After the death of the last pharaoh of the
19th Dynasty, Queen
Twosret, Egypt entered into a
period 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 by
Setnakhte, who founded the 20th Dynasty of Egypt. From the reign of
Setnakhte and his son
Ramesses III, Egypt faced the crisis caused by the invading of the
Sea Peoples. These invasions formed part of a series of linked crises in numerous Mediterranean civilizations. Together, these crises are often referred to as the
Late Bronze Age collapse. The
Sea Peoples caused considerable damage to the people of Egypt, visible in the historical record. One inscription reads: Not only Egypt was affected by the Sea People invasions. The empire of the
Hittites, 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 the
Battle of Djahy and the
Battle of the Delta during Year 8 of Ramesses III's reign, Egypt successfully repelled the invading
Sea 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 of
Ramesses XI, the last pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty, a period of chaos ensued. This was ended by
Smendes, a member of the Egyptian nobility, who became the first Pharaoh of the
21st Dynasty.
Background Upon the death of the last pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, Queen
Twosret, Egypt descended into a period of civil war, as attested by the Elephantine
stela built by
Setnakhte. 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.
20th Dynasty A consistent theme of this dynasty was the loss of pharaonic power to the
High Priests of Amun.
Horemheb, a pharaoh of the
18th Dynasty, had restored the traditional
Ancient Egyptian religion and the priesthood of
Amun after their abandonment by
Akhenaten. 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. Ramesses III is most famous for decisively defeating a confederacy of the Sea Peoples, including the
Denyen,
Tjekker,
Peleset,
Shardana and
Weshesh in the
Battle of Djahy and the
Battle of the Delta during Year 8 of his reign. Within the
Papyrus Harris I, which attests these events in detail, Ramesses is said to have settled the defeated Sea Peoples in "strongholds", most likely located in
Canaan, as his subjects. 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 the
Ancient Egyptian religion was undertaken, by creating and funding new cults and restoring temples. In Year 29 of Ramesses' reign, the first recorded labor
strike 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 as
Deir el-Medina), could not be provisioned. The reign of Ramesses III is also known for a
harem conspiracy in which Queen
Tiye, one of his lesser wives, was implicated in an assassination attempt against the king, with the goal of putting her son
Pentawer on the throne. The coup was unsuccessful. The king died from the attempt on his life; however, it was his legitimate heir and son
Ramesses IV who succeeded him to the throne, who thereafter arrested and put approximately 30 conspirators to death.
Ramesses IV At the start of his reign Ramesses IV started an enormous building program on the scale of
Ramesses 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 of
Wadi Hammamat and the turquoise mines of the
Sinai. One of the largest expeditions included 8,368 men, of which some 2,000 were soldiers. Ramesses expanded his father's
Temple of Khonsu at
Karnak and possibly began his own mortuary temple at a site near the
Temple of Hatshepsut. Another smaller temple is associated with Ramesses north of
Medinet 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. He also produced the Papyrus Harris I, the longest known
papyrus from Ancient Egypt, measuring in at 41 meters long with 1,500 lines of text to celebrate the achievements of his father.
Ramesses V 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. The
Wilbour 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.
Ramesses VI Ramesses VI is best known for his tomb which, when built, inadvertently buried the tomb of pharaoh
Tutankhamun underneath, keeping it safe from grave robbing until its
discovery by
Howard Carter in 1922.
Ramesses VII Ramesses VII's only monument is his tomb,
KV1.
Ramesses VIII 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 for
Mentuherkhepeshef, son of Ramesses IX, rather than Ramesses VIII himself.
Ramesses IX During Year 16 and Year 17 of Ramesses IX's reign famous tomb robbery trials took place, as attested by the
Abbott Papyrus. A careful examination by a
vizierial commission was undertaken of ten royal tombs, four tombs of the
Chantresses of the Estate of the
Divine Adoratrix, and finally the tombs of the citizens of
Thebes. Many of these were found to have been broken into, like the tomb of Pharaoh
Sobekemsaf II, whose
mummy had been stolen. Ramesses IX's
cartouche has been found at
Gezer in
Canaan, suggesting that Egypt at this time still had some degree of influence in the region. Most of the building projects during Ramesses IX's reign were at
Heliopolis.
Ramesses X 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.
Ramesses XI Ramesses XI was the last pharaoh of the 20th Dynasty. During his reign the position grew so weak that in the south the
High Priests of Amun at
Thebes became the de facto rulers of
Upper Egypt, while
Smendes controlled
Lower Egypt even before Ramesses XI's death. Smendes would eventually found the
Twenty-First dynasty at
Tanis.
Decline As happened under the earlier
Nineteenth 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 as
Ramesses IV,
Ramesses VI and
Ramesses VIII respectively. However, at this time Egypt was also increasingly beset by a series of droughts, below-normal flooding levels of the
Nile, famine, civil unrest and official corruption – all of which would limit the managerial abilities of any king. == Sea Peoples in Egypt ==