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58-641: The Whm Mswt forms part of the reign of Ramesses XI , a king who ruled around the end of the New Kingdom and the start of the Third Intermediate Period . In his 19th year he began to count anew, with year 1 of the Whm Mswt perhaps identical to, but at least partly overlapping with his 19th regnal year, as can be seen from the headings of two lists of thieves, known as the Abbott Dockets . These read: For

116-503: A 10th year (which more or less equates year 28 proper of Ramesses XI). Pinehesy was subsequently designated as an enemy in several papyri from year 1 and 2 of the whm-mswt (equalling year 19 and 20 proper of Ramesses XI) where his name was consistently associated "by the nDs [or] (‘bad’) bird as its determinative" in these papyri. How exactly the anarchic period of the Suppression was ended and who ultimately forced Pinehesy out of Thebes

174-459: A JEA 87 (2001) paper which studied several newly discovered fragments belonging to this document. Consequently, it would appear that Ramesses XI's highest undisputed date is presently Year 11 of the Whm-Mswt (or Year 29 proper) of his reign, when Piankh's Nubian campaign terminated which means that the pharaoh had a minimum reign of 29 years when he died—-which can perhaps be extended to 30 years due to

232-455: A change to Year 1, IV month of Akhet . Although both kings are unnamed, the papyrus is strongly suggested by Demarée to refer to the reigns of Ramesses X and his successor Ramesses XI. If confirmed, this would mean that Ramesses XI actually had his accession date between the IIIrd and IVth month of Akhet rather than III Shemu 20 as is conventionally assumed. Demarée stresses in his 2023 paper that

290-467: A long time it was unclear where the Whm Mswt should be placed chronologically. Since the reign of Ramesses IX lasted into its 19th year, the Abbott Dockets were sometimes taken as evidence that the era immediately followed his reign and might perhaps even have been identical to (a phase of) the reign of Ramesses X . This seemed to be confirmed by the fact that both the years 16 and 17 of Ramesses IX and

348-562: A papyrus which stems from year 6 of the Whm Mswt: In year 6 of the Whm Mswt two jars of papyri which apparently had been stolen earlier, probably during the suppression of the High Priest of Amun Amenhotep (see above), were bought back from the people. The Egyptologist T. Eric Peet had already noted that several well-known papyri matched the description given in P. Ambras. However, he also noted that with two papyri, P. BM 10053 and P. BM 10068,

406-458: A reference to a Year 12 in West Theban graffito No.1393 (which mentioned the necropolis scribe Ankhefenamun visiting the mountains with the senior scribe Butehamun, Dhutmose's son) likely shows that the Whm Mswt reached a Year 12 or Year 30 proper of Ramesses XI. However, Kitchen's own standard book on the Third Intermediate Period previously attributed the anonymous West Theban graffito No.1393 to

464-500: A time under the rule of Taharqa and Tantamani, whilst Lower Egypt was ruled from 664 BC by the nascent 26th Dynasty , client kings established by the Assyrians. In 663 BC, Tantamani launched a full-scale invasion of Lower Egypt, taking Memphis in April of this year, killing Necho I of Sais in the process as Necho had remained loyal to Ashurbanipal. Tantamani barely had the time to receive

522-536: A tomb prepared for himself in the Valley of the Kings ( KV4 ), it was left unfinished and only partly decorated since Ramesses XI instead arranged to have himself buried away from Thebes, possibly near Memphis . This pharaoh's tomb, however, includes some unusual features, including four rectangular, rather than square, pillars in its burial chamber and an extremely deep central burial shaft– at over 30 feet or 10 metres long– which

580-518: Is believed that Ramesses ruled into his Year 29 since a graffito records that the general and High Priest of Amun Piankh returned to Thebes from Nubia on III Shemu day 23—or just 3 days into what would have been the start of Ramesses XI's 29th regnal year. Piankh is known to have campaigned in Nubia during Year 28 of Ramesses XI's reign (or Year 10 of the Whm Mswt) and would have returned home to Egypt in

