King Merneptah was the 13th son of Ramses II and the 3rd of Queen Isis-Nofret I (Iset-Nofret I). As we know he came to the throne at a very advanced age, between 55 and 60, after the disappearance of his elder brothers and a 12-year co-reign with his father. Some specialists put the date of his assumption of power at between July 26 and 28, 1213. On the same day, the Nile flooded.
king Merneptah successively held the highest positions during the reign of Ramses II, first in the royal administration, then in the army. His half-brother Amonherkhepshef alone was Crown Prince for 25 years, but his father’s very long reign saw the death of most of his siblings. Manetho reckons that his reign lasted 19 years and 6 months (Josephus Flavius) or 20 years (Africanus) or 40 years or 8 years (Eusebius), but today’s researchers are unanimous enough to admit that it lasted more or less only 10 years. Indeed, the earliest documented date of his reign is the 3rd month of year 9.
Merenptah inherited a country enjoying great prosperity and at the height of its power, which was exercised over a vast Empire that was at peace throughout the rest of his father’s reign. However, when his father died, some of the subjugated people took advantage of the situation and rebelled. As a result, from the very beginning of his reign, Pharaoh had to wage military campaigns in Nubia and Libya
The story of King Merenptah:
King Merenptah’s son No. 14 became in the order of the names of the sons of King Ramses II his successor in power, and before him were more than a dozen older and more legitimate brothers to ascend the throne before him, but we have no evidence to indicate any hostile act he did to advance his rank.
Under his leadership, their leader Marbay brought together the country’s ancient population and immigrants: the Akosha, who undoubtedly ashia, the Torsha, Loko and Skala who gave their name to Sicily and our Sardinian brother, who are well-known to Egyptians who took part in battles as part of the Royal Guard, didn’t dream of robbing a tribe or plundering a province.
But they all dreamed of moving with their equipment and possessions to live in the Nile Valley, as the Hyksos had done before. They began advancing towards Egypt in the fifth year, and almost without resistance, they occupied the western territories, and their aim was to be blown away.
To deceive the Egyptians, they crossed the Nile. They headed for the eastern provinces and camped before Belbes and on the border of the Ati Canal, which said Heliopolis and Boubasta before reaching the region of Lake Sobed.
Does the Merenptah stele contain the first mention of Israel?
In 1913, German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt (1863-1938) acquired a stone statue pedestal from an Egyptian merchant. Three names appear in hieroglyphic characters on this block, which measures between 40 and 45 centimeters: Ashkelon, Canaan, and Israel. This last name is identifiable despite a break in the stone. Some researchers and Egyptologists, such as Manfred Görg, Peter van der Veen, and Christoffer Theis, believe this pedestal fragment may predate the Merenptah stele, as the names are spelled differently.
Merenptah had two or three attested wives:
1-Bentanat II, his niece, the daughter of his sister Bentanat I (or Bint-Anath) and her father. This Princess appears twice in the representations in tomb QV71 in the Valley of the Queens of Bentanat I, but is not explicitly named.
2-Isis-Nofret II (or Iset-Nofret), her sister. It should be pointed out that this Queen is not the subject of unanimous agreement, as some specialists believe that Isis-Nofret, wife of Merenptah, was his niece, the daughter of Khaemwaset and Setna II. She bore the titles of : Mistress [Sovereign] of the Two Lands (Hnwt t3wy), Wife of the King (Hmt-nswt), Great Royal Wife
It is unknown when or where the Queen died and was buried, perhaps at Saqqara, where the royal tomb of a woman named Isis-Nofret was recently discovered during excavations by Waseda University. She gave Merenptah three or four children:
1-Seti II, who some believe to be the eldest and who succeeded his father from 1203 to 1194. He is given, among others, by Aidan Marc Dodson and Dyan Hilton, but it should be noted that this proposal is not unanimously supported. He had to fight for the throne against his half-brother (or son, depending on the source) Amenmes (or Amenemose), who also proclaimed himself Pharaoh on the death of Merenptah.
2-Merenptah (or Naneferkaptah), who is also given as the eldest by, among others, Joyce Anne Tyldesley, Aidan Marc Dodson and Dyan Hilton. He held the titles of Son of King, Commander of the Two Lands and Generalissimo. This Prince is mainly known by two statues found in Tanis and Alexandria
King Merneptah Daughter king Merneptah
1- Isis-Nofret (III) who is given only by a few specialists, including Aidan Marc Dodson and Dyan Hilton. She is mentioned in some sources as the Daughter of King
2-Takhat I (or Tachat or Tahat – ¦AHAt) who is surely her half-sister and niece. Traditionally, Takhat I is presented as belonging to the royal family and a daughter of Ramses II
3- Amenmes (or Amenemose), who would precede and/or reign at the same time as his half-brother, or father therefore according to Dodson and Hilton, from 1203 to 1200.
Merenptah died on May 02, 1203 BC. He was buried in tomb KV8 in the Valley of the Kings. His mummy was found by Victor Loret in 1898, in the royal hiding place in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35). It had been moved there by the priests following the looting of the region in the wake of the dynastic troubles that marked the end of the New Kingdom.
The Mummy of King Merneptah
A study of the mummy revealed that Merenptah had died an obese old man. He was 1.71 m tall. At the end of his life, he suffered from various ailments that affected the last years of his reign and probably led to his death. The sovereign’s open fracture at the back of the skull is comparable to that of other royal mummies. Merenptah suffered from arthritis, arteriosclerosis and poor dentition. Examination also revealed several fractures on his body that had not been healed, indicating that they must have occurred post-mortem, perhaps when he was moved to KV35’s hiding place.
Facts about King Merneptah
Pharaoh Merenptah greets the god rê at the entrance to his tomb in the Valley of the Kings With Merenptah comes the end of a period of stability in the Ramesside period and thus of the New Kingdom. The reign of Amenmes, who succeeded him, was contested a few years later, and the dynastic crisis that ensued was not to end until the emergence of a new lineage, which founded the 20th dynasty.
