Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in ancient Egypt. Some scholars date his reign from 26 March 1185 to 15 April 1154 BC, and he is considered to be the last pharaoh of the New Kingdom to have wielded substantial power.
His long reign saw the decline of Egyptian political and economic power, linked to a series of invasions and internal economic problems that also plagued pharaohs before him. This coincided with a decline in the cultural sphere of Ancient Egypt.
The defensive strategy of Ramesses III was able to slow down Egypt's decline, though it meant that his successors had a weaker military. He has also been described as a "warrior Pharaoh" due to his strong military strategies. At the Battle of the Delta and Battle of Djahy his armies defeated the invaders known as "the Sea Peoples", who had caused destruction in other civilizations and empires. He was able to save Egypt from collapsing at the time when many other empires fell during the Late Bronze Age; however, the damage of the invasions took a toll on Egypt.
Rameses III constructed one of the largest mortuary temples of western Thebes, now called Medinet Habu. He was assassinated in the Harem conspiracy led by his secondary wife Tiye and her eldest son Pentawere. This ultimately caused a succession crisis which further accelerated the decline of Ancient Egypt. He was succeeded by his son and designated successor Ramesses IV, although many of his other sons would rule later.
Name Ramesses' (also written Ramses and Rameses) two main names are transliterated wsr-mꜢʿt-rʿ–mry-ỉmn rʿ-ms-s–ḥḳꜢ-ỉwnw. They are normally realised as Usermaatre-Meryamun Rameses-Heqaiunu, meaning "The Ma'at of Ra is strong, Beloved of Amun, Born of Ra, Ruler of Heliopolis".
Early years Ramesses III was not closely related to Ramesses I or Ramesses II. He was the son of Setnakhte and Tiy-Merenese who wrote her name in a cartouche. Setnakhte's origin is unknown. He seized the throne during a time of crisis and political unrest likely from Twosret and he was presumably a minor descendant of Ramesses II through a separate family line from that of Seti II, Siptah and Twosret.A. Dodson, Poisoned Legacy The Fall of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty, American University in Cairo 2010, p.119
Accession Ramesses III is believed to have reigned from March 1185 to April 1154 BC. This is based on his known accession date of I Shemu day 26 and his death on Year 32 III Shemu day 15. Some scholars estimate a reign of 31 years, 1 month and 19 days.E.F. Wente & C.C. Van Siclen, "A Chronology of the New Kingdom" in Studies in Honor of George R. Hughes, (SAOC 39) 1976, p.235, Alternative dates for his reign are 1187–1156 BC.
In a description of his coronation from Medinet Habu, four doves were said to be "dispatched to the four corners of the horizon to confirm that the living Horus, Ramses III, is (still) in possession of his throne, that the order of Maat prevails in the cosmos and society".Murnane, W. J., United with Eternity: A Concise Guide to the Monuments of Medinet Habu, p. 38, Oriental Institute, Chicago / American University in Cairo Press, 1980.
Tenure of constant war
During his long tenure in the midst of the surrounding political chaos of the Late Bronze Age collapse, Egypt was beset by foreign invaders (including the so-called Sea Peoples and the Libyans) and experienced the beginnings of increasing economic difficulties and internal strife which eventually led to the collapse of the Twentieth Dynasty.
In Year 8 of his reign, the Sea Peoples, including Peleset, Denyen, Shardana, Meshwesh of the sea, and Tjekker, invaded Egypt by land and sea. Ramesses III defeated them in two great land and sea battles. First, he defeated them on land in the Battle of Djahy on the Egyptian Empire's easternmost frontier in Djahy or modern-day southern Lebanon. The second one was the Battle of the Delta, in which Ramesses enticed the Sea Peoples and their ships into the mouth of the Nile, where he had assembled a fleet in ambush. Although the Egyptians had a reputation as poor seamen, they fought tenaciously. Ramesses lined the shores with ranks of archers who kept up a continuous volley of arrows into the enemy ships when they attempted to land on the banks of the Nile. Then, the Egyptian navy attacked using grappling hooks to haul in the enemy ships. In the brutal hand-to-hand fighting which ensued, the Sea Peoples were utterly defeated. The Harris Papyrus states:
Ramesses III incorporated the Sea Peoples as subject peoples and settled them in southern Canaan. Their presence in Canaan may have contributed to the formation of new states in this region such as Philistia after the collapse of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. During the reign of Ramses III, Egyptian presence in the Levant is still attested as far as Byblos and he may have campaigned further north into Syria. Further south, inscriptions of Ramses III have been found in southern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia which were inscribed as the pharaoh led an army through the area according to archaeologists. He was also compelled to fight invading Libyan tribesmen in two major campaigns in Egypt's Western Delta in his Year 5 and Year 11 respectively.Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books, 1992. p.271 By the early 12th century, Egypt claimed overlordship of Cyrenaican tribes. At one point a ruler chosen by Egypt was set up (briefly) over the combined tribes of Meshwesh, Libu, and Soped.
