no names are written in the spaces next to them. The relief seems to have originally been executed when Ramesses VI was still a young prince, as he is shown wearing the
sidelock of youth
The sidelock of youth (also called a Horus lock, Prince's lock, Princess' lock, or side braid) was an identifying characteristic of the child in Ancient Egypt. It symbolically indicates that the wearer is a legitimate heir of Osiris. The sidelock ...
used to denote childhood.
When Ramesses VI became king, he added his princely names "Ramesses Amunherkhepeshef" inside
royal cartouches as well as the titles he held before ascending the throne as "king's son of his body, his beloved,
crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...
, royal scribe
ndcavalry general". He altered his youthful figure on the "Procession of the Princes" with an
uraeus
The Uraeus (), or Ouraeus (Ancient Greek: , ; Egyptian: ', "rearing cobra"), ''(plural: Uraei)'' is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt.
Sym ...
underscoring his royal status and further completed the relief with the names of all his brothers and sons, with the exception of Ramesses IV, who had already written his royal name on the relief.
Speculation in Egyptology during the 1960s and 1970s concerning the chronology and genealogy of the Twentieth Dynasty as well as uncertainties affecting the identity of the king shown on the "Procession of princes" relief led some scholars to propose that Ramesses VI was a grandson of Ramesses III and the son either of an unknown prince or of the infamous
Pentawer
Pentawer (also Pentawere and Pentaweret) was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 20th Dynasty, a son of Pharaoh Ramesses III and his secondary wife, Tiye., p.193 He was involved in the so-called "harem conspiracy", a plot to kill his father and pla ...
involved in the
murder of Ramesses III. Such hypotheses have now been conclusively rejected and the relief is understood to mean exactly what it shows: that Ramesses VI was the son of Ramesses III. Ramesses VI's mother was probably
Iset Ta-Hemdjert
Iset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis Ta-Hemdjert, simply called Isis in her tomb, was an ancient Egyptian queen of the Twentieth Dynasty; the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses III and the Royal Mother of Ramesses VI., pp.186-187
She was probably of Asian ori ...
, Ramesses III's
Great Royal Wife
Great Royal Wife, or alternatively, Chief King's Wife ( Ancient Egyptian: ''ḥmt nswt wrt'', cop, Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ Ⲟⲩⲣϣ), is the title that was used to refer to the principal wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, who served many official ...
, as suggested by the presence of Ramesses VI's cartouches on a door-jamb of
her tomb in the
Valley of the Queens
The Valley of the Queens ( ar, وادي الملكات ) is a site in Egypt, where the wives of pharaohs were buried in ancient times. It was known then as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning "the place of beauty". It was most famous for being the burial site ...
.
Consort and children
![Day 28 - Stela of Isis, Daughter of Ramesses VI (8227377483)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Day_28_-_Stela_of_Isis%2C_Daughter_of_Ramesses_VI_%288227377483%29.jpg)
Ramesses VI's Great Royal Wife was queen
Nubkhesbed
Nubkhesbed ("Gold and Lapis lazuli") was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 20th Dynasty. She was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses VI and mother of Pharaoh Ramesses VII, Princess Iset (God's Wife of Amun) and Princes Amenherkhepshef and P ...
. The Egyptologists
Aidan Dodson
Aidan Mark Dodson (born 1962) is an English Egyptologist and historian. He has been honorary professor of Egyptology at the University of Bristol since 1 August 2018.
Academic career
Dodson, born in London on 11 September 1962, studied at Langle ...
and Dyan Hilton believe that she bore Ramesses VI a total of four children: the princes
Amenherkhepshef
Amenherkhepshef (also Amenherkhepshef D to distinguish him from earlier people of the same name) was an ancient Egyptian prince and a son of Ramesses VI with Queen Nubkhesbed. He lived in the mid 12th century BCE during the Twentieth Dynasty of ...
, Panebenkemyt and Ramesses Itamun—the future pharaoh
Ramesses VII
Usermaatre Setepenre Meryamun Ramesses VII (also written Ramses and Rameses) was the sixth pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He reigned from about 1136 to 1129 BC and was the son of Ramesses VI. Other dates for his reign are 113 ...
who succeeded his father for a short while on the throne—and princess
Iset
Iset or Aset is an Ancient Egyptian name, meaning "(She) of the throne". It was the name of the goddess better known by her Greek name Isis. For its etymology see Isis – Etymology.
Its notable bearers were:
* Iset, mother of Thutmose III
* ...
who was appointed to the priestly role of "
Divine Adoratrice of Amun
The Divine Adoratrice of Amun (Egyptian: '' dwꜣt nṯr n jmn'') was a second title – after God's Wife of Amun – created for the chief priestess of the ancient Egyptian deity Amun. During the first millennium BCE, when the holder of this ...
