Ramses I, who flourished in the 13th century BCE, was a king of ancient Egypt and the founder of the 19th Dynasty (c. 1292-c. 1191 BCE). This dynasty is also known as the Ramessid dynasty and is classified as the second dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties together constitute an era known as the Ramesside period.
While most contemporary Egyptian sources considered Horemheb (the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty) to be the founder of the 19th Dynasty, modern chronologies begin the dynasty with the first Ramesses.
Rise to Power
Originally called Paramessu, Ramses I was not of royal birth. He was born into a noble military family from the Nile Delta region, possibly near the former Hyksos capital of Avaris. His father was a troop commander named Seti. Ramesses' uncle, Khaemwaset, an army officer, married Tamwadjesy, the matron of Tutankhamun's Harem of Amun, who was a relative of Huy, the viceroy of Kush, an important state post. This demonstrates the high status of Ramesses' family.
Ramses I found favor with Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the tumultuous Eighteenth Dynasty, who appointed him as his vizier. Horemheb himself had been a nobleman from outside the immediate royal family, who rose through the ranks of the Egyptian army to serve as the royal advisor to Tutankhamun and Ay and, ultimately, pharaoh.
As the elderly king had no son of his own, he made Ramses coregent not long before his own death. By then Ramses also was of advanced age, but his son, Seti I, was in the prime of life.
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Upon his accession, Paramessu changed his nomen, or personal name to Ramesses. This is transliterated as rʿ-ms-sw, and is usually realised as Ramessu or Ramesses, meaning 'Ra bore him'. Ramesses also assumed a prenomen, or royal name. When transliterated, the prenomen is mn-pḥty-rʿ, which is usually interpreted as Menpehtyre, meaning "Established by the strength of Ra". However, he is better known by his nomen of Ramesses.
Reign
In 1292 BCE, Ramses I ascended the throne and shortly thereafter made Seti his coregent to help him assume some of the more rigorous royal duties. Seti was charged with undertaking several military operations during this time-in particular, an attempt to recoup some of Egypt's lost possessions in Syria.
While his son planned campaigns against Syria in an attempt to regain Egypt’s lost possessions there, Ramses completed the decoration of the second pylon and its vestibule in the great Karnak temple of the national god, Amon, at Thebes, which was built and partly decorated by his predecessor.
In contrast, Ramesses I's son and successor, Seti I, assumed the throne five months later after the erection of this stela on III Shemu day 24 which means that Ramesses I had a minimum reign of 17 months (or one year and five months)
Already an old man when he was crowned, Ramesses appointed his son, the later pharaoh Seti I, to serve as the Crown Prince and chosen successor.
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Inscriptions reveal that Ramses reigned about one year and four months. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, in his book Contra Apionem which translated Manetho's Aegyptiaca, Manetho assigns this king a reign of 16 months, but this pharaoh certainly ruled Egypt for a minimum of 17 months based on his highest-known date which is a Year 2 II Peret day 20 (Louvre C57) stela which ordered the provision of new endowments of food and priests for the temple of Ptah within the Egyptian fortress of Buhen.
Based on a papyrus document published by Robert J. Demarée in a 2023 publication, Demarée argues that Ramesses I's predecessor, Horemheb, died on III Shemu 22 based on evidence in Papyrus Turin Cat. 1898 + Cat. 1937 + Cat.
The pharaohs of the 19th Dynasty ruled for approximately 110 years: from c. 1292 to 1187 BC.
Pharaoh Founding The Greatest Dynasty | Ramesses I Grandfather of Ramses II | History Profiles
Burial and Rediscovery of the Mummy
Ramesses was buried in the Valley of the Kings. His tomb, discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817 and designated KV16, is small in size and gives the impression of having been completed with haste. Joyce Tyldesley states that Ramesses I's tomb consisted of a single corridor and one unfinished room whose walls, after a hurried coat of plaster, were painted to show the king with his gods, with Osiris allowed a prominent position.
