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     J.D. Degreef (213.177.133.201) |
The end of the 19th dynasty. *Sethy II as a prince : At his accession, Ramses II’s successor and 13th son Merenptah was already old enough to be a grandfather. His son Sethy-Merenptah was given important titles, as heir of the realm. This is probably the future Sethy II, who from his mummy was a middle-aged man (Merenptah could easily have had a 40 year old son, and Sethy II only reigned for about five years). *Beginning of Sethy II’s reign : The reign of Sethy II began in the first half of the Pert season (either 29.I.prt or 25.I or II.prt). At his accession, the vizier was one Amenmes, the viceroy of Nubia Khaemteri. The new king did control Nubia, as shown by an inscription in Abu Simbel, dated year 1, 2d month of Akhet, day 25, i.e. about four months after his coronation. A Nubian attestation of Sethy II’s year 2 (in Amada) is doubtful. Blocks of his in Debod could date from the first months of his reign, or from the end. Work on Sethy II’s tomb was started, the entrance corridor decorated, further inwards the decoration was drawn in red. The tomb of queen Tausert was also started (KV 14) near the end of year 2. In Deir el-Medineh, the village of the workers who built the tombs in the VOK, the last date of Sethy II is year 2, 2d month of Pert, day 13. In Silsileh (in the far South of Upper Egypt), there’s a date of year 2, 4th month of Pert. This is already after the accession of a rival king, Amenmes : his reign had started on 18.III.Smw, four or five months after that of Sethy II. The work on the tomb of Sethy II is then stopped. *Reign of Amenmes in Upper Egypt : -Beginning of reign : he seems to have started his reign in Nubia, not in Pi-Ramses, Sethy II’s residence (when Sethy II died, the news didn’t reach Thebes until twenty days later, which shows that he resided in the North). Amenmes’ year 1 is mentioned in Buhen (Nubia). The southern vizier Amenmes remained in place, until king Amenmes replaced him with the ex-viceroy of Kush, Khaemteri, who apparently was one of his partisans. An official named Mery became Amenmes’ “delegate in Wawat (Nubia)” (Abu Simbel stela). The high-priest of Amon, Romeroy, an old man who had already been in place under Ramses II, kept his position under Amenmes. Work on Sethy II’s tomb and on that of Tausert stopped. -The origins of Amenmes are unknown. He had two stelae engraved in Sethy I’s funerary temple in Qurna, where he worships Sethy I and Ramses II, so he must have been a descendant of these kings (a collateral line or he could even have been a son of Sethy II !). Sethy II’s queen was Ta-usert. A “king’s eldest son Sethy-Merenptah” is mentioned on Sethy I’s Karnak bark shrine. He seems to have died before his father, and his name and titles were replaced by those of the chancellor Bay. Sethy II seems to have had another wife, named Takhat. She may have been the mother of Amenmes -Antagonism : Amenmes had Sethy II’s cartouches erased in the VOK tomb and on statues. He started his own tomb (VOK 10), near that of Merenptah (possibly another clue as to his origins). This tomb is now filled up with debris, but it is known that it was later adapted for two 20th dyn. queens. The tomb and statues of Amenmes were of excellent quality. -Extent of Amenmes’ dominion : all his documents are from Upper Egypt, except for a vase with his cartouches, from Riqqa, S of Memphis. Amenmes probably never reigned from Pi-Ramses. His name doesn’t occur in the Sinai, where those of Sethy II and Tausert are well attested. *End of Amenmes’ reign : he reigned into his 4th year (= Sethy II’s 5th). Manetho lists a king Ammenemmês, who reigned for 5 years (Africanus) or a no doubt corrupt number of 26 years (Eusebius). *End of Sethy II’s reign : -Sethy II’s documents, indeed dated from year 5, reappear in Thebes, although a return there after only two years is mentioned by one document : does this mark the comings and goings during a civil war (allusions to one in Deir el-Medineh papyrus Salt 124) ? -the work on Sethy II’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings are resumed, but strangely not on that of queen Tausert. -a vizier Pa-ra-em-heb replaces Khaemteri, whose inscriptions and tomb he usurps. At the end of year 6, he will be replaced by the former northern vizier Hori, possibly because he had been linked with an dubious Deir el-Medineh character named Pa-neb, who had also compromised himself with the partisans of Amenmes to further his means. The name of the high-priest of Amon Romeroy and that of the delegate in Nubia Mery are left intact. -Sethy II reigned for one or two years after the end of Amenmes’ reign. *Reign of Siptah : -Sethy II was succeeded by one Ramses-Siptah, who the chancellor Bay boasted twice he “placed on the throne of his father”. The new king was crowned on day 2 of month 1 of Pert. From his mummy, he must have been very young at his accession, probably about ten. He had a club-foot. -chancellor Bay : he had started his career under Sethy II. His real name was Ramses-kha-em-neteru, a typical name for an Asiatic cupbearer. -again, Siptah’s origins are unknown. Against whom did Bay impose Siptah as king ? Sethy II’s queen Ta-usert, who could have been opposed to the descendants of her rival, queen Takhat ? The name of a “Great King’s Wife Tiaa” was found near Siptah’s tomb (KV 47) : she may have been his mother and Amenmes’ queen. Alternatively, a block from Pi-Ramses (Louvre) shows a prince Ramses-Siptah with “his mother, the king’s wife Sutaliya” (an Asiatic name), but this may be a homonymous son of Ramses II rather than of Sethy II. There exists a statue (Munich) of king Merenptah-Siptah (after the name change) sitting on the knees of a destroyed figure. As the seat carries a sema-tawi motive, this must have been a king, possibly Amenmes, which would explain why his figure was destroyed. Tausert kept her title of “Great King’s Wife” during this reign, but hardly appears on his monuments. But that she was powerful, even more than during the latter half of Sethy II’s reign, is shown by the work on her tomb resuming a soon as Sethy II was buried, according to a graffito above the entrance, dated from year 1 of Siptah. In the tomb, Tausert was shown in the company of Siptah, but the tomb is really of royal dimensions, showing the queen’s power (as does the simple fact that she was allowed a tomb in the Valley of the Kings !). -change of names : during year 3 at the latest, Siptah changed his names from Sekha-en-Re-mery-Amon Ramses-Siptah to Akh-en-Re-setep-en-Re Merenptah-Siptah. -most attestations of Siptah are in Nubia. Did he have to hold this region which had rebelled against Merenptah and Sethy II ? Or did he have a natural sympathy for a region where his putative father Amenmes had had his power base ? In Amada, Bay worshipping Siptah appears on the side of a door, Tausert on the other side. A viceroy of Nubia, Sethy, is designated year 1. -Siptah’s short reign has produced few monuments. He had his name written on older buildings, he founded a funerary temple for his cult and that of Bay. It also yielded a scarab with Tausert’s name. The tombs of Siptah (KV 47) and Bay (KV 17) are facing each other in the Valley of the Kings. Bay also possessed a vineyard, a privilege normally reserved for royals. Siptah’s name doesn’t occur in the Sinai. -the end of Bay : the latest attestations of Bay are from year 4. A Deir el-Medineh ostracon has recently been discovered, which carries the following and surprising text : “Year 5, 3th month of Shemu, day 27. This day the scribe of the (royal) tomb Paser came announcing : ‘Pharaoh, life-force-health, has killed the great enemy Bay’.” (P. GRANDET, “L’exécution du chancelier Bay, O[stracon] IFAO 1864”, BIFAO 75 (2000) -, pp. 339-342 & pl. 343-345). This is very strange, as Bay seems to have been an ally of Siptah. Could it allude to Tausert instead of Siptah ? -the end of Siptah’s reign : the highest date may be year 6, 2d month of Akhet, day 18, from Tausert ‘s tomb, possibly marking a new phase of works there at the king’s death. The king is buried day 22 of the 4th month of Akhet. *The reign of Ta-usert : -Tausert continues Siptah’s dating, as if she had been Sethy II’s successor. In her tomb, she indeed has the representations of Siptah changed into Sethy II. A graffito in the room behind the sarcophagus chamber may date this new attitude from year 6, 2d month of Akhet, day 18. Tausert then extends the tomb and adds a huge sarcophagus chamber, corresponding with her royal function. The foundations of her funerary temple in Qurna are three times larger than Siptah’s monument. -other inscriptions of hers are known from Abydos and Hermopolis (here she replaces Siptah’s cartouches with her own). But otherwise all her monuments are in Lower Egypt (she must have resided in Pi-Ramses, where foundation deposits of a cult temple of hers have been found). Her name also occurs on objects found in Asia. A treasure of precious metal vases from her reign, buried in Bubastis, may be alluded to in the 20th dyn. Elephantine Stela, as looted objects abandoned by Syrian conspirators (the name of an Asiatic “messenger in all foreign lands” Atum-em-heb occurs among the vases). -end of her reign : the highest date is year 8, corresponding with Manetho’s 7 years attributed to a certain Thouôris, during whose reign Troy was taken. Her memory wasn’t persecuted and she’s still mentioned under Ramses VI. JD NB : data from Claude VANDERSLEYEN, “L’Egypte et la vallée du Nil”, vol. 2, PUF, Paris, 1995, pp. 575-587. See also a discussion in the August 2001 archives of the EEF, here : http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/4482/archeef.html | ||
| J.D. Degreef (213.177.133.37) |
George JOHNSON kindly sent me the following : "[I] can add a bit of new information. Two years ago we, the University of Memphis team directed by Otto Schaden, cleared the burial chamber--an unfinished corridor of the tomb--finding broken canopic jars, the broken lid of a sarcophagus and part of the skull of a women that had probably been buried in the missing sarcophagus." This would then presumably be one of the 20th dyn. queens for whom the tomb of Amenmesse was reused. JD | ||
| Francesco Raffaele (Francesco) (62.98.182.101) |
John. | ||
| Francesco Raffaele (Francesco) (62.98.182.101) |
Bravo as always, John. How do you judge (apart from being more recent and the consequences of this) Verocotter and Vandersleyen volumes "L’Egypte et la vallée du Nil" I-II (i.e. in comparison with Grimal's history or in a general way) ? Do you think they' re worthy to be bought ? Francesco | ||
| J.D. Degreef (213.177.158.82) |
Francesco, I was very disappointed with VERCOUTTER's volume (1), except possibly for prehistory. VANDERSLEYEN is excellent IMHO, except for the author's well-known idiosyncrasies (Punt was only reached via the Nile, not the Red Sea... the New Kingdom campaigns of the Thutmosids didn't reach the Euphrates, but the "Great River of Naharina" is a river in the Lebanon indeed called Nahr el-Kebir...). I don't like GRIMAL : he's superficial, he gives a list of references but there aren't any links to them in the text ! Of the three, VANDERSLEYEN is certainly worth buying. You'll probably need VERCOUTTER too, to quote him in your own work... JD |
