DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3996#0006
being appropriate ensigns, and princes with other high officers of state. This important
ceremony is stated to be " the leading of Ptah-Sekar-Osiris to go round the temple by
the king himself." A similar ceremony is alluded to on a sculptured group in the
collections, probably of the same period. Other portions of the same sculptures represent
Rameses offering to Kbnum or Chnoumis, Sekhet, Bast, Amen Ra, Nebhetp, Thoth, Set
of Nub-ti, or Ombos, lord of the South, and Ba-en-tattu, or Mendes. The offerings
consist of gold, silver, an object called shab, stones, colours, collyrium, mestem for the
eyes, and a sistrum.1
The celebrated treasury of the monarch, known by the sensational story of
Rampsinitus in the narrative of Herodotus, had on its walls some account of the riches
which Rameses, who has been compared to the Egyptian Solomon, possessed. Among
those recorded were the gums or spices of Punt, Northern Arabia, or the Regio
Barbarica of later geographers, made into the sbape of mounds and trees, or perhaps
the gum trees and heaps of gum. The spices or gums of Taneter or the " Holy Land,"
as one portion of the African continent was named, moulded into the forms of calves
and obelisks ; tied and sealed bags containing 1,000 pounds of gold, distinguished as
the gold of Kush or ^Ethiopia, the gold of the waters or gold obtained by washing, gold
extracted by mining or out of the hills, as it is called ; gold of Nubti, either Ombos
or Nubia ; gold of the land of Teb, and gold of Kab-ti or Coptos, each in bags holding
the same amount. Besides these were ingots of khesbet, the supposed lapis lazuli,
in bricks of rectangular shape, and mafka, supposed to be the turquoise, in similar
blocks, but less in quantity, vases, and plates of silver, brass, and iron.2 The accom-
panying inscriptions announce the bringing as tribute all the precious stones to his
father Khem, and the balance in which they were weighed is depicted, having in one
scale a heap of gold excavated out of its hills, or gold ore, and in the other millions
and billions referring to the weight. The paintings on the walls represent, in addition
to the metals, small statues or figures, furniture, harps, vases offered to the triple
form of the god of Thebes, Amen Ra, Khem, the reproductive power of nature, and
Khnum or Chnoumis, the spirit of the waters.
At Medinat Habu, Rameses is represented playing at the game of sent or draughts,
with females bearing on their heads the flowers of the upper and town country. As
the actions and attitude of the monarch are those of dalliance and familiarity, rather
than respect, such as was due to the deities, it is supposed that this scene represents
Rameses wearing helmet and pointed sandals, attended by his queens or other inmates
of his harem,4 and some of the more intimate scenes of private life. Although the
recorded number of his children5 by no means equals that of Rameses II, there can
be no doubt that Rameses III was a voluptuary, and, like other Egyptian monarchs,
1 Champollion, Not. Descr., p. 352.
2 Ibid. p. 3G5 ; Dümichen, Historische In-
schriften, taf. xxxiv.
3 Champollion, Not. Descr., p. 365.
1 Roselimi, Mon. St., cxxii-cxxiii, torn, iv, p. 8 ;
Burton, Exe. Hier., pi. xi.
« Pleyte, Pap. de Turin, p. 106.
had many wives. His conduct in this respect is supposed to have been the subject of
caricatures made by some of his contemporaries or successors. The scenes on the walls
of Medinat Habu gave rise to the popular legend of a later age, that Rhampsinitus6
had descended to Hades and played at draughts with the goddess and won a golden
napkin from Isis.
The walls of the same palace have also the inscription of a calendar of this reign,
apparently of the fixed or sacred year, perhaps an attempt by the monarch to reform
the vague or wandering year. The first of the month Thoth is placed at the commence-
ment of the year, and it is stated to be the day of the coming forth or heliacal rising
of Sothis or the "Dog-star." Subsequent days are mentioned, as the 12th, 19th, and
22nd of the same month, the last of which was the day of the festival of Osiris.