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He was buried in a small hastily prepared tomb in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Later, during a time of political upheaval, the mummy was disinterred and moved to a secret resting place. In the late 19th century that tomb was rediscovered, but the king’s remains had already been removed by looters. The mummy became part of the collection of a small museum in Niagara Falls, Canada, in the mid-19th century.
Seti I, his son and successor, later built a small chapel with fine reliefs in memory of his deceased father Ramesses I at Abydos.
When the museum closed in 1999, the collection was obtained by the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Georgia, which then verified the mummy’s identity as Ramses I. The mummy's identity cannot be conclusively determined, but is most likely to be that of Ramesses I based on CT scans, X-rays, skull measurements and radio-carbon dating tests by researchers at Emory University, as well as aesthetic interpretations of family resemblance.
The mummy had been stolen from the Royal Cache in Deir el-Bahari by the Abd el-Rassul family of grave robbers and sold by Turkish vice-consular agent Mustapha Aga Ayat at Luxor to Dr. James Douglas who brought it to North America around 1860. Douglas used to purchase Egyptian antiquities for his friend Sydney Barnett who then placed it in the Niagara Falls Museum. When the owner of the museum decided to sell his property, Canadian businessman William Jamieson purchased the contents of the museum and, with the help of Canadian egyptologist Gayle Gibson, identified their great value.
In 2003 the mummy was returned to Egypt.
The 19th Dynasty
The New Kingdom of Egypt reached the zenith of its power under Seti I and Ramesses II ("The Great"), who campaigned vigorously against the Libyans and the Hittites. The famous city of Kadesh was first captured by Seti I before this king decided to concede it to Muwatalli of Hatti in an informal peace treaty between Egypt and Hatti.
Ramesses II later attempted unsuccessfully to alter this situation in his fifth regnal year by launching an attack on Kadesh in his Second Syrian campaign in 1274 B.C.E. which nearly ended with his death on the battlefield.
Ramesses II later profited from the Hittites' internal difficulties during his eighth and ninth regnal years, when he campaigned against their Syrian possessions, capturing Kadesh and portions of Southern Syria, and advancing as far north as Tunip where no Egyptian soldier had been seen for 120 years. He ultimately accepted that a campaign against the Hittites was an unsupportable drain on Egypt's treasury and military.
In his 21st regnal year, Ramesses signed the first recorded peace treaty with Urhi-Teshub's successor, Hattusili III and with that act Egypt-Hittite relations improved significantly. Ramesses II even married two Hittite princesses, the first after his second Sed Festival.
This dynasty declined as internal fighting between the heirs of Merenptah for the throne increased. Amenmesses apparently usurped the throne from Merneptah's son and successor, Seti II, but he ruled Egypt for only 4 years. After his death, Seti regained power and destroyed most of Amenmesse's monuments.
Seti was served at Court by Bay, who was originally just a 'royal scribe' but quickly became one of the most powerful men in Egypt gaining the unprecedented privilege of constructing his own tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV17). Both Bay and Seti's chief wife Tausret reportedly had a sinister reputation in Ancient Egyptian folklore.
After Siptah's death Twosret ruled Egypt for two more years, but she proved unable to maintain her hold on power amid the conspiracies and powerplays being hatched at the royal court.
Although the Nineteenth Dynasty is well-recorded, they aren't fully featured in many Egyptian king lists, mostly due to the surviving ones being written by the early Nineteenth Dynasty pharaohs. The only 2 survivng king lists that fully feature the Nineteenth Dynasty are the Medinet Habu king list from the time of Ramesses III of the Twentieth Dynasty, and Manetho, who lived during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The Medinet Habu king list omits Amenmesse, Siptah and Twosret.
| Pharaoh | Reign (BC) |
|---|---|
| Ramses I | 1292-1290 |
| Seti I | 1290-1279 |
| Ramesses II | 1279-1213 |
| Merenptah | 1213-1203 |
| Amenmesse | 1203-1200 |
| Seti II | 1200-1194 |
| Siptah | 1194-1188 |
| Twosret | 1188-1186 |
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