(or '''Merenptah''') was the fourth ruler of the , Beloved of the Gods".
on column from the University of Pennsylvania Museum]]
Merneptah was probably the fourth child of Ramesses II's second wife, ''Istnofret'' (
Isisnofret ). He was married to Queen Istnofret (Isisnofret) who was likely his sister, and possibly also to a Queen
Takhat . One of his sons would become the later 19th dynasty pharaoh
Seti II . They were also the parents of prince Merenptah and Khaemwaset or Khaemwase.
Merneptah had to carry out several campaigns during his reign, mainly fighting against the and the first explicit written record of the existence of the Ancient Israelites in this region.
Merneptah was the 13th son of
Ramesses II , and he was in his late 50s to early 60s when he took the throne. Merneptah moved the administrative center for Egypt from Piramesse (
Pi-Ramesse ), his fathers capital, back to
Memphis , where he constructed a royal palace next to the temple of
Ptah . This palace was excavated in 1915 by the University of Pennsylvania Museum led by Clarence Fischer.
He suffered from arthritis and arteriosclerosis in old age and died of natural causes after a reign which lasted for nearly a decade. Merneptah was originally buried within tomb
KV8 in the
Valley Of The Kings , but his
Mummy was not found there. In
1898 it was located along with eighteen other mummies in the mummy cache found in the tomb of
Amenhotep II (
KV35 ) by
Victor Loret . Merneptah's mummy was taken to Cairo and eventually unwrapped by Dr. G. Elliott Smith on
July 8 1907 . Dr Smith commented that:
: ''The body is that of an old man and is 1 meter 714 millimeters in height. Merenptah was almost completely bald, only a narrow fringe of white hair (now cut so close as to be seen only with difficulty) remaining on the temples and occiput. A few short (about 2 mill) black hairs were found on the upper lip and scattered, closely clipped hairs on the cheeks and chin. The general aspect of the face recalls that of Ramesses II, but the form of the cranium and the measurements of the face much more nearly agree with those of his
{Link without Title} father, Seti the Great''.Grafton Elliot Smith, The Royal Mummies, 1912, Cairo, pp.65-70
Merneptah was succeeded by his son and chosen successor
Seti II . However, Seti II's accession to the thrown was not unxchallenged: a rival king named Amenmesse who was either a son of Merneptah or Ramesses II soon revolted and seized control over Upper Egypt and Kush during the middle half of Seti II's reign. Seti was only able to reassert his authority over Thebes in his fifth year after he ousted Amenmesse.