Subsequently the 19th, 21st, and 23rd of Paophi are mentioned. These days were
dedicated to the service of the god Amen ; the standard of the king was carried in
procession, and offerings made to the god. This calendar apparently ran through the
whole year, but no date later than the 6th of the month Tybi has been found.
According to the calculation, the reign of Rameses must have fallen about 1300 b.c.
Other memorials of this monarch exist at Karnak, where Rameses had laid the
foundations of a temple of the god Khons or Khonsu, where he is seen represented
on the walls offering to Khons as lord of Uas or the Thebaid. The same monarch
erected a temple to the god Ammon, in a line opposite the great temple of Amnion
at Karnak, in which the triumphs and actions of the king are repeated. From an
inscription found there it appears that these monuments were made in the 16th year
of the reign of Rameses, in which offerings were made to the god on his silver altar.7
At Eileithyia a monument represents Rameses celebrating the festival of the
Triakonteris, or thirty years, by the reception of an ark. The inscription states that
the ceremony took place in the first year of the Triakonteris, and that the ceremony
was performed by the king. These gifts and ceremonies are alluded to in the text
of the Grea,t Papyrus. The domestic repose of Rameses appears to have been troubled
by conspiracies in the palace, carried on by members perhaps even of his own family
in league with inmates of the palace. Commissions were issued for the examination
of the principal offenders, and severe punishment, such as death or mutilation,
administered to the most guilty. An account of the proceedings has been preserved
on a papyrus, at present in the Museum at Turin.8 This conspiracy was probably
formed towards the close of his reign.
It appears that great confusion must have prevailed at the period of Rameses III
about the construction of his tombs. In the beginning of his career he appears to have
appropriated that of Siptah for his sepulchre, the name of Siptah having been
obliterated or covered with stucco, for the insertion or the substitution of his own name.
Subsequently a second sepulchre was begun, but, after a time, for unknown reasons,
6 Revue Archéologique, 1865, p. 6 ; Trans. Roy.
Soc. Lit., vol. ix, p. 256.
7 Brugsch, Hist. d'Egypte, p. 198.
Dévéria, Pap. Judiciaire de Turin, 8vo. Paris,
1868, reprinted from the Journal Asiatique,
1865, No. 9.
abandoned. At last he made a third sepulchre, in which was found his sarcophagus,
of rose-coloured syenite or granite ; this was removed by Salt and Belzoni, and the
lower part of it sold to the Louvre, which it now adorns ; the cover is in the Fitz-
william Museum of Cambridge. No traces of the royal mummy have been found.
It appears from the Papyrus that Rameses reigned more than thirty-one years, and
had entered on the thirty-second of his reign when he died. Part of his reign may have
been comprised in that of his father, Setnekht, but there is no trace in the Papyrus of
his having assumed Rameses into the government, although both are represented at
Medinat Habu as if contemporaneous and of equal rank, each attended by a different
priest, the one adoring Amen Ra, and the other Haremakhu, or Harmachis. The name
of his father connects Rameses with the Shasu, or Shepherds, and his title, Ruler of
Heliopolis, suggests that the family may have been the ruling one at Heliopolis, which
overthrew its competitors, and recovered Egypt for a branch of the old Egyptian rulers
of the XlXth Dynasty, with which it was related or connected, after the thirteen years'
anarchy which preceded,9 and it is remarkable that Rameses is represented in the
pictures of the Papyrus painted white, fairer than even the Asiatics. The name of
his wife, Hamatru, has been compared with that of Hamatal,10 borne by the queen
of Josiah, and her father, Hebunurusanet, supposed to be Semitic. His successor,
Rameses IV, bears in his shield the title of " true ruler," hek-ma, which suggests that
there had been some attempt to displace him on some question about his title, and as
he was succeeded by two brothers, and there are mutilations of his cartouches, it is
evident that there was some fraternal discord abcut his succession. Elis reign was not
glorious, although Egypt received some of the usual tribute, but it lasted more than
eighteen years. The tomb of Rameses IV is known, and a papyrus containing a
plan of it11 has been published. The papyrus was evidently written at the beginning
of it.