". A
stela
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
recounting this appointment was discovered in
Koptos
Qift ( arz, قفط ; cop, Ⲕⲉϥⲧ, link=no ''Keft'' or ''Kebto''; Egyptian Gebtu; grc, Κόπτος, link=no ''Coptos'' / ''Koptos''; Roman Justinianopolis) is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated und ...
and demonstrates that Nubkhesbed was indeed Iset's mother.
Prince Amenherkhepshef died before his father and was buried in tomb
KV13
Tomb KV13, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, was cut and decorated for the burial of the noble Bay of the Nineteenth Dynasty. An ostraca published in the French Egyptological journal BIFAO in 2000 records that Chancellor Bay was execut ...
in the Valley of the Kings, originally built for
Chancellor Bay
Bay, also called Ramesse Khamenteru (died 1192 BC), was an important Asiatic official in ancient Egypt, who rose to prominence and high office under Seti II Userkheperure Setepenre and later became an influential powerbroker in the closing stages ...
, an important official of the late
Nineteenth Dynasty
The Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XIX), also known as the Ramessid dynasty, is classified as the second Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC. The 19th Dynasty and the 20th Dynasty furt ...
. The tomb decoration was updated in consequence, some reliefs notably mentioning Nubkhesbed. Amenherkhepshef's sarcophagus was usurped from queen
Twosret
Twosret, also spelled ''Tawosret'' or ''Tausret'' (d. 1189 BC conventional chronology) was the last known ruler and the final pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
She is recorded in Manetho's Epitome as a certain ''Thuoris, who in Home ...
.
The filiation of Ramesses VII is established by an inscription on a doorjamb from Deir el-Medinaeh which reads "the good god, lord of the two lands, Usimaare-meryamun-setepenre, Son of Re, lord of epiphanies, Ramesses
II (It)-Amun, god, ruler of Heliopolis—he has made as his monument for his father, (may) live the good god, lord of the two lands, Nebmaare-meryamun, Son of Re,
amesses VI.
The Egyptologists James Harris,
Edward F. Wente Edward Frank Wente (born 1930) is an American professor emeritus of Egyptology and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.University of ChicagoNear Eastern Languages and Civilizations Retrieved on 08- ...
and
Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (born 1932) is a British biblical scholar, Ancient Near Eastern historian, and Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, Univ ...
have also proposed, based on circumstantial evidence, that
Ramesses IX
Neferkare Setepenre Ramesses IX (also written Ramses) (originally named Amon-her-khepshef Khaemwaset) (ruled 1129–1111 BC) was the eighth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the third longest serving king of this Dynasty after Ra ...
was a son of Ramesses VI and thus a brother to Ramesses VII. They note that Ramesses IX honoured Ramesses VII on two offering stands, suggesting that they were close kin. Ramesses IX named one of his sons Nebmaatre, which is Ramesses VI's prenomen, possibly as a means to honour his father. This hypothesis is contested by other scholars including Dodson and Hilton, who believe that Ramesses IX was instead a son of prince
Montuherkhopshef and thus a nephew to Ramesses VI. They base their conclusion on other circumstantial evidence: first is a depiction of Montuherkhopshef in
KV19
Tomb KV19, located in a side branch of Egypt's Valley of the Kings, was intended as the burial place of Prince Ramesses Sethherkhepshef, better known as Pharaoh Ramesses VIII, but was later used for the burial of Prince Mentuherkhepshef instead, th ...
on which Ramesses IX's prenomen had been added. Second is the fact that Ramesses IX's mother was named Takhat and Montuherkhopshef's spouse might have been a
lady
The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...
of the same name, hence possibly the same person.
Reign
Reign length
Ramesses VI assumed the throne around the interval between Year 1 I
Peret
Pedro Pubill Calaf ( ; 24 March 1935 – 27 August 2014), better known as Peret, was a Spanish Romani singer, guitar player and composer of Catalan rumba from Mataró (Barcelona).
Known for his 1971 single, "Borriquito" (Ariola Records), Per ...
day 25 and Year 1 II
Peret
Pedro Pubill Calaf ( ; 24 March 1935 – 27 August 2014), better known as Peret, was a Spanish Romani singer, guitar player and composer of Catalan rumba from Mataró (Barcelona).
Known for his 1971 single, "Borriquito" (Ariola Records), Per ...
day 11 of his reign when his predecessor Ramesses V died.
[Jürgen von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, (1997), pp.201-202 & Gottinger Miszellen 29 (1978), pp.45-48] The scholarly consensus is now that Ramesses VI reigned in the mid
12th century BC
The 12th century BC is the period from 1200 to 1101 BC. The Late Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean is often considered to begin in this century.