638-466: Is often (tacitly) assumed that the start of the Whm Mswt coincided with the accession date of Ramses XI, but this is nothing more than a hypothesis. Whereas it now seems beyond doubt that the accession date of Ramses XI (that is, the date on which his regnal year changed) fell on "month 11, day 20", it does not automatically follow that the year change for the Renaissance coincided with this date as well. It

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696-545: Is safer to recognize that we simply don't know the precise date on which the Whm Mswt was inaugurated. The exact nature of the Whm Mswt is still unknown. It is often believed to mark a final waning of the power of the centralised monarchy, with Ramesses XI still nominally pharaoh , but with Herihor as High Priest of Amun in Thebes and Smendes in Tanis ruling respectively Upper and Lower Egypt. However, this interpretation rests on

754-475: Is unknown, due to a lack of explicit sources. However, it seems that Pinehesy retreated to Nubia and succeeded in maintaining some sort of powerbase there for over a decade. In year 10 of the whm-mswt the then general and High Priest Piankh goes on an expedition to Nubia to "meet Pinehesy". Although it is often postulated that it was the aim of this campaign to fight the former Viceroy, this is by no means certain. The sources are actually ambiguous on this point and

812-451: The Assyrians under King Ashurbanipal . The use of the term "Third Intermediate Period" , based on the analogy of the well-known First and Second Intermediate Periods, was popular by 1978, when British Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen used the term for the title of his book on the period. While Kitchen argued that the period was 'far from being chaotic' and hoped that his work would lead to

870-672: The Greek Dark Ages ). The period of the Twenty-first Dynasty is characterized by the country's fracturing kingship. Already during Ramesses XI 's reign, the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt was losing its grip on the city of Thebes , whose priests were becoming increasingly powerful. After his death, his successor, Smendes I , ruled from the city of Tanis , but was mostly active only in Lower Egypt, which he controlled. Meanwhile,

928-542: The High Priests of Amun at Thebes ruled Middle and Upper Egypt in all but name. However, this division was less significant than it seems, since both the priests and pharaohs came from the same family. The country was firmly reunited by the Twenty-second Dynasty founded by Shoshenq I in 945 BC (or 943 BC), who descended from Meshwesh immigrants, originally from ancient Libya . This brought stability to

986-678: The House-list (from an unspecified year 12) and the Srmt-list (undated, but slightly later than the Houselist ); Pap. B.M. 9997, of an unspecified year 14 and 15; and an entire series of Late Ramesside Letters written by -among others- the scribes of the Necropolis Dhutmose, Butehamun, and the High Priest Piankh . Late Ramesside Letter no. 9 establishes that the Whm Mswt period lasted into

1044-417: The "gap between the beginning of Dynasty 21 and the reign of Ramesses XI." with 33 years being hypothetical. Krauss and Warburton specifically write that due to the existence of this time gap, Aidan Dodson, however, allows for a 'year 15' of the Whm-Mswt on the basis of P. BM 9997. Either during the reign of Ramesses XI or shortly afterwards, the village of Deir El Medina was abandoned, apparently because

1102-461: The Assyrian invasions of Egypt over the period 670–663 BC. Consequently, pharaoh Taharqa 's reign, and that of his successor Tantamani , were filled with constant conflict with the Assyrians. In 664 BC the Assyrians delivered a mortal blow, sacking Thebes and Memphis . Following these events, and starting with Atlanersa , no Kushite ruler would ever rule over Egypt again. Upper Egypt remained for

1160-576: The High Priest of Amun , Amenhotep , was ousted from office by Pinehesy , the Viceroy of Kush who for some time took control of the Thebais. Although this “suppression of the High Priest of Amun” used to be dated quite early in the reign (prior to year 9 of the reign), recently the communis opinio has changed to the view that it took place only shortly before the start of the Whm Mswt or Renaissance, an era which