This Papyrus was acquired by the British Museum from Miss Selima Harris, in
1872, along with several other hieratic and Greek papyri, which formed part of the
collection of her late father, Mr. A. C. Harris, of Alexandria. The greater portion of
the text has already been translated, and has appeared in print. The historical portion
was published by Professor Eisenlohr12 and M. Chabas ;13 the whole, except the lists of
objects given to the temples, by Professor Eisenlohr,14 and part by Dr. Birch.15 Of these
researches use has been made in the translation which follows.
9 Pleyte, Pap. de Turin, pp. 50-65.
10 Brugsch, Histoire, p. 198.
11 Lepsius, d. Akad. d. Wissensch., 4to. 1867,
s. 1 and foil. ; Grundplan d. Grabes d. König
Rameses IV.
12 Der Grosse Papyrus Harris, 8vo. Leipzig, 1872.
On the Political Condition of Egypt before
the reign of Rameses III : Transactions of
the Society] of Biblical Archeeology, 8vo.
London, 1872, vol. i, p. 355.
13 Recherches pour servir à 1'historie de la XIX
Dynastie. Chalon, 1873.
14 Aus dem Grosse Papyrus Harris, Zeitschrift f.
ägyptische Sprache u. Alterthumskunde, 4to_
1873, s. 49, 98, 154, 157; 1874, 23, 26;
Records of the Past, 8vo. London, 1876;
vol. vi, p. 21.
15 Zeitschrift f. ägyptische Sprache, 1872, p. 119 ;
1873, 9, 34, 97, 132, 152. Records of the
Past, vol. vi, p. 21.
British Museum,
Aug. 1876.
S. BIRCH.
ceremony is stated to be " the leading of Ptah-Sekar-Osiris to go round the temple by
the king himself." A similar ceremony is alluded to on a sculptured group in the
collections, probably of the same period. Other portions of the same sculptures represent
Rameses offering to Kbnum or Chnoumis, Sekhet, Bast, Amen Ra, Nebhetp, Thoth, Set
of Nub-ti, or Ombos, lord of the South, and Ba-en-tattu, or Mendes. The offerings
consist of gold, silver, an object called shab, stones, colours, collyrium, mestem for the
eyes, and a sistrum.1
The celebrated treasury of the monarch, known by the sensational story of
Rampsinitus in the narrative of Herodotus, had on its walls some account of the riches
which Rameses, who has been compared to the Egyptian Solomon, possessed. Among
those recorded were the gums or spices of Punt, Northern Arabia, or the Regio
Barbarica of later geographers, made into the sbape of mounds and trees, or perhaps
the gum trees and heaps of gum. The spices or gums of Taneter or the " Holy Land,"
as one portion of the African continent was named, moulded into the forms of calves
and obelisks ; tied and sealed bags containing 1,000 pounds of gold, distinguished as
the gold of Kush or ^Ethiopia, the gold of the waters or gold obtained by washing, gold
extracted by mining or out of the hills, as it is called ; gold of Nubti, either Ombos
or Nubia ; gold of the land of Teb, and gold of Kab-ti or Coptos, each in bags holding
the same amount. Besides these were ingots of khesbet, the supposed lapis lazuli,
in bricks of rectangular shape, and mafka, supposed to be the turquoise, in similar
blocks, but less in quantity, vases, and plates of silver, brass, and iron.2 The accom-
panying inscriptions announce the bringing as tribute all the precious stones to his
father Khem, and the balance in which they were weighed is depicted, having in one
scale a heap of gold excavated out of its hills, or gold ore, and in the other millions
and billions referring to the weight. The paintings on the walls represent, in addition
to the metals, small statues or figures, furniture, harps, vases offered to the triple
form of the god of Thebes, Amen Ra, Khem, the reproductive power of nature, and
Khnum or Chnoumis, the spirit of the waters.
