THE SONS OF RAMESES II Patrick van Gils investigates why Rameses II broke with tradition to depict his offspring on royal monuments. n ancient E children, and esp not shown on royal monuments. However, Rameses Il ( 1279-1213 BC) prominently depicted his offs monuments. By doing so the king brought about a change in Egyptian temple decoration, but what motives did he have for this radical departure from tradition? y as the Fifth Dynasty, royal ially the king's sons, were generally Images of Royal Children Except during the Amamna Period, of royal hildren were on non-royal ne tombs Of thei tutors or wet nurses. good example ofthis can be Thutmose I the prince s shown sitting on fis tutor’ lap, in the Theban tomb of Heqancheh (or Hekemneheh, 1164) multiple royal sons were depicted together with theit father Thutmose IV Geen the Lep wing, opposite bo he king is shown sitting on the lap o qaneshu (or Hekaresu), the tomb owner's father. In fran! of them stands prince Amenhotp, the future Amenhotep I Behind him six addi are shown in three sept ate register infortunately lost, They cat be identified ollowed by the addition “of his body" or “loved by him* Their hairstyle is a second criterion for their identification as royal sons; they all wear the braided side lock on an othe wise shaved head, Princes, and in many cases, princesses, were often depicted with this hairstyle he reign of Akhenaten (¢. 1352-1336 BC) broke with many artistic traditions, not least in that the royal daughters, were prominently depicted on royal monuments, The princesses are shown assisting their parents in performing religious acts and following them in chariots during proces to the male offspring of Akhenaten are lief which ithe future haroly found on monuments. The anly know contains a reference to a prince Tutankhate king Tutankhamun) is a block from Amara reused in Hermopolis. The text on the piece reads: ".,. The s body... beloved by him, Tutankhater There are no known references to royal childre last Fighteenth Dynasty jolis, "A general named Nakhimin is often mentioned as a son of Tutankharnun’s successor Ay, Nakhtmin bore the title but lacks the addition “of his body” or “loved by him*. Th itle Sa-nsw was also used by the Viceroy of Kush (Nubia), which led American Egyntologi (in hat Nakhimin was Ay’s Viceray rather than his ‘Alan Schulman to assurson. No conclusive evidence has been found which can prove either of these relationships. ‘As far as it is known, Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty had no children. He was succeeded by his General and Vizier Paramesse, who ascended the throne as Rameses |, the first pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty. er0y: ANCIENT EGYPT June/July 2015 His son and successor Sety | took the unusual step of depicting his son, Prince Rameses (later Rameses ll) prominently on the wall of the so called ‘Hall of the ‘Ancestors’ in his Abydos temple (above right). Sety | and prince Rameses are shown standing beside a list containing the names of 76 kings who had ruled Egypt before them. This relief may have (OPPOSITE PAGE Two sons of Rameses tl the ss Amenemwia (eighth Son) and Secepenra (enth son) from the Luxor Temple proces “THIS PAGE ABOVE LEFT Prince Wadjmose, a son of Thutmose I, seated on the lap of his tutor Pahert in Paherl's ‘omb at el-Kab, ABOVE RIGHT. Sety land prince Rameses in the ‘Hall of the Ancestors” in the Temple,of Sety | at Abydos, RIGHT scene from Theban Tomb 64 king Thutmose WV sits on the lap of his tutor Heqanesh while prince Amenhotep and the tutor tomb ‘owmner) Hekerneheh show their Image: From Lepsius Denkmaler aus Agypten und “Aethiopien, ABE il B1.69 23‘ABOVE Inthe First Court of ty Raunesseum, dae royal childfen ‘of Rameses hare depicted indlerneath a larg BELOW LEFT The t Amenbinhopsh rehirwonet and BELOW RIGHT 2+ been Sety’s attempt to prove his right to ule by connecting himself and his intended heir Rameses to the former kings of Egypt. Royal Processions On becoming pharaoh himself, Rameses went a step further by showing his chil ‘dren very prominently on his most impor- tant monuments. The royal children, mostly depicted in procession, under or near religious scenes (Gee above and below) were presumably shown in order of birth, These procession scenes were inscribed ‘on temple walls throughout the country, from the royal capital in Pi-Ramesse in the north to Amara in southern Nubia. The children could be distinguished from each other on the basis of their name and