Events
* 1200 BC: The first civilization in Central and North ...
over a period of eight full years and lived for two months into his brief last regnal year. More precisely, the Egyptologist Steve Vinson proposed that he reigned between 1156 BC and 1149 BC, while the
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
reports 1145–1137 BC,
Jürgen von Beckerath
Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920, Hanover – 26 June 2016, Schlehdorf) was a German Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '' Orientalia'', ''Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), ''Journal of t ...
gives 1142–1134 BC,
Erik Hornung 1145–1139 BC,
Nicolas Grimal
Nicolas-Christophe Grimal (born 13 November 1948 in Libourne) is a French Egyptologist.
Biography
Nicolas Grimal was born to Pierre Grimal in 1948. After his Agrégation in Classics in 1971, he obtained a PhD in 1976 and a Doctorat d'État in ...
1144–1136 BC making him a contemporary of Nebuchadrezzar I of
Isin
Isin (, modern Arabic: Ishan al-Bahriyat) is an archaeological site in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq. Excavations have shown that it was an important city-state in the past.
History of archaeological research
Ishan al-Bahriyat was visited b ...
,
Ian Shaw, Jacobus van Dijk and Michael Rice 1143–1136 BC, and 1132–1125 BC in a 2017 study.
In 1977, the Egyptologists
Edward F. Wente Edward Frank Wente (born 1930) is an American professor emeritus of Egyptology and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.University of ChicagoNear Eastern Languages and Civilizations Retrieved on 08- ...
and Charles van Siclen were the first to propose, upon reviewing the chronology of the New Kingdom period, that Ramesses VI lived into his eighth year of reign. This hypothesis was vindicated the next year by the Egyptologist Jac Janssen, who published an analysis of an
ostracon
An ostracon (Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ston ...
which mentions the loan of an ox in the seventh and eighth years of an unnamed king who can only have been Ramesses VI. Two years later, Lanny Bell reported further evidence that Ramesses VI not only reigned into his eighth regnal year but most likely completed it and lived into his ninth.
Ramesses VI's eighth year on the throne may also be mentioned in Theban
graffito 1860a, which names the then serving
High Priest of Amun
The High Priest of Amun or First Prophet of Amun ('' ḥm nṯr tpj n jmn'') was the highest-ranking priest in the priesthood of the ancient Egyptian god Amun. The first high priests of Amun appear in the New Kingdom of Egypt, at the beginning ...
,
Ramessesnakht
Ramessesnakht was High Priest of Amun during many years in the 20th Dynasty. He was appointed as the High Priest at Thebes under Ramesses IV. He served in office until the reign of Ramesses IX. It was during Ramessesnakht's tenure that the ...
. This graffito has also been ascribed to Ramesses X, but this interpretation has been contested and its ascription to Ramesses VI has been proposed as an alternative. The subject remains debated.
An important piece of evidence first recognised by Jansen in 1978 but fully exploited only five years later by the Egyptologist Raphael Ventura is found on the Turin Papyrus 1907+1908, which covers the time period from Ramesses VI's fifth year until Ramesses VII's seventh year on the throne.
The reconstruction of the document proposed by Ventura shows that the simplest solution available to explain the chronology of the period covered by the papyrus is that Ramesses VI enjoyed a reign of eight full years, died in his ninth, and was succeeded by Ramesses VII rather than
Ramesses VIII
Usermaatre Akhenamun Ramesses VIII (also written Ramses and Rameses) or Ramesses Sethherkhepshef Meryamun ('Set is his Strength, beloved of Amun') (reigned 1130–1129 BC, or 1130 BC), was the seventh Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Ki ...
, as had been debated until then.
Activities and situation in Egypt
Early reign: strife in the Theban region
![Ramesses VI Karnak](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Ramesses_VI_Karnak.png)
Immediately after his accession to the throne, Ramesses VI and his court may have visited
Thebes on the occasion of the
Beautiful Festival of the Valley
The Beautiful Festival of the Valley (Egyptian: ''heb nefer en inet''; ar, عيد الوادي الجميل, Eid al-Wadi al-Jamil) was an ancient Egyptian festival, celebrated annually in Thebes (Luxor), during the Middle Kingdom period and lat ...
or the
Opet Festival
The Opet Festival (the Beautiful Festival of Opet/Opeth/''heb nefer en Ipet'') was an annual Ancient Egyptian Festival celebrated in Thebes (Luxor), especially in the New Kingdom and later periods, during the second month of the season of Akhet ...