At Medinat Habu, Rameses is represented playing at the game of sent or draughts,
with females bearing on their heads the flowers of the upper and town country. As
the actions and attitude of the monarch are those of dalliance and familiarity, rather
than respect, such as was due to the deities, it is supposed that this scene represents
Rameses wearing helmet and pointed sandals, attended by his queens or other inmates
of his harem,4 and some of the more intimate scenes of private life. Although the
recorded number of his children5 by no means equals that of Rameses II, there can
be no doubt that Rameses III was a voluptuary, and, like other Egyptian monarchs,
1 Champollion, Not. Descr., p. 352.
2 Ibid. p. 3G5 ; Dümichen, Historische In-
schriften, taf. xxxiv.
3 Champollion, Not. Descr., p. 365.
1 Roselimi, Mon. St., cxxii-cxxiii, torn, iv, p. 8 ;
Burton, Exe. Hier., pi. xi.
« Pleyte, Pap. de Turin, p. 106.
had many wives. His conduct in this respect is supposed to have been the subject of
caricatures made by some of his contemporaries or successors. The scenes on the walls
of Medinat Habu gave rise to the popular legend of a later age, that Rhampsinitus6
had descended to Hades and played at draughts with the goddess and won a golden
napkin from Isis.
The walls of the same palace have also the inscription of a calendar of this reign,
apparently of the fixed or sacred year, perhaps an attempt by the monarch to reform
the vague or wandering year. The first of the month Thoth is placed at the commence-
ment of the year, and it is stated to be the day of the coming forth or heliacal rising
of Sothis or the "Dog-star." Subsequent days are mentioned, as the 12th, 19th, and
22nd of the same month, the last of which was the day of the festival of Osiris.
Subsequently the 19th, 21st, and 23rd of Paophi are mentioned. These days were
dedicated to the service of the god Amen ; the standard of the king was carried in
procession, and offerings made to the god. This calendar apparently ran through the
whole year, but no date later than the 6th of the month Tybi has been found.
According to the calculation, the reign of Rameses must have fallen about 1300 b.c.
Other memorials of this monarch exist at Karnak, where Rameses had laid the
foundations of a temple of the god Khons or Khonsu, where he is seen represented
on the walls offering to Khons as lord of Uas or the Thebaid. The same monarch
erected a temple to the god Ammon, in a line opposite the great temple of Amnion
at Karnak, in which the triumphs and actions of the king are repeated. From an
inscription found there it appears that these monuments were made in the 16th year
of the reign of Rameses, in which offerings were made to the god on his silver altar.7
At Eileithyia a monument represents Rameses celebrating the festival of the
Triakonteris, or thirty years, by the reception of an ark. The inscription states that
the ceremony took place in the first year of the Triakonteris, and that the ceremony
was performed by the king. These gifts and ceremonies are alluded to in the text
of the Grea,t Papyrus. The domestic repose of Rameses appears to have been troubled
by conspiracies in the palace, carried on by members perhaps even of his own family
in league with inmates of the palace. Commissions were issued for the examination
of the principal offenders, and severe punishment, such as death or mutilation,
administered to the most guilty. An account of the proceedings has been preserved
on a papyrus, at present in the Museum at Turin.8 This conspiracy was probably
formed towards the close of his reign.
It appears that great confusion must have prevailed at the period of Rameses III
about the construction of his tombs. In the beginning of his career he appears to have
appropriated that of Siptah for his sepulchre, the name of Siptah having been
obliterated or covered with stucco, for the insertion or the substitution of his own name.