any additional titles written in vertical regis- ters in front of their images. ‘With the exception of the lists in the temples of Wadi es-Sebua and Derr in ‘Nubia, the first three sons were.cisplayed in a different manner than the other princes. While the later sons bore only the title "King’s son of his body”, the first three each held the honorary title "Fan- bearer on the right side of the King’, together with other military, official and priestly titles. The difference between the princes is also noticeable through their clothes; the first three sons usually wear a garment that comes halfway up the shins, while the other princes wear short kilts. In Nubian temples, however, the princes are all wear the same clothes. in some cases, only the fist three princes ‘wear sandals Since no dates were added, its difficult 10 determine when these lists were com- posed. The processions in the Theban region contain a smaller number of royal children compared to lists in other tem- ples; presumably the Theban lists were composed at an earlier stage. The list in the Nubian Wadi es-Sebua temple is the longest with 25 sons and 29 daughters and is assumed to be the latest of the lists. The temple was built somewhere between Year 38 and 44 of the reign of Rameses Il; at this time the eldest son Amenhirkhopshet was probably deceased and yet he was stil depicted on the list as if he was stil alive, suggesting that the lists were not updated following the death of a child, ANCIENT EGYPT June/July 2015Warrior Sons? ‘A.number of the sons of Rameses Il were also depicted participating in the military ns of their father. In the Nubian Amenhirkhopshef and Rameses’ fourth son Khaemwaset are shown with their father as he crushes a rebellion in Nubia. KA. Kitchen dates the events shi Beit el-Wali to the thirteenth year of Sety Fs eign (in the fifth year of his co-regency with Rameses I), in which case Rameses vere probably too young to fight and may not even have been present in Nubia, There is however a suggestion that the young princes did attend another cam- paign. In the fifth year of Rameses’ own feign the famous encounter with the Hittites took place at Qadesh. The visual report of the battle on the first pylon of the Ramesseum shows two chariots car- tying Rameses sons leaving the Egyptian camp at the moment of the Hittite attack on the camp. The caption above one of the chariots reads: “Fanbearer on the right hand side of the king, royal scribe, general, first charioteer of His Majesty Prehirwomef”. —Prehirwomef (or Pareherwenemef) was the second son of Rameses il and Nefertari (and so full brother to Amenhirkhopshet) and third in line to the throne (after Prince Rameses, the son of Rameses and another wife, Isetnofret). At the time of the battle of Qadesh Prehinwomet ind ten years old (his titles, hardly suitable for a child, were possibly the titles he held when the pylon scenes were carved some years later). It is certainly not inconceiv able that the young prince, along with oral of his brothers, came with Rameses to Qadesh, Although too young to fight, they would have gained some experience of war, but their father ensured that the moment they were at risk, they were hastily brought to safety Similar scenes of princes present at Qadesh can be seen on the first pylon of the Luxor temple and at Abu Simbel. Siege of Dapur On the south-eastern interior wall of the hypostyle hall of the Ramesseum, the siege of the Syrian city of Dapur can be seen (see right, above and below). Here eight princes are shown, The captions make it possible to identify six of them: Khaemwaset (fourth son), Montuhir khopshef (or Mentuherkhepeshef, son. ANCIENT EGYPT number five}, Meryamun (or Meryamun, the seventh son), Amunemwia (eighth son), Sety (ninth son) and Setepenra (tenth son). Two other princes, who are shown climbing the city wall through a siege ladder, are meses- June/July 2015 [ABOVE and BELOW ‘The siege of Dapur in the Ramesseum. Several princes are shown participating In the hostilities (above), including Khaemwvaset and Montuhirkhopshef (below,Photo: RBP 26 not mentioned by name. Khaemwaset and Montuhirkhopshef are depicted larg- er in size compared to the other princes. In addition, these two princes actively take part in the fighting, The other four are all standing in relative safety behind large siege shields. Rameses I besieged the city of Dapur twice, the first time dur- ing his eighth year and the second in Year 10. In the eighth year of his father’s