, concomitant with the preparations for Ramesses V's burial. Ramesses VI visited the city on at least another occasion during his reign, when he installed his daughter as Divine Adoratrice of Amun. The situation in the south of Egypt at the time of Ramesses VI's accession was not entirely stable, as attested by records showing that the workmen of
Deir el-Bahari
Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri ( ar, الدير البحري, al-Dayr al-Baḥrī, the Monastery of the North) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of ...
could not work on the king's tomb owing to the presence of "the enemy" in the vicinity, a situation which occurred over a period of at least fifteen days during Ramesses VI's first year on the throne. This "enemy" was rumoured to have pillaged and burned the locality of Per-Nebyt and the chief of the
Medjay
Medjay (also ''Medjai'', ''Mazoi'', ''Madjai'', ''Mejay'', Egyptian ''mḏꜣ.j'', a nisba of ''mḏꜣ'',) was a demonym used in various ways throughout ancient Egyptian history to refer initially to a nomadic group from Nubia and later as a gen ...
of Thebes—essentially the police—ordered the workmen to remain idle and watch the king's tomb. It is unclear who these enemies were, the term could designate parties of
Libyan Meshwesh,
Libu
The Libu ( egy, rbw; also transcribed Rebu, Lebu, Lbou, Libou) were an Ancient Libyan tribe of Berber origin, from which the name ''Libya'' derives.
Early history
Their occupation of Ancient Libya is first attested in Egyptian language text ...
and Egyptian bandits, or as the Egyptologist
Jaroslav Černý conjectured, a full blown civil war between followers of Ramesses V and Ramesses VI, a hypothesis supported by Rice but which has been strongly rejected by Kitchen and, to a lesser extend, by Grimal and van Dijk.
A short military campaign might have ensued and from Ramesses VI's second year on the throne onwards these troubles seem to have stopped. This campaign could be connected with an unusual statue of Ramesses VI showing him holding a bound Libyan captive, as well as with a depiction of Ramesses VI triumphing over foreign soldiers on the second pylon of the
Karnak temple
The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed Egyptian temple, temples, Pylon (architecture), pylons, chapels, and other ...
. This triumph scene was the last one to be made in Egypt until the later reigns of
Siamun
Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun Siamun was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first Dynasty. He built extensively in Lower Egypt for a king of the Third Intermediate Period and is regarded as one of the most powerful ruler ...
(986–967 BC) and
Shoshenq I
Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I (Egyptian ''ššnq''; reigned c. 943–922 BC)—also known as Shashank or Sheshonk or Sheshonq Ifor discussion of the spelling, see Shoshenq—was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Twenty-secon ...
(943–922 BC).
Other indications in favour of strife and military activities early in Ramesses VI's reign are the names he adopted upon ascending the throne, his Horus name meaning "Strong bull, great of victories, keeping alive the two lands" as well as his Nebty name "Powerful of arms, attacking the myriads".
Later reign
Following these events, on his second year of rule, Ramesses VI finally buried Ramesses V in a yet unidentified tomb in the Valley of the Kings, having usurped the tomb originally prepared for his predecessor. On the occasion of this visit to Thebes, Ramesses VI installed his daughter Iset as
God's Wife of Amun
God's Wife of Amun (Egyptian: ''ḥm.t nṯr n ỉmn'') was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twenty ...
and Divine Adoratice of Amun, in the presence of his mother, the acting
vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...
Nehy and other court officials. That same year, he ordered the reduction of the gang of workmen working on the king's tomb from 120 members to its former number of 60, which had been changed under Ramesses IV. Following this, the community of workers at Deir el-Medina went into gradual decline, the settlement being finally abandoned in the subsequent
Twenty-first Dynasty.
In spite of the reduction, the Turin papyrus indicates that Ramesses VI ordered the construction of six tombs in the Valley of the Queens, a number which might include the hasty completion of the tomb of Iset Ta-Hemdjert, Ramesses' mother.
It is unknown whether these tombs were finished and in any case, they are now unidentifiable.
![Ramesses Vi closeup](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Ramesses_Vi_closeup.jpg)
At some point in his reign, a cult statue of Ramesses VI was installed in a shrine of Ramesses II in the temple of Hathor of
Deir el-Medina
Deir el-Medina ( arz, دير المدينة), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of ...
. The statue was called "Lord of the Two Lands, Nebmaatre Meryamun, Son of Re, Lord of Crowns, Ramesses Amunherkhepeshef Divine Ruler of
Iunu
Heliopolis (I͗wnw, Iunu or 𓉺𓏌𓊖; egy, I͗wnw, 'the Pillars'; cop, ⲱⲛ; gr, Ἡλιούπολις, Hēlioúpοlis, City of the Sun) was a major city of ancient Egypt. It was the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Eg ...
, Beloved like Amun".