1218-414: The High Priest of Egypt at Thebes. Thijs' separate proposal that the first 17 years of Ramesses XI's reign were entirely contemporary with the reigns of Ramesses IX (Years 5-19) and Ramesses X (Years 1-3) is not currently accepted by most Egyptologists except Aidan Dodson in his 2012 book Afterglow of Empire . Sometime during this troubled period, Ramesses XI died under unknown circumstances. While he had

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1276-546: The Royal Necropolis was shifted northward to Tanis and there was no further need for their services at Thebes. The conventional Egyptian chronology view is that Ramesses XI had an independent reign of between 29 and 30 or 33 full years between Ramesses X and Smendes before dying. Shortly before his death, he transferred Egypt's political capital to Tanis where he died and was buried by Smendes who succeeded him but only ruled Lower Egypt while Herihor ruled Upper Egypt as

1334-653: The Whm Mswt); an oracle mentioning the High Priest of Amun Piankh , explicitly dated to year 7 Whm Mswt under Ramesses XI, and the corpus known as the Late Ramesside Letters. The era was traditionally thought to have ended around its Year 10 (or Year 28 proper of Ramesses XI) when a letter from the corpus of Late Ramesside Letters shows that the High Priest Piankh was campaigning in Nubia . A graffito in Upper Egypt dates

1392-493: The abolishment of the term, with his own preference being the 'Post-Imperial epoch', his use of the term as a title seems only to have entrenched the use of the term. The period was ruled by non-native Egyptians and is viewed as one of decline and political instability including division of the state, coinciding with the Late Bronze Age collapse of civilizations in the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean (including

1450-584: The additional entries on the verso (stemming from a year 9 and a year 12) were apparently omitted by the scribe of P. Ambras, which suggests that they were not yet there when the inventory of P. Ambras was composed. From this it could be deduced that the Whm Mswt must have lasted at least into a year 12. In the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Khonsu , there are ample depictions of Herihor as High Priest of Amun, serving under Ramesses XI. It has been pointed out that, on

1508-403: The aim of the expedition nor its outcome are beyond doubt. The issue is further complicated by the ongoing debate about [1] the order of High Priests (either Herihor before Piankh or Piankh before Herihor) and [2] the correct ascription (either to the pre-Renaissance period or to the whm-mswt itself) of several documents from the reign of Ramesses XI. At present, Thijs' suggestion that Pinehesy

1566-463: The combined might of several native Egyptian rulers: Peftjaubast, Osorkon IV of Tanis, Iuput II of Leontopolis and Tefnakht of Sais. Piye established the Twenty-fifth Dynasty and appointed the defeated rulers as his provincial governors. He was succeeded first by his brother, Shabaka , and then by his two sons Shebitku and Taharqa . The reunited Nile valley empire of the 25th Dynasty

1624-628: The country during his 54-year reign from the city of Sais beginning the Late Period of ancient Egypt . The historiography of this period is disputed for a variety of reasons. Firstly, there is a dispute about the utility of a very artificial term that covers an extremely long and complicated period of Egyptian history. The Third Intermediate Period includes long periods of stability as well as chronic instability and civil conflict: its very name rather clouds this fact. Secondly, there are significant problems of chronology stemming from several areas, there are

1682-503: The country for well over a century, but after the reign of Osorkon II , particularly, the country had effectively split into two states, with Shoshenq III of the Twenty-second Dynasty controlling Lower Egypt by 818 BC while Takelot II and his son Osorkon (the future Osorkon III ) ruled Middle and Upper Egypt. In Thebes, a civil war engulfed the city, pitting the forces of Pedubast I , who had proclaimed himself pharaoh, against

1740-552: The death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1077 BC, which ended the New Kingdom , and was eventually followed by the Late Period . Various points are offered as the beginning for the latter era, though it is most often regarded as dating from the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC, following the departure of the Nubian Kushite rulers of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty after they were driven out by

