Amenmesse

Last updated

Amenmesse (also Amenmesses or Amenmeses) was the fifth pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt, possibly the son of Merneptah and Queen Takhat. Others consider him to be one of the innumerable sons of Ramesses II. Very little is known about this pharaoh, who ruled Egypt for only three to four years. Various Egyptologists date his reign between 1202 BC–1199 BC [4] or 1203 BC–1200 BC [5] with others giving an accession date of 1200 BC. [6] Amenmesse means "born of or fashioned by Amun" in Egyptian. Additionally, his nomen can be found with the epithet Heqa-waset, which means "Ruler of Thebes". [7] His royal name was Menmire Setepenre.

Contents

Usurper

It is likely that he was not Merneptah's intended heir. Scholars Kenneth Kitchen and Jürgen von Beckerath have theorized that Amenmesse usurped the throne from Seti-Merneptah, who was Merneptah's son and crown prince and who should have been next in the line of royal succession. It is unclear how this would have happened. Kitchen has written that Amenmesse may have taken advantage of a momentary weakness of Seti-Merneptah or seized power while the crown prince was away in Asia. Seti-Merneptah was most likely the same man as king Seti II, whose reign was traditionally thought to have followed upon Amenmesse's reign. The cartouches of Seti II's tomb in Upper Egypt were deliberately erased and then repainted, suggesting that Seti's rule in Upper Egypt was temporarily interrupted by agents of his half-brother. Confusion generally clouds Amenmesse's reign and its correct position within the succession sequence of the rulers of the Egyptian 19th Dynasty. However, an increasing number of Egyptologists today such as Rolf Krauss and Aidan Dodson maintain that Seti II was in fact the immediate successor of Merneptah "without any intervening rule by Amenmesse". [8] Under this scenario, Amenmesse did not succeed Merneptah on the throne of Egypt and was rather a rival king who usurped power sometime during Years 2 to 4 of Seti II's reign in Upper Egypt and Nubia where his authority is monumentally attested. [9] Amenmesse was documented in power at Thebes during his third and fourth year (and perhaps earlier in Nubia) where Seti II's Year 3 and Year 4 are noticeably unaccounted for. [10] The treatment of Amenmesse as a rival king also best explains the pattern of destruction to Seti II's tomb which was initially ransacked and later restored again by Seti II's officials. This implies that the respective reigns of Amenmesse and Seti II were parallel to one another; Seti II must have initially controlled Thebes in his first and second years during which time his tomb was excavated and partly decorated. Then Seti was ousted from power in Upper Egypt by Amenmesse whose agents desecrated Seti II's tomb. Seti would finally defeat his rival Amenmesse and return to Thebes in triumph whereupon he ordered the restoration of his damaged tomb.

Drawing of the graffito of the Viceroy of Kush Messuy from the Temple of Amada Graffito of the Viceroy of Kush Messuy from the Temple at Amada.jpg
Drawing of the graffito of the Viceroy of Kush Messuy from the Temple of Amada

Rolf Krauss, followed by Aidan Dodson, suggests that Amenmesse was once a Kushite Viceroy called Messuy. [11] In particular, two representations of Messuy on the Temple of Amada allegedly show that a royal uraeus had been added to his brows in a way consistent with other pharaohs such as Horemheb, Merneptah and some of the sons of Ramesses III. An inscription at the temple of Amada also calls him "the king's son himself" but this may be merely a figure of speech to emphasize Messuy's high stature as Viceroy under Merneptah. However, Frank Yurco notes that various depictions of Messuy in several Nubian temples were never deliberately defaced by Seti II's agents compared to the damnatio memoriae meted out to all depictions of another Viceroy of Kush, Khaemtir, who had served as Amenmesse's Vizier. [12] This strongly implies that Seti II held no grudge against Messuy, which would be improbable if Messuy was indeed Amenmesse. [13] Yurco also observes that the only objects from Messuy's tomb which identified a pharaoh all named only Merneptah, Seti II's father, which leads to the conclusion that Messuy died and was buried in his tomb at Aniba, Nubia, during Merneptah's reign, and could not be Amenmesse. [14]