A complete description of it is given on the verso of the
Turin Papyrus Map
The Turin Papyrus Map is an ancient Egyptian map, generally considered the oldest surviving map of topographical interest from the ancient world. It is drawn on a papyrus reportedly discovered at Deir el-Medina in Thebes, collected by Bernardino ...
, celebrated for being the oldest surviving topographical map. The papyrus indicates that the statue was made of two essences of painted wood and clay, showing pharaoh wearing a golden loincloth, a crown of
lapis-lazuli
Lapis lazuli (; ), or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, ...
and precious stones, a uraeus of gold and sandals of
electrum
Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially, and ...
. The statue is said to receive three services of
incense
Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be ...
and libations every day. The text of the papyrus is a letter directly addressed to Ramesses VI asking that a certain man be put in charge of the offerings. The letter seems to have been received favourably by the king, as the author's grandson is known to have held the title of "High Priest of Nebmaatre
amesses VI Beloved of Amun".
Ramesses VI was apparently fond of such cult statues and no less than ten statues and a
sphinx
A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon.
In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...
have been discovered in
Tanis
Tanis ( grc, Τάνις or Τανέως ) or San al-Hagar ( ar, صان الحجر, Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar; egy, ḏꜥn.t ; ; cop, ϫⲁⲛⲓ or or ) is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ''ḏꜥn.t'', an important archaeological site in the ...
,
Bubastis
Bubastis ( Bohairic Coptic: ''Poubasti''; Greek: ''Boubastis'' or ''Boubastos''), also known in Arabic as Tell-Basta or in Egyptian as Per-Bast, was an ancient Egyptian city. Bubastis is often identified with the biblical ''Pi-Beseth'' ( he ...
and Karnak, more than any other Ramesside king of the Twentieth Dynasty following the reign of Ramesses III. The tomb of Penne, an Egyptian high-official in
Nubia
Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...
reports that Penne made a donation of lands to generate revenue towards the upkeep of yet another cult statue of Ramesses VI. Ramesses VI was so satisfied with this deed that he commanded his
Viceroy of Kush
The former Kingdom of Kerma in Nubia, was a province of ancient Egypt from the 16th century BCE to eleventh century BCE. During this period, the polity was ruled by a viceroy who reported directly to the Egyptian Pharaoh. It is believed that the ...
"Give the two silver vessels of ointment of gums, to the deputy
enne
Enne may refer to:
*Enne Dam, a dam in Kütahya Province, Turkey
*Canton of Enne et Alzou, an administrative division of Aveyron, France
*Enne Limited, a data company founded by Antonino Letteriello
People with the surname
*Merika Enne (born 1992) ...
.
While few of Ramesses VI's activities are known in details, he is well attested by numerous reliefs, inscriptions, statues and minor finds from Karnak, Koptos and
Heliopolis.
Economic decline
Over the period spanning the reigns of Ramesses VI, VII and VIII, prices of basic commodities, in particular grain, rose sharply.
With Egypt's economy getting weaker, Ramesses VI turned to usurping the statues and monuments of his forebears, frequently plastering and then carving his cartouches over theirs, in particular those of Ramesses IV which figured prominently along the processional routes in Karnak and Luxor. In other examples, he usurped a statue of Ramesses IV, columns of texts inscribed by Ramesses IV on an obelisk of
Thutmose I
Thutmose I (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis I, Thothmes in older history works in Latinized Greek; Ancient Egyptian: '' ḏḥwtj- ms'', ''Tʼaḥawtī-mīsaw'', , meaning "Thoth is born") was the third pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of E ...
in Karnak, and the tomb of Ramesses V. Kitchen warns not to over-interpret these usurpations as signs of antagonism on behalf of Ramesses VI with respect to his older brother and nephew. The usurpations were not thorough but were rather targeted to the most prominent places, where Ramesses VI's cartouches would be most visible. Besides, Ramesses VI did leave cartouches of Ramesses IV intact in many places, including in places where both his name and that of his brother feature close to one another such as in the Medinet Habu temple of Ramesses III, so that the hypothesis of a ''
damnatio memoriae
is a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts. Depending on the extent, it can be a case of historical negationism. There are and have been many routes to , includi ...
''—whereby all references to someone are systematically eliminated so as to remove this person from memory and history—can be eliminated.
A possible evidence for genuine architectural works on Ramesses VI's behalf is found in
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
, where an inscription on a granite gateway cornice of the
temple of Ptah
The High Priest of Ptah was sometimes referred to as "the Greatest of the Directors of Craftsmanship" ('' wr-ḫrp-ḥmwt''). This title refers to Ptah as the patron god of the craftsmen.Dodson and Hilton, ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancie ...
claims that he erected a great pylon of fine stone. Ramesses VI then boasts of "covering all the land with great monuments in my name
..built in honour of my fathers the gods".
