Ramesses III

Ramesses was the second ruler of the 20th dynasty. Ramesses' father was king Setnakht and his mother was Queen Tiy-merenese. He reigned from March 1182 to April 1151 BC. Ramesses looked up to his father. Ramesses had two wives, Isis and Tiye. Tiye was his first wife until he found out she was involved in a plot to kill him.

She tried to kill him so that her son could take the throne. Tiye was killed for trying to kill the pharoah. Isis, on the other hand, was loyal to him. She had two children with him, Ramesses IV and Ramesses VI. He also had Meryatum, Amun-her-khepeshef, Khaemwaset, Duatentopet, and Ramesses VIII. He is known for increasing trade in Egypt.



He is also known for building great monuments and temples. A collection of people from Turkey and Levant tried to invade Egypt and failed. The Sea Peoples (a different group of people) were also stopped by Ramesses' army. Ramesses had said "I did not take my office by robbery, but the crown was put upon my head willingly.

He had a magnificent garden. At the bottom of the statues were his wives. In the second, and smaller, courtyard shows a picture of scribes counting the dead warriors after the Sea Peoples invasion. He began construction of the temple of Khonsu at Karnak. After he finished building the Medinet Habu temple, he depicted his victory against the Sea People.

Ramesses' body was discovered in 1886. The tomb of Ramesses is located in the Valley of the Kings. When you enter the tomb, you reach three corridors followed by a ritual room. Then comes a four pillared room containing scenes from the Book of Gates. The last corridor contains material from a ceremony called The Opening Mouth Ceremony. Finally comes the burial chamber.

The walls consisted of hieroglyphics depicting the royal army, his luxury items, and representations of boats. In some chambers, were pictures of deities. Not many items were found in his tomb. All that was there was his sarcophagus and five bronze shabtis figures. The figures were placed in The British Museum and The Oriental Museum.