Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1189 BC–1077 BC | |||||||||
 Portrait ofRamesses IX from his tombKV6. | |||||||||
| Capital | Pi-Ramesses | ||||||||
| Common languages | Egyptian language | ||||||||
| Religion | Ancient Egyptian Religion | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||
| Historical era | New Kingdom of Egypt | ||||||||
• Established | 1189 BC | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1077 BC | ||||||||
| |||||||||
TheTwentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notatedDynasty XX, alternatively20th Dynasty orDynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of theAncient EgyptianNew Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties together constitute an era known as theRamesside period owing to the predominance of rulers with the given name "Ramesses". This dynasty is generally considered to mark the beginning of the decline of Ancient Egypt at the transition from the Late Bronze to Iron Age. During the period of the Twentieth Dynasty, Ancient Egypt faced the crisis of invasions bySea Peoples. The dynasty successfully defended Egypt, while sustaining heavy damage.
After the death of the last pharaoh of the19th Dynasty, QueenTwosret, Egypt entered into aperiod of civil war. Because of lost historical records, the cause of the civil war is unknown. The war was ended with the accession to the throne bySetnakhte, who founded the 20th Dynasty of Egypt.
From the reign ofSetnakhte and his sonRamesses III, Egypt faced the crisis caused by the invading of theSea Peoples. These invasions formed part of a series of linked crises in numerous Mediterranean civilizations. Together, these crises are often referred to as theLate Bronze Age collapse.
TheSea Peoples caused considerable damage to the people of Egypt, visible in the historical record. One inscription reads:
"All at once the lands were removed and scattered in the fray. No land could resist their arms, from Hatti, Kode,Carchemish,Arzawa, andAlashiya on – being cut off at one time. A camp was set up inAmurru. They desolated its people and its land was like that which had never existed. They were coming forward toward Egypt, while the flame was prepared for them."
— Inscription from the second pylon of the temple ofRamesses III atMedinet Habu[1]
Not only Egypt was affected by the Sea People invasions. The empire of theHittites, a long-standing rival to Egypt, collapsed, never to rise again. (In the inscription quoted above, the Hittites are called "Hatti".)
With the victory in theBattle of Djahy and theBattle of the Delta during Year 8 of Ramesses III's reign, Egypt successfully repelled the invadingSea Peoples, protecting Egypt from ruin like other Bronze Age civilizations. During the Twentieth Dynasty, many of the temples were built to display the power of Egypt. However, they also indicate the political ascendancy of the priesthood over the pharaoh.
The Twentieth Dynasty declined because of drastic climate change, infighting in the royal family, and growing power of the priesthood and nobility. Following the death ofRamesses XI, the last pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty, a period of chaos ensued. This was ended bySmendes, a member of the Egyptian nobility, who became the first Pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty.
Upon the death of the last pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, QueenTwosret, Egypt descended into a period of civil war, as attested by the Elephantinestela built bySetnakhte. The circumstances of Twosret's demise are uncertain, as she may have died peacefully during her reign or been overthrown by Setnakhte, who was likely already middle aged at the time.[2]
A consistent theme of this dynasty was the loss of pharaonic power to theHigh Priests of Amun.Horemheb, a pharaoh of the18th Dynasty, had restored the traditionalAncient Egyptian religion and the priesthood ofAmun after their abandonment byAkhenaten. With the High Priests now acting as intermediaries between the gods and the people, rather than the pharaoh, the position of pharaoh no longer commanded the same kind of power as it had in the past.[3]
Setnakhte stabilized the situation in Egypt, and may have driven off an attempted invasion by theSea Peoples. He ruled for about 3-4 years before being succeeded by his son Ramesses III.
In Year 5 of his reign, Ramesses defeated a Libyan invasion of Egypt by theLibu,Meshwesh andSeped people throughMarmarica, who had previously unsuccessfully invaded during the reign ofMerneptah.[4]
Ramesses III is most famous for decisively defeating a confederacy of the Sea Peoples, including theDenyen,Tjekker,Peleset,Shardana andWeshesh in theBattle of Djahy and theBattle of the Delta during Year 8 of his reign. Within thePapyrus Harris I, which attests these events in detail, Ramesses is said to have settled the defeated Sea Peoples in "strongholds", most likely located inCanaan, as his subjects.[3][5]
In Year 11 of Ramesses' reign, another coalition of Libyan invaders was defeated in Egypt.
