Pharaoh Ramses III

---

He inherited peace and stability from his father , but soon he had his share of troubles as well .
In the fifth year , he had to fight off further advances by Libyan tribes , who had used the period of internal struggle to penetrate into the Western Delta . By this time , the Egyptians appear to have accepted this peaceful immigration as inevitable , but when a revolt against the pharaoh broke out because he interfered in the succession of their king , Ramses III quickly responded and brought them back under Egyptian control . A further Libyan campaign was launched in the 11th year . The great battle against the Sea Peoples broke out in the 8th year .
Since the days of Merenptah , when some of the Sea Peoples had first tried to enter Egypt from the west , their movements had turned the whole of the Middle East upside down . In the 8th year of Ramses Ill's reign , they attacked the Delta , both by land and sea . The Egyptians were well aware of the imminent danger and had moved a large defense force to Djahy (southern Palestine) and had fortified the mouths of the Nile branches in the Delta . When the attack finally started , Ramses III' troops were well prepared for it and were able to beat the invaders back .
Ramses III spent a lot of time and exerted much effort on his building projects , the most important of which was his large mortuary temple at Medinet Habu , begun shortly after his accession and finished by year 12 . It still stands today as one of the best preserved temples of the New Kingdom . It was closely modeled on the Ramesseum of his great predecessor Ramses II , whom Ramses III tried to emulate in many other ways . his own royal names were all but identical to those of Ramses II and he even named his sons after the latter's numerous offspring . The building of Medinet Habu and other projects , including the expansion of Piramesse , do not appear to have been held back by the various threats to Egypt's borders .
There is a possibility that an expedition to Punt was sent during Ramses III's reign .
Of his major achievements was his reorganization of the various temples throughout the country , after the disorder period which preceded his reign . The Great Harris Papyrus enumerates the huge donations of land he made to the most important temples in Thebes , Memphis , and Heliopolis and to a lesser extent to many smaller institutions as well . By the end of his reign , a third of the cultivable land was owned by the temples and of this three quarters belonged to Amun of Thebes . An overall loss of control over the state financal and economic crisis were the result: grain prices raised and the monthly rations to the workmen at Deir el-Medineh , which had to be paid by the state treasury , were soon overdue , leading in the 29th year to the first recorded organized strikes in history . Things were made worse by repeated raids by groups of Libyan nomads in the Theban area .
The gradual breakdown of the centralized state may well have been one of the reasons behind an attempt on the life of Ramses III or if it was not , the general unrest and insecurity may at least have given the conspirators the idea that they could count on general support if they succeeded . The plot originated in the King's harem , presumably in Piramesse , where one of the officials (Pairy the scribe of the harem) was involved , as well as several royal butlers and a steward . The ultimate goal was to put Tiy's son Pentaweret on the throne instead of the King's lawful heir . Apparently the plan was to murder the King during the annual Opet Festival in Thebes . The plot must have failed , as the King's mummy shows no signs of a violent death and his crown prince Ramses IV and not Pentaweret eventually succeeded him . It is not definitely known when all of this happened , but the records of the court hearings and the sentences passed on the criminals were written down at the beginning of the reign of Ramses IV , who also compiled the Great Harris Papyrus , suggesting that the assassination attempt took place towards the end of the 31st year of Ramses III's reign .