Ramses I

Ramses the I is usually somewhat overlooked, partially due to being overshadowed by his
eventual successors and namesakes, Ramses II and Ramses III, the former of which is considered
to be 'Ramses the Great', and both of which achieved great things in the realm of battle and
buildings. Also unfortunate for Ramses I is the length of his reign, which while disputed, is
considered to have been relatively short.
Menpehtyre Ramses, born of Seti, started and was the first Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty of
Egypt, and the dates of his reign are generally considered to be around 1292–1290 BC or
1295–1294 BC. However, he was born as a common man, and his father, Seti, was a military
commander. Originally, Ramses I's name was Pa-ra-messu, and he eventually grew to succeed
his father's rank in the military. Due to this, he became a close confidant with the Pharaoh of the
time, the Pharaoh Horemheb.
You may know Horemheb as being one of the main successors of the throne after
Tutankhamun's death which, to my knowledge, is wrapped in a little bit of a mystery, but was
likely due to genetic malformations from his many diseases. Ay and Horemheb, the Grand Vizier
and the General of Armies (respectively), held the main power of the country while
Tutankhamun was Pharaoh. This was a time of turmoil––the country was just recovering from
the reign of the heretic Akhenaten, who had banned religious worship of any God but the Aten,
and essentially attempted to enforce monotheism upon a culture that had been polytheistic for
thousands of years previously. Akhenaten had also severely neglected Egypt's relationship with
foreign powers. Obviously, people weren't very happy with Akhenaten, and I think it likely they
were not fond of Akhenaten's son, Tutankhamun, either. But Tutankhamun, with the help of his
advisors and of Ay and Horemheb, reversed many of his heretic father's commands and laws. But
Tutankhamun still sailed to the west at the age of 19. He had two baby girls, but neither of them
survived past infancy. He had no successors, so Ay took the throne, and then Horemheb.
Horemheb enacted many more reformations to remove Akhenaten's efforts to change
Egypt. He tore down the statues of Akhenaten and his monuments, reusing the stone in
monuments and temples of his own. He also reused the monuments built for Ay and
Tutankhamun, though this was a common practice in Egypt. But Horemheb had no surviving
sons, so when it came time for Horemheb to pass on and appoint a new Pharaoh, his Grand
Vizier took his place; Paramessu, who would take the name Ramesses I, meaning "Ra has
fashioned Him". Ramses I was nearly 50 years old when he ascended to the throne. It was a
remarkable age to become Pharaoh, as at this time, he would've already been considered elderly.
What little he did during his life was later completed by his son and successor, Seti I. He
himself accomplished mainly one thing, which was to send additions to the garrison at Aswan,
the border between Egypt and Nubia; though he also led a military expedition into west Asia and
reopened turquoise mines in the Sinai. But the most remarkable things are the ones he didn't
complete himself, such as additions to the Karnak temple complex in east Thebes, known as
Waset at the time. He ordered to be carved great reliefs into the second pylon of the Karnak
temple, which is a massive gateway that one sees relatively soon upon entering the complex. In
Abydos, he began construction of a chapel and a temple, but it would have to be completed by
his son, as Menpehtyre Ramses died in either the year of 1290 or 1294. His reign was so short
that he had very little time to schedule or complete any great monuments, and even his tomb was
rushed to be completed, and he was hastily buried in the Valley of the Kings. This rush
unfortunately led to a great deal of errors being made in the paintings upon his sarcophagus.
Later, however, Ramses I's son, Seti I, finished the chapel in honor of his father, with beautiful
carvings and reliefs at Abydos.
His tomb was robbed thoroughly. By the time archaeologists got to it, all that remained
were two six-foot tall (1.8 meters) wooden guardian statues who once had gold-foil skin,
statuettes of Gods from the underworld, and the massive granite coffin which no longer carried
its' owner. Menpehtyre Ramses had been taken to the Royal Cache, located above Hatshepsut's
mortuary temple to the southeast. It was the tomb of the pharaoh Amenhotep II, but repurposed
to be a protective place for the mummies of many Pharaohs and Queens, as most of the tombs of
the Valley of the Kings had become victims of graverobbers. These protective actions were taken
by the High Priest of Amun, Pinedjem II, in the 21st Dynasty.
Unfortunately this did not stop the usurping of Ramses I's body. He was stolen by the
Abu-Rassul family of grave-robbers and sold by a Turkish vice-consular agent named Mustapha
Aga Ayat in Luxor to a man named Dr. James Douglas. Douglas brought Ramses I to the US
around the year of 1860, where he was placed in a museum in Niagara Falls with little
information known about him. All that was speculated was that he was 'a Prince of Egypt'.
Ownership of the museum, and thus of Ramses I, was passed through several hands, but his
importance was only recognized with the help of the Canadian Egyptologist Gayle Gibson.
Fortunately, in the year 2003, October 24, Menpehtyre Ramses was returned to his homeland of
Egypt, and is now resting in the Mummification Museum in Luxor, Upper Egypt.

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Ramses the I is usually somewhat overlooked, partially due to being overshadowed by his

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