The records of a court case early in the reign of Seti II also throw some light on the matter. Papyrus Salt 124 records that Neferhotep, one of the two chief workmen of the Deir el-Medina necropolis, had been killed during the reign of Amenmesse (the king's name is written as Msy in the document). [15] Neferhotep was replaced by Paneb his adopted son, against whom many crimes were alleged by Neferhotep's brother Amennakhte in a strongly worded indictment preserved on a papyrus in the British Museum. If Amennakhte's allegations can be trusted, Paneb had stolen stone for the embellishment of his own tomb from that of Seti II in the course of its completion, besides purloining or damaging other property belonging to that monarch. Also he had allegedly tried to kill Neferhotep in spite of having been educated by him, and after the chief workman had been killed by "the enemy" had bribed the vizier Pra'emhab in order to usurp his place. Whatever the truth of these accusations, it is clear that Thebes was going through very troubled times. There are references elsewhere to a "war" that had occurred during these years, but it is obscure to what this word alludes—perhaps to no more than internal disturbances and discontent. Neferhotep had complained of the attacks upon himself to the vizier Amenmose, presumably a predecessor of Pra'emhab, whereupon Amenmose had Paneb punished. Paneb, however, then successfully brought a complaint before 'Mose'/'Msy' whereupon the latter decided to dismiss Amenmose from office. Evidently this 'Mose'/'Msy' was a person of the highest importance who most probably should be identified with king Amenmesse himself. [16]

Family

His mother is known to be Queen Takhat, but who she is exactly is a matter of interpretation complicated by inscriptions being revised by Seti II and Amenmesse. Among her titles are "King's Daughter", which would make her a daughter of Merneptah or Ramesses II or possibly a granddaughter of Ramesses. The name Takhat appears in a list of princesses dated to Year 53 of Ramesses II (Louvre 666). [17] If this is the same Takhat, she would be about the same age as Seti II. [18]

A monument from Karnak, carved while Amenmesse was in control of the area, includes the relief of a woman titled "King's Daughter" and "King's Mother". The monument was reinscribed from "Mother" to "Wife". Another statue of Seti II (Cairo CG1198) bears Seti's name surcharged over someone else's while the names of Takhat were left alone. This suggests that Takhat was married to Seti as well as mother to Amenmesse. [19] Others such as Frank Yurco believe Takhat was wife to Merneptah, making the rivals Seti II and Amenmesse half-brothers. [20]

Some assume that Twosret, wife of Seti II, was his sister. Amenmesse's wife was thought to be a woman named Baketwerel since she was buried in the same tomb as Amenmesse, KV10. Three mummies were initially present in this tomb, two women and one man. It is uncertain if any of these remains belong to Amenmesse, Takhat, or Baketwerel. The two females Baketwerel and Takhat could have been buried later. [21] Some people believe that Seti II broke into the tomb and had Amenmesse's remains desecrated since his mummy was never found.

Six quartzite statues originally placed along the axis of the hypostyle hall in the Amun Temple at Karnak are thought to be his, although these were defaced and overwritten with the name of Seti II. [22] One of these statues, with the inscription "the Great Royal Wife Takhat", lends credence to the argument that a Takhat was Amenmesse's wife. Amenmesse was also responsible for restoring a shrine dating from Thutmose III that stands before a temple at El-Tod.

There is confusion about the events surrounding his death. His mummy was not amongst those found in the cache at Deir el-Bahri, and from the destruction of his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, it is assumed that Seti II took revenge upon his usurping half-brother.

Aftermath

Amenmesse was buried in a rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings which is now identified as Tomb KV10. However, almost all of its texts and scenes were either erased or usurped by Seti II's agents. No mention of Amenmesse was spared. [23] [24] A number of officials associated with Amenmesse were also attacked or replaced, chief among them being the Theban High Priest of Amun, Roma called Roy, and Khaemtir, a former Viceroy of Kush, who may have supported Amenmesse's usurpation. [25]

