Merenptah
| 1213-1204 BC. XIX Dynasty Ramses’s II thirteenth son, born from the great queen Isetnofra, he ascended to the throne already in advanced age and reigned only eight years. The funeral temple and ipogeo in Tebe, Ptah’s palace and temple in Menfi, rocky chapels in Syria, in Gebel el-Silsila and, a bit everywhere, corrections on ancient walls, the son’s work could not absolutely be compared to his father’s. The events in Merentphtah’s reign reveal that in the last years of Ramses’s reign, the military power and the external safety of Egypt had worsened. In his son’s V year, the powerful Libu tribe, helped by Mashawash and Kehek who were relatives, and by contigents of the tribes of pirates from Egeo, began to move eastward. The invaders, marching toward Menfi, were stopped in Perire, at the limit of the Delta, at the cost of a hard battle: the Libu master was deposed, and the booty of arms, prisoners and livestock was great. It was necessary also to suppress a serious rebellion in Low Nubia. To assure the Egyptian presence in Palestine, there were actions against three cities: Ascalona, Gezer and Yenoam, and against the people in Israeli. One of the inscriptions that celebrate the victory against the Libu and that remembers in a few words these interventions in Asia, is the Egyptian text that mentions Israeli ( the most ancient mention of this name); this “stele of Israeli” has contributed to Merenptah’s fame. Opposite to an old persistent idea, it’s not possible to consider him as the pharaoh under whom there was the Exodus. Merenphtah’s mummy has been found in the hiding-place in Amenofi’s II sepulcher. |