Between regnal Year 12 and Year 29, a systematic program of reorganization of the varied cults of theAncient Egyptian religion was undertaken, by creating and funding new cults and restoring temples.
In Year 29 of Ramesses' reign, the first recorded laborstrike in human history took place, after food rations for the favored and elite royal tomb builders and artisans in the village of Set Maat (now known asDeir el-Medina), could not be provisioned.[6]
The reign of Ramesses III is also known for aharem conspiracy in which QueenTiye, one of his lesser wives, was implicated in an assassination attempt against the king, with the goal of putting her sonPentawer on the throne. The coup was unsuccessful. The king died from the attempt on his life; however, it was his legitimate heir and sonRamesses IV who succeeded him to the throne, who thereafter arrested and put approximately 30 conspirators to death.[7][8]
At the start of his reign Ramesses IV started an enormous building program on the scale ofRamesses the Great's own projects. He doubled the number of work gangs at Set Maat to a total of 120 men and dispatched numerous expeditions to the stone quarries ofWadi Hammamat and the turquoise mines of theSinai. One of the largest expeditions included 8,368 men, of which some 2,000 were soldiers.[9] Ramesses expanded his father'sTemple of Khonsu atKarnak and possibly began his own mortuary temple at a site near theTemple of Hatshepsut. Another smaller temple is associated with Ramesses north ofMedinet Habu.
Ramesses IV saw issues with the provision of food rations to his workmen, similar to the situation under his father.Ramessesnakht, the High Priest of Amun at the time, began to accompany state officials as they went to pay the workmen their rations, suggesting that, at least in part, it was the Temple of Amun and not the Egyptian state that was responsible for their wages.[citation needed]
He also produced the Papyrus Harris I, the longest knownpapyrus from Ancient Egypt, measuring in at 41 meters long with 1,500 lines of text to celebrate the achievements of his father.
Ramesses V reigned for no more than 4 years, dying of smallpox in 1143 BC. The Turin Papyrus Cat. 2044 attests that during his reign the workmen of Set Maat were forced to periodically stop working on Ramesses'KV9 tomb out of "fear of the enemy", suggesting increasing instability in Egypt and an inability to defend the country from what are presumed to be Libyan raiding parties.[10]
TheWilbour Papyrus is thought to date from Ramesses V's reign. The document reveals that most of the land in Egypt by that point was controlled by the Temple of Amun, and that the Temple had complete control over Egypt's finances.[11]
Ramesses VI is best known for his tomb which, when built, inadvertently buried the tomb of pharaohTutankhamun underneath, keeping it safe from grave robbing until itsdiscovery byHoward Carter in 1922.
Ramesses VII's only monument is his tomb,KV1.[citation needed]
Almost nothing is known about Ramesses VIII's reign, which lasted for a single year. He is only attested at Medinet Habu and through a few plaques. The only monument from his reign is his modest tomb, which was used forMentuherkhepeshef, son of Ramesses IX, rather than Ramesses VIII himself.[citation needed]
During Year 16 and Year 17 of Ramesses IX's reign famous tomb robbery trials took place, as attested by theAbbott Papyrus. A careful examination by avizierial commission was undertaken of ten royal tombs, four tombs of theChantresses of the Estate of theDivine Adoratrix, and finally the tombs of the citizens ofThebes. Many of these were found to have been broken into, like the tomb of PharaohSobekemsaf II, whosemummy had been stolen.[12]
Ramesses IX'scartouche has been found atGezer inCanaan, suggesting that Egypt at this time still had some degree of influence in the region.[13]
Most of the building projects during Ramesses IX's reign were atHeliopolis.[14]
Ramesses X's reign is poorly documented. The Necropolis Journal of Set Maat records the general idleness of the workmen at this time, due, at least in part, to the danger of Libyan raiders.[15]
Ramesses XI was the last pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty. During his reign the position grew so weak that in the south theHigh Priests of Amun atThebes became the de facto rulers ofUpper Egypt, whileSmendes controlledLower Egypt even before Ramesses XI's death. Smendes would eventually found theTwenty-First dynasty atTanis.[16]
As happened under the earlierNineteenth Dynasty, this dynasty struggled under the effects of the bickering between the heirs of Ramesses III. For instance, three different sons of Ramesses III are known to have assumed power asRamesses IV,Ramesses VI andRamesses VIII respectively. However, at this time Egypt was also increasingly beset by a series of droughts, below-normal flooding levels of theNile, famine, civil unrest and official corruption – all of which would limit the managerial abilities of any king.
