Famous Pharaohs: 2009-03-08

The inscriptions which mention him speak with a certain emphasis of his monuments in honor of the gods; but of these, those which have survived the ravages of time are reduced to a very small number. The most important edifice, and the most instructive on account of its representations and inscriptions, is his great and splendid tomb in the royal valley of Biban-el-Moluk. The tables of the hours, with the times of the risings of the stars, which formed the houses of the sun's course in the 36 or 37 weeks of the Egyptian year, will be for all times the most valuable contribution to astronomical science in the 12th century before our era. According to the researches of the French savant, Biot, whose labors in the department of astronomical calculation, in order to fix certain epochs of Egyptian history, are almost the only ones which have treated the subject with scientific accuracy, the drawing up of these tables of stars would fall in the reign of Pharaoh Ramses VI, in the year 1240 B.C. Our learned fellow countryman, Professor Lepsius, has, however, from his own point of view, sought to prove that herein lay an error and that, on the authority of the already cited table of hours in the grave of this king, the year 1194 is indicated as the only proper date. This last view does not difier very much from our calculation of 1166, deduced from the number of successive generations. The foregoing inscription is found in a rock-tomb at Anibe, little visited by travelers, on the western bank of the Nile, opposite the village of Ibrim, about fifty kilometers (31 miles) north of Ibsambul.

The owner of the tomb was an official of Pharaoh Ramses VI, of the name of Penni, who, in his office as Adon or governor of the land of Wawa, died and was buried in this lonely region. The directions he left behind him, particularly with regard to the number of estates, the produce of which was devoted to the maintenance of the service of a statue of the king, hardly require an explanation. What makes the inscription particularly valuable is the designation of lands in those parts, and the offices connected with them. He himself, as we have already remarked, was Adon of Wawa. Another Adon is mentioned by the name of Meri. The sun-city of Pira is the ancient designation of the modern place Derr, or Dirr. The city mentioned by the name of Ama, in which a Nubian Horus enjoyed an especial worship, is very often named in the inscriptions, and seems to have been the ancient appellation of Ibrim. At Pira (Derr), in all probability, was the seat of the administration of the whole country of Wawa. The districts of Ahi and the gold land of Akita belonged to it, the revenues of which Penni had to collect and pay over to the Pharaoh. For his especial diligence in the fulfillment of his service to the court he was most warmly commended by the “King's son of Kush” of that time, whose name unfortunately is passed over in silence. On a royal visit, the king appears accompanied by the above-named Meri, who is also called “the superintendent of the temple”, to recommend his officials to the grace of Pharaoh. The statue of the royal lord, which had been set up, plays here an important part. His Majesty appears to have been much pleased with the services of his faithful servant, since he presented Penni with two silver vessels filled with precious ointments, as a reward of honor. Penni was certainly an artist, as is shown by the statue of Pharaoh, and his rock tomb adorned with rich sculptiu-es in stone, but especially by his office, mentioned in the inscriptions, of “master of the quarry”, besides that of a “superintendent of the temple of Horus”, the lord of the town of Ama. These and similar statements are confirmed by the pictures and writings in his eternal dwelling, where he rests surrounded by his numerous relations. The several members of his family appear all to have held during their lifetime various offices in the Horus-city of Ama. I find among them a chief priest of Isis, whose son was the Amenemapi named in the inscription; also two treasurers of the king in Ama, a captain of the city of Ama, a priest and a scribe, while the women are mostly named as female singers of Amon or of Horus, the lord of the town of Ama. When all historical data for depicting the life and deeds of a king fail, the family information contained in the tomb of a contemporary becomes of importance, even if it teaches us nothing else than that in the times of Ramses VI. the Egyptian dominion south of the tropic was still maintained, and that among the "King's sons of Kush" there were several Adons, corresponding to the districts of Kush, to whom again were subordinated the H'a, or governors of the towns.

Magical Funerary Figure: Late New Kingdom

It is scarcely worth while to relate what Ramses II did for the buildings of his father at Abydus. In the course of his long reign the king completed the temple. When the great building was completely finished, Ramses must have been already advanced in years, since not less than sixty sons and fifty-nine daughters of Ramses II greeted in their pictures the entrance of the pilgrims at the principal gate. In proportion as the works executed under Seti, the father, present to the astonished eyes of the beholder splendid examples of Egyptian architecture and sculpture, just so poor and inferior are the buildings which were executed under the reign of Ramses, and which bear the names of the Conquering King. The feeling also of gratitude towards his parent seems to have gradually faded away with Ramses, as years increased upon him, to such a degree, that he did not even deem it wrong to chisel out the names and memorials of his father in many places of the temple walls, and to substitute his own. As we wish to leave it to our readers to form their own opinion on the boastful Ramses, we will turn to another field of his activity, and follow him, in the 5th year of his reign, to the stream of the Orontes in Syria, the waters of which washed the fortress of Kadesh on all sides.

Pharaoh Ramses VI

Ramses II's Father, Sons and Daughters

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