Overall, the Egyptologist Amin Amer characterises Ramesses VI as "a king who wished to pose as a great pharaoh in an age of unrest and decline".
Dilution of power
High officials
Some high officials of Ramesses VI are known, such as his finance minister and overseer of the treasury Montuemtawy who was in office since the end of Ramesses III's reign; the vizier Neferronpe in office since Ramesses IV's time on the throne; his son the vizier Nehy; Amenmose the mayor of Thebes and the king's butler Qedren. To the south, the troop commander of Kush was Nebmarenakhte and the administrator of Wawat—the land between the first and second cataracts of the Nile—mayor of
Anîba and controller of the
Temple of Horus at Derr was Penne.
The dynasty of Ramessesnakht
![Ramessesnakht Theban Triad Statue 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Ramessesnakht_Theban_Triad_Statue_2012.jpg)
In Thebes, the high-priesthood came under the control of Ramessesnakht and his family at the time of Ramesses IV, possibly owing to Ramessesnakht's father Merybaste's high control over the country's financial institutions. Ramessesnakht was officially Ramesses VI's Vizier of the South and his power grew at the expense of that of the pharaoh in spite of the fact that Iset was connected to the Amun priesthood as well "in her role as God's Wife of Amun or Divine Adoratice". If fact, Ramessesnakht most likely oversaw the construction of the funerary building of Iset in the tomb
complex K93.12, and while, as the Egyptologist Daniel Polz puts it, "he and his relatives were the most powerful individuals in Egypt at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty", his activities were not directed against royal interests. Ramessesnakht often attended the distribution of supplies to workmen and controlled much of the activity connected with the construction of the king's tomb, possibly because the treasury of the high-priest of Amun was now at least partially funding these works. Ramessesnakht's son Usermarenakhte was made into the Steward of Amun and became administrator of large swaths of land in Middle Egypt. He also inherited the role of Merybaste as controller of the country's taxes, ensuring that Ramessesnakht's family was in full control of both the royal treasury and the treasury of Amun. Further high offices such as those of the second and third priests and of "god's father of Amun" were given to people who entered Ramesesnakht's family by marriage.
Ramessesnakht was powerful enough to build for himself one of the largest funerary establishments of the entire Theban necropolis at the end of the New Kingdom, when royal building projects including Ramesses VI's usurped mortuary temple had been abandoned. Ramessesnakht's monument, in
Dra' Abu el-Naga'
The necropolis of Draʻ Abu el-Naga' ( ar, دراع ابو النجا) is located on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes, Egypt, just by the entrance of the dry bay that leads up to Deir el-Bahari and north of the necropolis of el-Assasif. The ne ...
, reused an earlier building dating back to the
Seventeenth or
Eighteenth Dynasty and was refurbished to show the political and economic standing of its owner. Overall, Egyptologists now estimate that Ramessesnakht and his dynasty essentially established a second centre of power in
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient ...
, seemingly on the behalf of the Twentieth Dynasty kings who ruled from Memphis and
Pi-Ramesses
Pi-Ramesses (; Ancient Egyptian: , meaning "House of Ramesses") was the new capital built by the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279–1213 BC) at Qantir, near the old site of Avaris. The city had served as a summer palace under Seti I ...
in
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...
. This effectively made Thebes into the religious capital of Egypt as well as an administrative one on a par with its northern counterpart, laying the foundations for the rise of the Twenty-first Dynasty under
Herihor
Herihor was an Egyptian army officer and High Priest of Amun at Thebes (1080 BC to 1074 BC) during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses XI.
Chronological and genealogical position
Traditionally his career was placed before that of the High Priest of A ...
and
Pinedjem I
Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 to 1032 BC and the ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC. He was the son of the High Priest Piankh. However, many Egyptologists today believe that t ...
, 50 to 70 years later.
Situation in Egypt's empire abroad
Final decline in Canaan
![Buste Ramsès VI mutilé](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Buste_Rams%C3%A8s_VI_mutil%C3%A9.JPG)
Egypt's political and economic decline continued unabated during Ramesses VI's reign. He is the last king of the New Kingdom period whose name is attested on inscribed wall fragments as well as two pillars of the temple of Hathor of the
Serabit el-Khadim
Serabit el-Khadim ( ar, سرابيط الخادم ; also transliterated Serabit al-Khadim, Serabit el-Khadem) is a locality in the southwest Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, where turquoise was mined extensively in antiquity, mainly by the ancient Egypt ...
in
Sinai
Sinai commonly refers to:
* Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
* Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God
Sinai may also refer to:
* Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...
, where he sent expeditions to mine copper ore.
