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Reign

Pharaoh Merneptah - 19th Dynasty - The Pharaohs - The People

“Beloved of Ptah, Joyous is Truth”, The Soul of Re, Beloved of the Gods”

Son of the Infamous Pharaoh Ramses II and Grandson of Pharaoh Seti I

His Reign

During his sovereignty Pharaoh Merneptah moved the Capital City away from his father’s beloved Pi-Ramses in Egypt’s Delta and back to the ancient Capital City of Memphis in Lower Egypt.

To understand more about the Capital City of Memphis, click here

Although still lost to us today it is believed that he also constructed a new Royal Palace next to the principal Temple of Ptah in Memphis.

To discover what we know about the now ruined Temple of Ptah in Memphis, click here.

To learn about Pharaoh Merneptah’s Palace at Memphis, click here.

Pharaoh’s Military prowess was equal to his fathers. Soon into his reign he undertook a Military Campaign to put down a revolt from the people of the Levant and Syrian areas who owed tribute to Egypt. He recorded this victory in Reliefs at the Temple of Karnak in Thebes. 

His next challenge and perhaps the greatest he faced, in Regnal Year 5, was a serious incursion from Libya who had joined forces with the displaced Sea Peoples and had together infiltrated the west of the Egyptian Delta. The joint effort was plotting to attack the Capital City of Memphis and the great religious city of Heliopolis. Pharaoh acted swiftly meeting with the insurgents in the field and hailing them with arrows whilst holding back his chariotry and infantry to save their lives. The Libyan leadership fled, and the incursion was halted.

However, Pharaoh could not rest, on hearing that the Pharaoh had deployed his troops in the northern part of Egypt, then the Nubians took the opportunity to revolt in Egypt’s south. But they had not accounted for the speed with which Pharaoh subdued the northern incursion and so he could immediately move his troops to the south and put down their rebellion.

His reign was about more than his Military Exploits and he proved to be adept at diplomatic relations as well. One event that was recorded was when the Hittite King of northern Syria was challenged by an invasion from the north of his country at a time when they were suffering from famine. The Hittite King called on his Egyptian counterpart to uphold the details of the Peace Treaty that Pharaoh Ramses II had signed with the Hittites after the Battle of Kadesh. Pharaoh Merneptah upheld the treaty provided the Hittites with grain to ease their famine conditions showing that he was the very equal of his famous father. To learn about the Battle of Kadesh, click here and to learn about the Peace Treaty, click here.

Perhaps if he had inherited the Throne at a younger age, we may today also be called Pharaoh Merneptah, Merneptah the Great!

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