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Merneptah
Pharaoh
Reign	1213 to 1203 BC
Predecessor	Ramesses II
Successor	Amenmesse
Royal titulary Horus name Kanakht Haiemmaat Nebty name Iribauertaentjemhu Golden Horus Nebsenedjaashefit Nomen Merneptah Hotephermaat Beloved of Ptah, Joyous is Truth
Consort	Isisnofret, Takhat
Father	Ramesses II
Mother	Isisnofret
Died	1203 BC
Burial	KV8
Dynasty	19th Dynasty

Merneptah (occasionally: Merenptah) was the fourth ruler of the 19th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He reigned Egypt for almost 10 years between late July/early August 1213 to May 2 1203 BC according to contemporary historical records. He was the thirteenth son of Ramesses II and only came to power because all his older brothers had predeceased him, by which time he was almost sixty years old. His throne name was Ba-en-re Mery-netjeru, which means "The Soul of Ra, Beloved of the Gods".

Merneptah was probably the fourth child of Ramesses II's second wife, Istnofret (Isisnofret). He was married to queen Istnofret (Isisnofret), who must have been his sister, and possibly also to a queen Takhat. One of his sons with Istnofret was Seti-Merneptah, who probably became later pharaoh as Seti II.

Campaigns

Merneptah had to carry out several campaigns during his reign, mainly fighting against the Libyans, who – with the assistance of the Sea Peoples – were threatening Egypt from the West. In the fifth year of his reign, Merneptah fought a victorious six-hour battle against a combined Libyan and Sea People force at the city of Perire, probably located on the western edge of the Delta. His account of this campaign against the Sea Peoples and Libu is described in prose on a wall beside the sixth pylon at Karnak and in poetic form in the Merneptah Stele, widely known as the Israel Stele, which makes reference to the supposed utter destruction of Israel during a prior campaign in Canaan: "Israel has been wiped out...it's seed is no more." This is the only undisputedly recognised ancient Egyptian reference to Israel.The stele is also the first explicit written record of the existence of the Ancient Israelites in this region.

Mummy

He suffered from arthritis and arterioscelorosis in old age and died of natural causes after a reign which lasted for nearly a decade. Merneptah was buried in tomb KV8 in the Valley of the Kings, but his mummy was not discovered within there. In 1898 it was located along with 18 other mummies in the mummy cache within the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) by Victor Loret. Merneptah's mummy was taken to Cairo and eventually unwrapped by Dr. G. Elliott Smith on July 8 1907. Dr Smith comments that:

The body is that of an old man and is 1 metre 714 milimetres in height. Merenptah was almost completely bald, only a narrow fringe of white hair (now cut so close as to be seen only with difficulty) remaining on the temples and occiput. A few short (about 2 mill) black hairs were found on the upper lip and scattered, closely clipped hairs on the cheeks and chin. The general aspect of the face recalls that of Ramesses II, but the form of the cranium and the measurements of the face much more nearly agree with those of his father, Seti the Great.

Merneptah was succeeded by Amenmesse, an usurper, rather than his son and chosen successor Seti II. Amenmesse may possibly have been a son of Merneptah through queen Takhat or an unknown son of Ramesses II.

References

1. King Merenptah
2. J. von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, Mainz, (1997), pp.190
3. Callender, Gae; The Eye Of Horus: A History of Ancient Egypt; p.263
4. Grafton Elliot Smith, The Royal Mummies, 1912, Cairo, pp.65-70

External links

• Hieroglyphic text of the Israel Stela

• 1203 BC deaths
• Pharaohs of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt
• Mummies
• Human remains (archaeological)