As soon as Merneptah died the succession apparently had become a problem, he was put in his tomb KV 8 but later removed, and his mummy has survived.
Succession Mummy studies show that Merneptah died at around sixty years of age. It is inferred that he was born between the 10th and 17th years of Ramesses II’s reign, and by the time he ascended the throne, he was likely already over fifty. Merneptah's successor,
Seti II, was a son of Queen
Isetnofret. However, Seti II's accession to the throne was not unchallenged: a rival king named
Amenmesse, who was either another son of Merneptah by Takhat or, much less likely, of Ramesses II, seized control of
Upper Egypt and
Kush during the middle of the reign of Seti II. Only after he overcame Amenmesse, was Seti able to reassert his authority over
Thebes in his fifth year. It is possible that before seizing Upper Egypt, Amenmesse had been known as
Messuy and had been viceroy of Kush.
Tomb At Thebes, the Tomb of Merneptah (KV8) was in the Valley of the Kings.
Mummy Merneptah suffered from
arthritis and
atherosclerosis and died as an old man after a reign that lasted for nearly a decade. He was originally buried within tomb
KV8 in the
Valley of the Kings, but his
mummy was not found there, having been moved in ancient times. In 1898, it was located along with eighteen other mummies in the mummy cache found in the tomb of
Amenhotep II (
KV35) by
Victor Loret. His mummy was taken to Cairo and eventually unwrapped by
G. Elliott Smith on July 8, 1907. Smith notes that: The body is that of an old man and is 1 meter 714 millimeters [5'6"] in height. Merneptah 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 [grand]father, Seti the Great. In April 2021 his mummy was moved from the
Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to the
National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the
Pharaohs' Golden Parade. Examination of the mummy revealed that the king was a corpulent man, perhaps even
obese. It also showed that Merneptah was tall, measuring 1.71 m, though slightly shorter than his father, who measured 1.73 m. ==Family==