In April 2025, the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism announced the discovery of a hieroglyphic inscription bearing the royal cartouche of Ramesses III in the Wadi Rum Reserve in southern Jordan. The Jordanian scientific team emphasized that this discovery provides tangible evidence of a military or commercial campaign, proving Ramesses III's influence in the southern Levant and the Arabian Peninsula.
Economic turmoil The heavy cost of these battles slowly exhausted Egypt's treasury and contributed to the gradual decline of the Egyptian Empire in Asia. The severity of these difficulties is stressed by the fact that the first known labour strike in recorded history occurred during Year 29 of Ramesses III's reign, when the food rations for the favoured and elite royal tomb-builders and artisans in the village of Set Maat her imenty Waset (now known as Deir el-Medina), could not be provisioned.William F. Edgerton, The Strikes in Ramses III's Twenty-Ninth Year, JNES 10, No. 3 (July 1951), pp. 137-145 Something in the air (possibly the Hekla 3 eruption) prevented much sunlight from reaching the ground and also arrested global tree growth for almost two full decades until 1140 BC. The result in Egypt was a substantial increase in grain prices under the later reigns of Ramesses VI-VII, whereas the prices for fowl and slaves remained constant.Frank J. Yurco, "End of the Late Bronze Age and Other Crisis Periods: A Volcanic Cause" in Gold of Praise: Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honor of Edward F. Wente, ed: Emily Teeter & John Larson, (SAOC 58) 1999. p.456 Thus the cooldown affected Ramesses III's final years and impaired his ability to provide a constant supply of grain rations to the workmen of the Deir el-Medina community.
These difficult realities are completely ignored in Ramesses' official monuments, many of which seek to emulate those of his famous predecessor, Ramesses II, and which present an image of continuity and stability. He built important additions to the temples at Luxor and Karnak, and his funerary temple and administrative complex at Medinet Habu is amongst the largest and best-preserved in Egypt; however, the uncertainty of Ramesses' times is apparent from the massive fortifications which were built to enclose the latter. No temple in the heart of Egypt prior to Ramesses' reign had ever needed to be protected in such a manner.
Assassination
Thanks to the discovery of papyrus trial transcripts (dated to Ramesses III), it is now known that there was a plot against his life as a result of a royal harem conspiracy during a celebration at Medinet Habu on day 15 of month 2 of Shemu 1155 BC. The conspiracy was instigated by Tiye, one of his three known wives (the others being Tyti and Iset Ta-Hemdjert), over whose son would inherit the throne. Ramesses III failed to clearly establish the order of succession among his sons. He also did not respect their birth order, and the heir he designated, Ramesses IV, was likely younger than another of his sons, Khaemwaset. This miscalculation may have led his second wife, Queen Tiye, to believe that her own younger son could also bypass his elder brothers and become pharaoh, thereby enabling her to plot a conspiracy to murder the king within the royal harem.
The trial documentsBreasted, J. H., Ancient Records of Egypt, Volume IV, pp. 416-456. show that many individuals were implicated in the plot.Breasted, James H., Ancient Records of Egypt, Volume IV, pp. 416-417. Chief among them were Queen Tiye and her son Pentaweret, Ramesses' chief of the chamber, Pebekkamen, seven royal butlers (a respectable state office), two Treasury overseers, two Army standard bearers, two royal scribes and a herald. There is little doubt that all of the main conspirators were executed: some of the condemned were given the option of committing suicide (possibly by poison) rather than being put to death.Breasted, James H., Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Four, pp. 446-450. According to the surviving trial transcripts, a total of three separate trials were started, while 38 people were sentenced to death.Tyldesley, Joyce, Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt, Thames & Hudson October 2006, p.170 The tombs of Tiye and her son Pentaweret were robbed and their names erased to prevent them from enjoying an afterlife. The Egyptians did such a thorough job of this that the only references to them are the trial documents and what remains of their tombs.
Some of the accused harem women tried to seduce the members of the judiciary who tried them but were caught in the act. Judges who were involved were severely punished.Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge University Press 2000, p. 247.
Ramesses IV, the king's designated successor, assumed the throne upon his death rather than Pentaweret, who was intended to be the main beneficiary of the palace conspiracy. Moreover, Ramesses III died in his 32nd year before the summaries of the sentences were composed,Breasted, J. H., Ancient Records of Egypt, p. 418. but the same year that the trial documents record the trial and execution of the conspirators.