Amenmesse's tomb was looted in antiquity. However, the remains of three mummies were found in this tomb, two women and one man; it is uncertain if any of these remains belong to Amenmesse, Takhat or the later Baketwerel without further testing or whether they were later intrusions. It seems more likely, however, that Seti II had Amenmesse's remains desecrated since his mummy was never found "in either of the two great caches of royal mummies found in 1881 and 1901". [26] Surviving inscriptions mentioning Takhat's name along with the wall inscriptions suggest she was buried in Amenmesse's tomb. Artifacts from the tombs of Seti I and Ramesses VI were also found in the KV10 tomb adding to the uncertainty. After his death, Seti II also conducted a damnatio memoriae campaign against the memory of Amenmesse's Vizier, Khaemtir. Egyptologist Frank Yurco notes that Seti II's agents erased all of Khaemtir's depictions and inscriptions—even those that were inscribed when Khaemtir served as a Viceroy in Nubia. [27]

It is possible that Siptah, the pharaoh who succeeded Seti II, was the son of Amenmesse and not of Seti II. A statue of Siptah in Munich shows the pharaoh seated in the lap of another, clearly his father. The statue of the father, however, has been destroyed. Dodson writes:

The only ruler of the period who could have promoted such destruction was Amenmesse, and likewise he is the only king whose offspring required such explicit promotion. The destruction of this figure is likely to have closely followed the fall of Bay or the death of Siptah himself, when any short-lived rehabilitation of Amenmesse will have ended. [28]

Manfred Georg [29] and Rolf Krauss [30] [31] find that there are a number of parallels between the story of Amenmesse and the biblical story of Moses in Egypt.

Amenmesse and the Viceroy of Kush Messuy

A number of scholars have explored the possible identification of Amenmesse with the Viceroy of Kush Messuy (also rendered Messuwy). The hypothesis was first developed by Rolf Krauss and later supported or entertained by Manfred Georg, Aidan Dodson, Jürgen von Beckerath, Labib Habachi, Pierre Grandet, Marc Gabolde, and Erik Hornung. [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39]


Krauss proposed that Messuy may have seized royal authority in Upper Egypt and Nubia in the aftermath of Merneptah’s death, subsequently adopting the royal titulary of Amenmesse. [32] Messuy’s attested monuments and graffito are overwhelmingly concentrated in Nubia and southern Upper Egypt, which Georg, Krauss, and Gabolde argue is more consistent with the political base of a Viceroy of Kush who later claimed kingship than with a universally recognised pharaoh. [33] [38] Von Beckerath and Grandet similarly note that Amenmesse’s rule appears to have been confined to the south, matching the territorial sphere in which Messuy operated. [35] [37]

Dodson has observed that a depiction of Messuy in the Temple of Amada may show a later addition of a royal uraeus, which he interprets as potentially marking Messuy’s transition from viceroy to king. [34] Habachi earlier noted that Messuy’s titles and epithets at Amada suggest an elevation in status, although he stopped short of identifying him as Amenmesse. [36]

Frank Yurco rejected the identification, arguing that wear patterns at Amada do not support the claim of an added uraeus, and emphasising that depictions of Messuy in Nubian temples were not subjected to the same damnatio memoriae as Amenmesse’s Vizier Khaemtir. [40] Yurco also notes that objects from Messuy’s tomb at Aniba bear only the name of Merneptah, implying that Messuy died during Merneptah’s reign and cannot be Amenmesse. [40]

Amenmesse and the Osarseph/Moses Hypothesis

A minority scholarly hypothesis considers whether the Egyptian figure behind the Osarseph narrative—preserved in Manetho and later associated with Moses—may reflect memories of Amenmesse’s contested reign. This view does not identify Amenmesse with the biblical Moses, but argues that elements of his rise and downfall parallel motifs in the Osarseph tradition.

Donald B. Redford argues that early Egyptian portrayals of elite rebels involve high-ranking insiders who lose royal favour, ally with marginal or foreign groups, disrupt cultic order, and are subsequently erased from official memory. [41] Although Redford does not identify a specific figure, later authors—including Manfred Georg and Rolf Krauss—have applied this framework to Amenmesse. [33] [42] [43]

Georg discusses Amenmesse within the broader phenomenon of Egyptian individuals bearing the name element -mose, suggesting that Amenmesse’s erasure and disappearance are structurally similar to the Osarseph narrative. [33] Krauss has also examined these parallels in detail, focusing on Amenmesse’s disputed legitimacy, the presence of foreign or marginal supporters, and the systematic erasure of his monuments under Seti II. [42] [43]

Additional Egyptologists—including Pierre Grandet, Jürgen von Beckerath, Peter J. Brand, Thomas Schneider, and Erik Hornung—have discussed Amenmesse’s reign within the broader context of Egyptian cultural memory, internal rebellion, and ideological portrayals of insurgent elites. [37] [35] [44] [45] [39] While not all directly connect Amenmesse to Osarseph, these analyses highlight the way Amenmesse’s contested rule fits patterns later embedded in the narrative tradition.