1798-484: The difficulties in dating that are common to all of Egyptian chronology and are compounded by synchronisms with Biblical archaeology that also contain heavily disputed dates. Peter James , along with several other academics, argued contra Kitchen that the period lasted less than 200 years, starting later than 850 BC but ending at the conventional date, as the five dynasties had many years of overlap. Some theorists such as David Rohl have controversial theories about

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1856-411: The era may have lasted into its year 15. This theory requires the reascription of papyri normally ascribed to the phase of the reign of Ramesses XI predating the Whm Mswt to the Whm Mswt itself. This move is based on [1] the promotion of several individuals mentioned in those papyri. and [2] the identification of several tomb robbery papyri from the reign of Ramesses XI with documents listed in P. Ambras ,

1914-667: The existing line of Takelot II /Osorkon B. The two factions squabbled continuously and the conflict was only resolved in Year 39 of Shoshenq III when Osorkon B comprehensively defeated his enemies. He proceeded to found the Upper Egyptian Libyan Twenty-third Dynasty of Osorkon III – Takelot III – Rudamun , but this kingdom quickly fragmented after Rudamun's death, with the rise of local city states under kings such as Peftjaubast of Herakleopolis , Nimlot of Hermopolis , and Ini at Thebes. The Nubian kingdom to

1972-550: The first pyramids to be constructed in the Nile valley in hundreds of years. The Napatan dynasty led to the Kingdom of Kush , which flourished in Napata and Meroe until at least the 2nd century AD. The international prestige of Egypt had declined considerably by this time. The country's international allies had fallen firmly into the sphere of influence of Assyria and from about 700 BC

2030-402: The first two years of the Whm Mswt saw a series of court sessions connected with tomb-robbery . It was Jaroslav Černý who convincingly showed that the era started in year 19 of Ramesses XI. Although generally accepted, as a side effect his solution created an interval of over two decades between the two series of tomb-robbery trials, which created some anomalies for the tomb-robbery papyri. It

2088-471: The first two years of the Whm Mswt); Pap. Ambras (containing a list of documents which were repurchased in year 6 of the Whm Mswt, after having been stolen from some temple archive, most probably during the chaotic period of the suppression of the High Priest of Amun Amenhotep ); the Turin Taxation Papyrus , of an unspecified year 12; Pap. B.M. 10068, which includes on its verso two lists, called

2146-518: The following year. Ramesses XI was once thought to be the son of Ramesses X by Queen Tyti who was a King's Mother, King's Wife and King's Daughter in her titles. However, recent scholarly research into certain copies of parts of the Harris papyrus (or Papyrus BM EA 10052)--collected by Anthony Harris —which discusses a harem conspiracy against Ramesses III reveals that Tyti was instead a queen of pharaoh Ramesses III instead. Hence, Ramesses XI's mother

2204-592: The future Divine Adoratrice of Amun , thereby also submitting the priesthood of Amun and effectively uniting Egypt. Tantamani's successor Atlanersa was in no position to attempt a reconquest of Egypt as Psamtik also secured the southern border at Elephantine and may even have sent a military campaign to Napata . Concurrently, Psamtik managed to free himself from the Assyrian vassalage while remaining on good terms with Ashurbanipal, possibly owing to an ongoing rebellion in Babylon. By doing so, he brought increased stability to

2262-475: The kingship of Egypt, based on the well known custom that he who buried the king inherited the throne. Since Smendes buried Ramesses XI, he could legally assume the crown of Egypt and inaugurate the 21st Dynasty from his hometown at Tanis , even if he did not control Middle and Upper Egypt, which were now effectively in the hands of the High Priests of Amun at Thebes . Third Intermediate Period The Third Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt began with

2320-479: The land find out. Whereas Piankh would probably have had the authority to have people executed, it is noteworthy that his correspondents are explicitly urged to keep the matter secret. It has been argued that, given Piankh's supreme position at the time, the secrecy can only have concerned the king. If this is correct, it follows that the political situation of the time must have been very complex, with Piankh possibly acting on some hidden agenda. Unfortunately, due to