Subsequently a second sepulchre was begun, but, after a time, for unknown reasons,
6 Revue Archéologique, 1865, p. 6 ; Trans. Roy.
Soc. Lit., vol. ix, p. 256.
7 Brugsch, Hist. d'Egypte, p. 198.
Dévéria, Pap. Judiciaire de Turin, 8vo. Paris,
1868, reprinted from the Journal Asiatique,
1865, No. 9.
abandoned. At last he made a third sepulchre, in which was found his sarcophagus,
of rose-coloured syenite or granite ; this was removed by Salt and Belzoni, and the
lower part of it sold to the Louvre, which it now adorns ; the cover is in the Fitz-
william Museum of Cambridge. No traces of the royal mummy have been found.
It appears from the Papyrus that Rameses reigned more than thirty-one years, and
had entered on the thirty-second of his reign when he died. Part of his reign may have
been comprised in that of his father, Setnekht, but there is no trace in the Papyrus of
his having assumed Rameses into the government, although both are represented at
Medinat Habu as if contemporaneous and of equal rank, each attended by a different
priest, the one adoring Amen Ra, and the other Haremakhu, or Harmachis. The name
of his father connects Rameses with the Shasu, or Shepherds, and his title, Ruler of
Heliopolis, suggests that the family may have been the ruling one at Heliopolis, which
overthrew its competitors, and recovered Egypt for a branch of the old Egyptian rulers
of the XlXth Dynasty, with which it was related or connected, after the thirteen years'
anarchy which preceded,9 and it is remarkable that Rameses is represented in the
pictures of the Papyrus painted white, fairer than even the Asiatics. The name of
his wife, Hamatru, has been compared with that of Hamatal,10 borne by the queen
of Josiah, and her father, Hebunurusanet, supposed to be Semitic. His successor,
Rameses IV, bears in his shield the title of " true ruler," hek-ma, which suggests that
there had been some attempt to displace him on some question about his title, and as
he was succeeded by two brothers, and there are mutilations of his cartouches, it is
evident that there was some fraternal discord abcut his succession. Elis reign was not
glorious, although Egypt received some of the usual tribute, but it lasted more than
eighteen years. The tomb of Rameses IV is known, and a papyrus containing a
plan of it11 has been published. The papyrus was evidently written at the beginning
of it.
This Papyrus was acquired by the British Museum from Miss Selima Harris, in
1872, along with several other hieratic and Greek papyri, which formed part of the
collection of her late father, Mr. A. C. Harris, of Alexandria. The greater portion of
the text has already been translated, and has appeared in print. The historical portion
was published by Professor Eisenlohr12 and M. Chabas ;13 the whole, except the lists of
objects given to the temples, by Professor Eisenlohr,14 and part by Dr. Birch.15 Of these
researches use has been made in the translation which follows.
9 Pleyte, Pap. de Turin, pp. 50-65.
10 Brugsch, Histoire, p. 198.
11 Lepsius, d. Akad. d. Wissensch., 4to. 1867,
s. 1 and foil. ; Grundplan d. Grabes d. König
Rameses IV.
12 Der Grosse Papyrus Harris, 8vo. Leipzig, 1872.
On the Political Condition of Egypt before
the reign of Rameses III : Transactions of
the Society] of Biblical Archeeology, 8vo.
London, 1872, vol. i, p. 355.
13 Recherches pour servir à 1'historie de la XIX
Dynastie. Chalon, 1873.
14 Aus dem Grosse Papyrus Harris, Zeitschrift f.
ägyptische Sprache u. Alterthumskunde, 4to_
1873, s. 49, 98, 154, 157; 1874, 23, 26;
Records of the Past, 8vo. London, 1876;
vol. vi, p. 21.
15 Zeitschrift f. ägyptische Sprache, 1872, p. 119 ;
1873, 9, 34, 97, 132, 152. Records of the
Past, vol. vi, p. 21.
British Museum,
Aug. 1876.
S. BIRCH.