Egypt may nonetheless still have wielded some sort of influence or at least still had some connections with the remnants of its empire in the Levant, as suggested by the base of a fragmented bronze statue of Ramesses VI discovered in
Megiddo Megiddo may refer to:
Places and sites in Israel
* Tel Megiddo, site of an ancient city in Israel's Jezreel valley
* Megiddo Airport, a domestic airport in Israel
* Megiddo church (Israel)
* Megiddo, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel
* Megiddo Junction, ...
in
Canaan
Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...
, and a
scarab of his from
Alalakh
Alalakh (''Tell Atchana''; Hittite: Alalaḫ) is an ancient archaeological site approximately northeast of Antakya (historic Antioch) in what is now Turkey's Hatay Province. It flourished, as an urban settlement, in the Middle and Late Bronze A ...
on the coast in southern
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
.
Egyptian presence in Canaan was terminated during or soon after Ramesses VI's rule, with the last garrisons leaving southern and western Palestine around the time, and the frontier between Egypt and abroad returning to a fortified line joining the Mediterranean to the
Red Sea
The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...
. A 2017 archaeological study reached the same conclusion, namely that Ramesses VI's reign is the
terminus post quem
''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items..
A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...
for the presence of the Egyptian military in
Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
, which was twice destroyed around this time period. Opponents of the Egyptian authority were of local extraction, probably originating in Canaanite cities of the Levantine coastal plain, an opposition to Egyptian hegemony ultimately resulting from the arrival of the
Sea People
The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...
in the region during the reign of Ramesses III. The loss of all Asiatic territories further strained the redistributive economy of Egypt's New Kingdom society, depriving the subsequent kings of much of their legitimacy.
Continuing presence in Nubia
The Egyptian control of Nubia seems to have been much firmer at the time, owing either to the advanced Egyptianisation of the local population or to the economic importance of this region. Ramesses VI's cartouches have been uncovered on
Sehel Island
Sehel Island () is located in the Nile, about southwest of Aswan in southern Egypt. It is a large island, and is roughly halfway between the city and the upstream Aswan Low Dam.
Geography
Sehel Island, spanning 3/4 the width of the Nile, is the ...
near
Aswan
Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate.
Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the ...
and in Ramesses II's temple in
Wadi es-Sebua
The temples of Wadi es-Sebua ( ar, وادى السبوع , translate=Valley of the Lions, so-called because of the sphinx-lined approach to the temple forecourts), is a pair of New Kingdom Egyptian temples, including one speos temple constructed ...
. Ramesses VI is mentioned in the tomb of Penne in Anîba, not far from the
Third Cataract of the Nile. Penne also recounts punitive military raids further south, from which he claims to have brought back loot to pharaoh.
Funerary monuments
Tomb
![Ramses VI mummy head](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Ramses_VI_mummy_head.png)
Ramesses VI was buried in the
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...
, in a tomb now known as
KV9
Tomb KV9 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings was originally constructed by Pharaoh Ramesses V. He was interred here, but his uncle, Ramesses VI, later reused the tomb as his own. The layout is typical of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt, 20th Dynasty &nd ...
. The tomb was first built for Ramesses V, who may have been buried in it for the short period of time necessary for another, likely undecorated tomb, to be cut for him somewhere else in the Valley of Kings and which remains to be discovered. In any case, Ramesses VI commanded that KV9 be entirely refurbished for himself with no space left for Ramesses V's permanent burial, who was finally led to rest in Ramesses VI's second year on the throne, possibly because stability had returned to Thebes at the time. The usurpation of Ramesses V's tomb may be a sign that Ramesses VI did not hold his predecessor in high regard, which would explain why he had Ramesses V's name obliterated and replaced by his own on more than one occasion. Alternatively it may reflect the king's pragmatic concern for economical measures.
The renewed works on KV9 are responsible for the preservation of the
tomb of Tutankhamun
The tomb of Tutankhamun, also known by its tomb number, KV62, is the burial place of Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb ...
, the entrance of which was buried beneath huts built for the craftsmen working on Ramesses VI's tomb. These works seem to have been completed during Ramesses VI's sixth year of reign, at which point Ramessesnakht received 600
debens of blunted copper tools in the great forecourt of Amun in Karnak, probably indicating the end of the construction works on the tomb. Furthermore, if the Theban ostracon 1860a does refer to Ramesses VI and not Ramesses X, then it indicates that the tomb was finally ready for the king in his eighth year on the throne, at which point he might have been ill and nearing death. Once finished, the tomb was -long and included one of only three complete renditions of the
Book of Gates
The Book of Gates is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. It narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world, corresponding to the journey of the sun through the underworld during the hours of the night. ...
known from royal funerary context, as well as a complete version of the
Book of Caverns
The Book of Caverns is an important ancient Egyptian netherworld book of the New Kingdom.Hornung (1999) p.83 Like all other netherworld books, it is also attested on the inside of kings’ tombs for the benefit of the deceased. It describes the ...