2378-511: The latter suppressed the Theban High Priest of Amun Amenhotep . During the first two years of the era a series of tomb-robbery trials took place. These are well documented due to the survival of several papyri, most notably Pap. B.M. 10052, Pap. Mayer A , Pap. B.M. 10403, Pap. B.M. 10383 and Papyrus Rochester MAG 51.346.1. Other sources dating from the Whm Mswt are Pap. Ambras (an inventory of stolen papyri, explicitly dated to year 6 of

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2436-792: The pharaoh, Ramesses XI." In this letter, better known as LRL no. 21, Piankh remarks: As for Pharaoh, l.p.h., how shall he reach this land? And of whom is Pharaoh, l.p.h., superior still? In the same letter and two others (LRL no. 34 and no. 35) Piankh gives the order to the Scribe of the Necropolis Tjaroy (=Dhutmose), the lady Nodjmet and a certain Payshuuben to secretly arrest and question two Medjay policemen about certain things they had apparently said: If they find out that (it is) true, you shall place them (in) two baskets and (they) shall be thrown (into) this water by night. But do not let anybody in

2494-478: The political climate may well have changed over the years. There is some evidence that at this time Piankh may no longer have been a loyal servant of Ramesses XI, which allows for the possibility that he was secretly negotiating with Pinehesy, possibly even plotting against the reigning king. E. Wente wrote: "One has the impression that the viceroy and his Nubian troops were loyalists, for the remarks made by his opponent Piankh in letter No. 301 are quite disparaging of

2552-516: The question became when, not if, there would be war between the two states as Esarhaddon had realised that a conquest of Lower Egypt was necessary to protect Assyrian interests in the Levant. Despite Egypt's size and wealth, Assyria had a greater supply of timber, while Egypt had a chronic shortage, allowing Assyria to produce more charcoal needed for iron-smelting and thus giving Assyria a greater supply of iron weaponry. This disparity became critical during

2610-441: The reign of king Smendes and not to the Whm Mswt period. Attributing this date to the Whm Mswt would create enormous problems for his own reconstruction of Egyptian history since West Theban graffito No.1393 forms part of a whole corpus of sources which Kitchen would never be willing to ascribe to the Whm Mswt since this would upset his whole chronology for the period. It has been proposed by Ad Thijs, followed by Aidan Dodson, that

2668-417: The return of Piankh to Thebes to the third month of Shemu day 23, i.e. 3 days after the start of Ramesses XI's 29th regnal year, which would (on the assumption that the years of the Whm Mswt fully coincided with the original regnal years of Ramesses XI) prove that the Whm Mswt reached into a year 11. In 2007, Professor Kenneth A. Kitchen argued that the combination of Late Ramesside Letter 41 (undated) with

2726-500: The sources which support an accession date of III Shemu day 20 for Ramesses XI are hardly conclusive: Ramesses XI's reign is notable for a large number of important papyri that have been discovered, including the Adoption Papyrus , which mentions regnal years 1 and 18 of his reign; Pap. B.M. 10052 , Pap. Mayer A , Pap. B.M. 10403 and Pap. B.M. 10383 (the last four containing the accounts of tomb-robbery trials conducted during

2784-465: The south took full advantage of this division and the ensuing political instability. Prior to Piye 's Year 20 campaign into Egypt, the previous Nubian ruler – Kashta – had already extended his kingdom's influence into Thebes when he compelled Shepenupet, the serving Divine Adoratice of Amun and Takelot III's sister, to adopt his own daughter Amenirdis, to be her successor. Then, 20 years later, around 732 BC his successor, Piye , marched north and defeated

2842-503: The submission of some Delta kinglets and expel the remaining Assyrians that a large army led by Ashurbanipal and Necho's son Psamtik I came back. Tantamani was defeated north of Memphis and Thebes was thoroughly sacked shortly after. The Kushite king withdrew to Nubia while the Assyrian influence in Upper Egypt quickly waned. Permanently weakened by the sack, Thebes peacefully submitted itself to Psamtik's fleet in 656 BC. To affirm his authority, Psamtik placed his daughter in position to be