reign, Prince Khaemwaset was probably about fourteen years old; Prince Montuhir- khopshef was approximately of the same age. iis ikely that the two boys were old enough to accompany their father to Dapur and participate in the fighting. The younger arinces were present at Dapur, but probably took no part in the actual fighting Propaganda The question which arises is why Rameses IN decided to have his children depicted on many of his monuments? The proces- sion scenes certainly demonstrated the king's fertility in having sired so many sons and daughters, but their depiction in ‘these scenes was more likely a way of ensuring continuity and a smooth transi- tion of power after Rameses’ death; the order of birth (and therefore inheritance) is made very clear in these lists The location of the battle scenes (on the outside walls and first court of the temples), which were visible to ordinary people as well as the elite, suggests that they formed part of the king's propagan- da; showing his sons participating in the action demonstrated to the Egyptians and to the gods that the royal family was a strong and vigilant one, with powerful sons following in the:footsteps of their almighty father. These scenes can be con- sidered as syinbolic of the power of the regime. as ‘There may also have been religious rea~ sons for including royal sons ~ and daughters - in monumental reliefs. In the scenes of war, the king is shown defeat- ing his enemies, but at the same time he is defeating chaos or isfet in order to ANCIENT EGYPT June/July 2015maintain Maat and win the mercy of the gods. As the sons are included in these scenes, they too are defending Maat and they too will receive the gods’ mercy. Similarly, the procession scenes were depicted directly underneath religious scenes in which Rameses Il received the mercy of the gods; by doing so he grant- ed his children a rare favour, which ensured them eternal life. This desire to grant his sons the divine support and mercy he as king received may be why Rameses II ordered a tomb for his sons, KVS, to be built close to his own tomb (KV7) in the Valley of the Kings. Later Royal Children Given the benefits that Rameses II con- fetred on his children by depicting them on his monuments, was this tradition adopted by later kings? It is difficult to conclude with certainty due to the frag- mentary nature of the evidence. Rameses’ successor Merenptah (his thir- teenth son) built a mortuary temple in Thebes, but little survives, so itis not pos- sible to tell whether or not his children were depicted there, although some are shown in a war scene at Karnak. There is no known mortuary temple for Sety I (though he did depict his presumed heir, Prince Sety-Merenptah, in a triple barque shrine at Karnak), while the last two kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty, Siptah and Tausret, did not manage to complete their mortuary temples. However there is some evidence for a continuation of the new tradition as far as the end of the New Kingdom; Rameses Il, the only Twentieth Dynasty king to fin- ish a mortuary temple (at Medinet Habu) incorporated procession scenes of his off- spring and also depicted his sons in most of his war scenes, while the priest-king Herihor, who ruled the south of Egypt at the end of the New Kingdom, depicted his children in a procession scene in the temple of Khonsu at Karnak. These kings may have hoped such imagery would grant them a strong family line, but they were never to equal the power or longevity of the family of Rameses I Patrick van Gils Patrick is a Dutch historian, specialising in Egyptology Academy ‘The House of Horus’ (Het Huis van Horus) Further Reading Desroches Noblecourt, C. (2008) Ramses 1: An illustrated Biography. Pats Flammarion. Fisher, M. (2001) “The sons of Ramesses Il" Agypten und Altes Testament; Bd 53 2 volumes: Vol 1: Text and plates Vol 2: Catalogue. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Kitchen, K.A, (1982) Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life And Times Of Ramesses iI Warminster: Aris & Phillips. Weeks, K. (1998) The Lost tomb. New York: Willian Morrow. Egyptology; his rain areas of interest are New ABOVE Kingdom temple architecture and foreign 4) the photographs in this article were A statue of Rameses I's fourth affairs. He is currently researching New mm Khaemwaset, naw in the Kingdom military expeditions in Nubia. Patrick is a board member and lecturer for the Dutch ribu Photo: SG ANCIENT EGYPT June/July 2015 27