.
Within 20 years of Ramesses VI's burial, the tomb was most probably desecrated and ransacked by grave robbers, who hacked away at the hands and feet of Ramesses' mummy to gain access to his jewelry. These events, occurring during the reign of
Ramesses XI
Menmaatre Ramesses XI (also written Ramses and Rameses) reigned from 1107 BC to 1078 BC or 1077 BC and was the tenth and final pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and as such, was the last king of the New Kingdom period. He ruled Egypt for ...
, are described in the
Papyrus Mayer B although the identification of the tomb mentioned in this source is not entirely certain. Ramesses VI's mummy was subsequently moved to the tomb
KV35
Tomb KV35 is the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep II located in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt. Later, it was used as a cache for other royal mummies. It was discovered by Victor Loret in March 1898.
Layout and history
It has a dog's leg shape, ...
of
Amenhotep II
Amenhotep II (sometimes called ''Amenophis II'' and meaning ''Amun is Satisfied'') was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few militar ...
during the reign of Pinedjem of the early Twenty-First Dynasty, where it was discovered in 1898 by
Victor Loret
Victor Clement Georges Philippe Loret (1 September 1859 – 3 February 1946) was a French Egyptologist.
Biography
His father, Clément Loret, was a professional organist and composer, of Belgian origin, who had been living in Paris since ...
.
A medical examination of the mummy revealed that Ramesses VI died aged around forty, and showed severe damage to his body, the head and torso being broken into several pieces by an axe used by the tomb robbers. A isolated female hand was found within the mummy's wrappings.
[ ]
In 1898,
Georges Émile Jules Daressy cleared KV9, which had remained opened since antiquity, uncovering fragments of a large granite box as well as numerous pieces of Ramesses VI's
mummiform stone sarcophagus, the face of which is now in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. The sarcophagus was restored in 2004 following two years of work on over 250 fragments recovered in the tomb, where it is now on display.
Zahi Hawass
Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...
, then head of Egypt's
Supreme Council of Antiquities
The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) was a department of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture from 1994 to 2011. It was the government body responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavatio ...
, unsuccessfully requested the return of the sarcophagus' face from the British Museum to Egypt.
In 2020, the
Egyptian Tourism Authority released a full 3D model of the tomb with detailed photographies, available online.
In April 2021 his mummy was moved from the
Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...
to the
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization
The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) is a large museum ( ) in the ancient city of Fustat, now part of Cairo, Egypt. The museum partially opened in February 2017 and will display a collection of 50,000 artefacts, presenting Egyptian ...
along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the
Pharaohs' Golden Parade
The Pharaohs' Golden Parade ( ar, موكب المومياوات الملكية, arz, موكب المميات الملكيه, cop, Ϯϫⲓⲛⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̀ⲛⲓⲫⲁⲣⲁⲱ ⲛ̀ⲛⲟⲩⲃ, Tiḏinouōnh nnipharaō nnoub) was an eve ...
.
Mortuary temple
Ramesses VI seems to have usurped the large
mortuary temple Mortuary temples (or funerary temples) were temples that were erected adjacent to, or in the vicinity of, royal tombs in Ancient Egypt. The temples were designed to commemorate the reign of the Pharaoh under whom they were constructed, as well as f ...
in
El-Assasif
El-Assasif ( ar, العساسيف) is a necropolis near Luxor on the West Bank at Thebes, Egypt, Upper Egypt. It is located in the dry bay that leads up to Deir el-Bahari and south of the necropolis of Dra' Abu el-Naga'.
El-Assasif contains burial ...
from Ramesses V, who had himself likely taken it from his father Ramesses IV. The temple was planned to be nearly half the size of that of Medinet Habu and was only in its foundation stages at the death of Ramesses IV. It is unclear whether it was ever completed, but the temple is mentioned as a land-owning institution in the
Wilbour Papyrus
The Wilbour Papyrus is the largest known non-funerary papyrus from Ancient Egypt, named after the New York journalist Charles Edwin Wilbour who acquired it in 1893.
History
Charles Edwin Wilbour purchased seventeen papyri from a farmer when he ...
dating to Ramesses V's reign. Archaeological excavations show much of its surviving decoration was made under Ramesses VI.
Notes and references
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Ramesses VI Nebmaatre-meryamun on Digital EgyptVirtual tour of his tombVirtual exploration of his tomb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramesses 06
12th-century BC pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt
Ancient Egyptian mummies
Year of birth unknown
Children of Ramesses III