Supporters of the hypothesis cite several points of convergence:

Jan Assmann has argued that New Kingdom ideological texts, especially those of the Twentieth Dynasty, developed a literary template in which internal enemies were portrayed as elite Egyptians who collaborated with foreigners, disrupted cultic order, and were expelled to restore ma'at—a narrative structure that underlies the Osarseph story. [48] [49]

Amenmesse and the Shasu Hypothesis

Some modern interpretations examine whether Amenmesse’s supporters may have included groups later described as Shasu—semi-nomadic peoples of the southern Levant and Sinai attested in New Kingdom texts. No inscription explicitly connects Amenmesse to Shasu groups, but Egyptologists such as Rolf Krauss, Manfred Georg, Michael G. Hasel, James K. Hoffmeier, Douglas Petrovich, and Edward Wente have noted that Amenmesse’s political base included foreign or marginal elements consistent with Egyptian descriptions of rebels and their allies. [50] [51] [52] [53]

Inscriptions from Thebes indicate the presence of Nubians and Asiatics among Amenmesse’s faction. [46] New Kingdom ideological texts frequently portray insurgents as aligning with desert peoples or foreign groups, and later literary traditions—such as Manetho’s Osarseph account—connect a rebel Egyptian leader with groups located east of the Delta, a region associated with the Shasu in Egyptian sources. [41]

Scholars such as Krauss and Georg argue that the memory of Amenmesse’s contested rule and his association with foreign supporters may have contributed to later Egyptian narrative patterns linking rebels with Asiatic or Shasu groups, though they do not claim that Amenmesse historically led Shasu bands. [33] [43]

The hypothesis remains tentative, but it forms part of broader research into Egyptian–Levantine interaction, frontier populations, and the role of foreign groups in internal Egyptian rebellions.