2900-425: The theory of Jansen-Winkeln which has Herihor following Piankh, this suggests that Ramesses XI must have continued to reign at least for several years after the last attestation of Piankh in year 10 or 11. Ramesses XI Menmaatre Ramesses XI (also written Ramses and Rameses ) reigned from 1107 BC to 1078 BC or 1077 BC and was the tenth and final pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and as such,

2958-475: The theory that the career of the High Priest Herihor preceded that of Piankh , which has been challenged by Jansen-Winkeln. Since his reversal of high priests (he put the pontificate of Piankh before that of Herihor) other models have been proposed. For example the Whm Mswt has been interpreted as marking the restoration of order by Ramses XI following his expulsion of the Viceroy of Kush Pinehesy , after

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3016-601: The very limited nature of the sources, the exact relationships between the three main protagonists, Piankh, Pinehesy and Ramesses XI remain far from clear. Some scholars believe that the Nubian campaign was part of an ongoing power struggle between the High Priest of Amun and the Viceroy of Kush However, it is equally possible that Piankh came to the rescue of Pinehesy against some common enemy. The verb often translated as "to attack (Pinehesy)" only means "to meet/ to go to". In fact, neither

3074-490: Was apparently rehabilitated by Ramesses XI in year 11 or 12 of the whm-mswt has only been explicitly accepted by the Egyptologist A. Dodson. Neither the length of the Renaissance nor the ascription of certain documents from the reign of Ramesses XI are beyond dispute. At present, Thijs' proposal that Papyrus BM 10054 dates to the Whm-Mswt has been confirmed by other scholars such as Von Beckerath and Annie Gasse—the latter in

3132-455: Was as large as it had been since the New Kingdom. Pharaohs of the dynasty, among them Taharqa, built or restored temples and monuments throughout the Nile valley, including at Memphis, Karnak, Kawa, and Jebel Barkal. The 25th Dynasty ended with its rulers retreating to their spiritual homeland at Napata . It was there (at El-Kurru and Nuri) that all 25th Dynasty pharaohs were buried under

3190-542: Was inaugurated in regnal Year 19, probably to stress the return of normal conditions following the coup of Pinehesy. Ramesses XI is usually assigned an accession date of III shemu 20 (third month of the Summer season, day 20) However, a later 20th Dynasty papyrus fragment from Deir el-Medina published in 2023 by the Egyptologist Robert J. Demarée refers to a partial date of Year 4, III month of Akhet together with

3248-442: Was not Tyti and although he could have been a son of his predecessor, this is not established either. Ramesses XI is believed to have married Tentamun , the daughter of Nebseny, with whom he is assumed to have fathered Duathathor-Henuttawy —the future wife of the high priest Pinedjem I . Ramesses XI may have had another daughter named Tentamun who became king Smendes ' future wife in the next dynasty. Sometime during his reign,

3306-529: Was perhaps designed as an additional security device to prevent tomb robbery. During the 21st dynasty, under the reign of the High Priest of Thebes, Pinedjem I , Ramesses XI's tomb was used as a workshop for processing funerary materials from the burials of Hatshepsut , Thutmose III and perhaps Thutmose I . Ramesses XI's tomb has stood open since antiquity and was used as a dwelling by the Copts . Since Ramesses XI had himself buried in Lower Egypt, Smendes rose to

3364-450: Was the last king of the New Kingdom period . He ruled Egypt for at least 29 years although some Egyptologists think he could have ruled for as long as 30. The latter figure would be up to 2 years beyond this king's highest known date of Year 10 of the Whm Mswt era or Year 28 of his reign. One scholar, Ad Thijs, has suggested that Ramesses XI could even have reigned as long as 33 years. It

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