The late 13th century BC was a time of uncertainty and conflict for peoples and polities of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean due to the invasion by Sea Peoples, which was a contributing factor in theLate Bronze Age collapse.[17][18] While there is not much information left to show us why the Sea Peoples began the large scale invasion, the written evidence shows the weakening of central administrations, erosion of political powers, and food shortage might be the reasons.[19]
FromRamses III's mortuary temple atMedinet Habou depicting a chaotic scene of boats and warriors entwined in battle in the Nile delta, it showing that Sea Peoples were seaborne foes from different origins.[20] They launched a combined land-sea invasion that destabilized the already weakened power base of empires and kingdoms of the old world, and attempted to enter or control the Egyptian territory.[17]
While with the victory in the Battle of Djahy and the Battle of the Delta during Year 8 of Ramesses III's reign, Egypt successfully repelled the invading forces of Sea Peoples, the damage that caused the collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean world also damaged the trade routes of Egypt, as most of their trading partners had been destroyed by Sea Peoples.
Thepharaohs of the 20th Dynasty ruled for approximately 120 years: from c. 1187 to 1064 BC. The dates and names in the table are mostly taken from "Chronological Table for the Dynastic Period" in Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (editors),Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill, 2006. Many of the pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings in Thebes (designated KV). More information can be found on the Theban Mapping Project website.[21]
| Pharaoh | Image | Prenomen (Throne Name) | Horus-name | Reign | Burial | Consort(s) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setnakhte |  | Userkhaure-setepenre | Kanakhtwerpehty | 1189 – 1186 BC | KV14 | Tiy-merenese | May have usurped the throne from his predecessor,Twosret. |
| Ramesses III | .JPG) | Usermaatre-Meryamun | Kanakhtaanesyt | 1186 – 1155 BC | KV11 | Iset Ta-Hemdjert Tyti Tiye | |
| Ramesses IV |  | Usermaatre Setepenamun, laterHeqamaatre Setepenamun | Kanakhtankhemmaat | 1155 – 1149 BC | KV2 | Duatentopet | |
| Ramesses V / Amenhirkhepeshef I |  | Usermaatre Sekheperenre | Kanakhtmenmaat | 1149 – 1145 BC | KV9 | Henutwati Tawerettenru | |
| Ramesses VI / Amenhirkhepeshef II |  | Nebmaatre Meryamun | Kanakhtaanakhtu | 1145 – 1137 BC | KV9 | Nubkhesbed | |
| Ramesses VII / Itamun |  | Usermaatre Setepenre Meryamun | Kanakhtanemnesu | 1136 – 1129 BC | KV1 | ||
| Ramesses VIII / Sethhirkhepeshef |  | Usermaatre-Akhenamun | (unknown) | 1130 – 1129 BC | |||
| Ramesses IX / Khaemwaset I |  | Neferkare Setepenre | Kanakhtkhaemwaset | 1129 – 1111 BC | KV6 | Baketwernel | |
| Ramesses X / Amenhirkhepeshef III |  | Khepermaatre Setepenre | Kanakhtsekhaenre | 1111 – 1107 BC | KV18 | ||
| Ramesses XI / Khaemwaset II |  | Menmaatre Setpenptah | Kanakhtmeryre | 1107 – 1077 BC | KV4 | Tentamun |
The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt was the last of theNew Kingdom of Egypt. The familial relationships are unclear, especially towards the end of the dynasty.
 Setnakhte | Tiy-merenese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iset Ta-Hemdjert | Ramesses III | Tiye | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pentawere | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nubkhesbed | Ramesses VI | Ramesses IV | Duatentopet | Amenhirkhopshef | Khaemwaset E | Ramesses VIII | Parahiremenef | Mentuhirkopshef B | Takhat B | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ramesses VII | Ramesses V | Baketwernel | Ramesses IX | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tyti | Ramesses X | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unknown | Ramesses XI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pharaoh is a historical novel byBolesław Prus, set in Egypt at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty, which adds two fictional rulers: Ramesses XII and Ramesses XIII. It has been adapted into afilm of the same title.
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under theCC BY 4.0 license.| Preceded by | Dynasty of Egypt 1189−1077 BC | Succeeded by |