References

  1. ↑ Amenmesse – Digital Egypt
  2. ↑ Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1994, p.158.
  3. ↑ KV-10: The Tomb of Amenmesse
  4. ↑ Edward Wente and Charles Van Siclen III, "A Chronology of the New Kingdom," 218.
  5. ↑ Michael Rice, Who's Who in Ancient Egypt, Routledge, 1999.
  6. ↑ Vandersleyen, ĽÉgypte et la Vallée du Nil, vol. 2, 575.
  7. ↑ K. A. Kitchen, "The Titularies of the Ramesside Kings as Expression of Their Ideal Kingship," ASAE 71 (1987): 134–35.
  8. ↑ Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (eds.), Handbook of Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill, 2006, p. 212.
  9. ↑ Krauss 1976, 1977, 1997; Dodson 1997.
  10. ↑ Hornung, Krauss & Warburton, op. cit., p. 213.
  11. ↑ Krauss 1976, 1977; The Viceroy of Kush Archived 2007-02-23 at the Wayback Machine .
  12. ↑ Frank J. Yurco, "Was Amenmesse the Viceroy of Kush, Messuwy?", JARCE 34 (1997), pp. 53–54, 56.
  13. ↑ Yurco, JARCE 34 (1997), p. 56.
  14. ↑ Yurco, JARCE 34 (1997), pp. 55–56.
  15. ↑ J. J. Janssen, Village Varia: Ten Studies on the History and Administration of Deir El-Medina, Egyptologische Uitgaven 11, Leiden, 1997, pp. 99–109.
  16. ↑ Rolf Krauss, "Untersuchungen zu König Amenmesse: Nachträge", SAK 24 (1997), pp. 161–184.
  17. ↑ Dodson, A., Poisoned Legacy: The Decline and Fall of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty, American University in Cairo Press, 2010, p. 42 n. 42.
  18. ↑ Dodson, A., Poisoned Legacy, p. 42.
  19. ↑ Dodson, A., Poisoned Legacy, pp. 40–42.
  20. ↑ Dodson, A., Poisoned Legacy, nn. 38, 40.
  21. ↑ Yurco, JARCE 34 (1997), p. 54.
  22. ↑ Cardon 1979; Yurco 1979.
  23. ↑ Dodson, Aidan, "The Tomb of King Amenmesse: Some Observations", DE 2 (1985), 7–11.
  24. ↑ Dodson, Aidan, "Death after Death in the Valley of the Kings", in: Sara E. Orel (ed.), Death and Taxes in the Ancient Near East, Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992, 53–59.
  25. ↑ Dodson, Aidan, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, American University in Cairo Press, 2004, p. 176.
  26. ↑ Yurco, JARCE 34 (1997), p. 54.
  27. ↑ Yurco, JARCE 34 (1997), pp. 49–56.
  28. ↑ Dodson, Aidan, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, American University of Cairo Press, 2004, p. 181.
  29. ↑ Georg, M., "Mose – Name und Namensträger. Versuch einer historischen Annäherung", in: E. Otto (ed.), Mose. Ägypten und das Alte Testament, Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart, 2000.
  30. ↑ Krauss, R., Moïse le pharaon, Paris: Éditions du Rocher, 2000.
  31. ↑ Krauss, Rolf, Das Rätsel Moses: Auf den Spuren einer Erfindung biblischen, Ullstein Verlag, München, 2001.
  32. 1 2 Krauss, Rolf. "Untersuchungen zu König Amenmesse." SAK 3 (1976).
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 Georg, Manfred. "Mose – Name und Namensträger. Versuch einer historischen Annäherung." In: Otto, E. (ed.), Mose: Ägypten und das Alte Testament. Stuttgart, 2000.
  34. 1 2 Dodson, Aidan. "Some Observations on the Tomb of Amenmesse." DE 2 (1985); and "Messuy and Amenmesse" in JARCE 34 (1997).
  35. 1 2 3 von Beckerath, Jürgen. Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen. MÄS 20, 1999.
  36. 1 2 Habachi, Labib. "King Amenmesse and the Viceroy of Kush Messuwy." MDAIK 34 (1978).
  37. 1 2 3 Grandet, Pierre. "L'accession de Séthi II et la chronologie de la fin de la XIXe dynastie." BIFAO 94 (1994).
  38. 1 2 Gabolde, Marc. Amenmesse. Paris, 2000.
  39. 1 2 Hornung, Erik; Krauss, Rolf; Warburton, David. Handbook of Ancient Egyptian Chronology. Brill, 2006.
  40. 1 2 Yurco, Frank. "Was Amenmesse the Viceroy of Kush, Messuwy?" JARCE 34 (1997): 49–56.
  41. 1 2 Redford, Donald B. Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. Princeton University Press, 1992.
  42. 1 2 Krauss, Rolf. Das Mosesbild der Ägypter. Munich: Ullstein, 1988.
  43. 1 2 3 Krauss, Rolf. "Amenmesse and the Exodus Tradition." SAK 25 (1997).
  44. ↑ Brand, Peter J. The Monuments of Seti I. Brill, 2010.
  45. ↑ Schneider, Thomas. Ancient Egypt and the Biblical World. Atlanta, 2014.
  46. 1 2 Dodson, Aidan. Poisoned Legacy: The Decline and Fall of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Cairo: AUC Press, 2010.
  47. ↑ Krauss, Rolf. "Nachträge zu König Amenmesse." SAK 4 (1977).
  48. ↑ Assmann, Jan. The Mind of Egypt. Harvard University Press, 2002.
  49. ↑ Assmann, Jan. Cultural Memory and Early Civilization. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
  50. ↑ Hasel, Michael. Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
  51. ↑ Hoffmeier, James K. Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition. Oxford University Press, 1997.
  52. ↑ Petrovich, Douglas. "Identifying the Shasu." Near Eastern Archaeology (2006).
  53. ↑ Wente, Edward F. "Late Ramesside Letters and the Internal Politics of the 19th Dynasty." JNES 25 (1966).

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.