Ramesses IX

Preceded by: Ramesses VIII	Pharaoh of Egypt 20th Dynasty	Succeeded by: Ramesses X
Ramesses IX
Prince: Khaemwaset
Ramesses IX on a wall relief at Karnak. (CC0)
Reign
1129-1111 BC (18 years)
Royal Titulary Praenomen Neferkare-Setepenre Beautiful Soul of Re, Chosen of Re Nomen Ramesses-Khaemwaset- Mereramun Born of Re, Appearing in Thebes, Everloved by Amun Horus name Kanakhte-Khaemwaset Strong Bull, Appearing in Thebes Nebty name Userkhepesh-Seankhtawy He whose Blow is Powerful, Who gives Life to the Two Lands Golden Horus Userrenputmitatenen- Wernesytderpedjut 9 Rich in Years like Tatenen, Great King who has Repelled the Nine Bows
Legacy
Father	Mentuherkhepeshef
Mother	Takhat (?)
Consort(s)	Baketwerenro
Issue	Mentuherkhepeshef, Nebmaatre, Ramesses X (?), Ramesses XI (?)
Died	1111 BC
Burial	KV6 (initial), TT320 (reburial)

For other pages by this name, see Ramesses or Khaemwaset.

Neferkare-Setepenre Ramesses IX (reigned 1129 B.C.E. – 1111 B.C.E.) was the eighth Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty during the New Kingdom of Egypt. He was the third longest reigning monarch of this dynasty after Ramesses III and Ramesses XI.

Name

Upon coronation, Ramesses IX adopted the throne name (or prenomen) Neferkare-Setepenre (transliteration: nfr-kꜢ-rꜤ stp-n-rꜤ, meaning: "Beautiful Soul of Re, Chosen of Re"). His name prior to kingship was Khaemwaset (ḫꜤ-m-wꜢst, "Appearing in Thebes"). As king, he added the popular dynastic name Ramesses (rꜤ-ms-s, "Born of Re") and epithet Mereramunre (mrr-ỉmn, "Everloved by Amun") to his birth name (or nomen). His name is thus realised as Neferkare-Setepenre Ramesses-Khaemwaset-Mereramun.

Family

See also: 20th Dynasty Family Tree.

Ramesses IX's mother, Takhat, and queen consort, Baketwerenro, are known from their burial in KV10, a tomb that originally belonged to Amenmesses. His father was probably Prince Mentuherkhepeshef, a son of Ramesses III, because this prince's wife is known to have been a lady named Takhat who bears the prominent title of "King's Mother". This development supports the hypothesis that they are most likely the parents of king Ramesses IX since no other Ramesside king had a mother by this name. Ramesses IX had a son who was also named Mentuherkhepeshef, which further supports their father-son relationship. Ramesses IX is known to have had another son named Nebmaatre, who was High Priest of Ra at Heliopolis, where "a gateway was reinscribed with texts including the king's names and also those of the king's son and High Priest Nebmaatre, who was fairly certainly his son". Ramesses IX's relationship to his successors Ramesses X and XI remains unclear, though it has been speculated that he was the father of both successors.

Dates and Length of Reign

According to the evidence of Papyrus Turin 1932+1939, Ramesses IX enjoyed a reign of 18 years and 4 months and died in his Year 19, at I Peret, between day 17 and 27.

Tomb Robberies

His reign is best known for the Year 16 and 17 tomb robbery trials, recorded in the Abbott Papyrus, the Leopold II-Amherst Papyrus, Papyrus BM 10054 and on the recto of both Papyrus BM 10053 and Papyrus BM 10068. It has been suggested that the undated Papyrus Mayer B, dealing with the plundering of the tomb of Ramesses VI, may also stem from his reign but, so far, this remains conjecture.

During these trials it became clear that several royal and noble tombs in the Theban Necropolis had been robbed, including that of a 17th Dynasty king, Sobekemsaf II. Paser, Mayor of Eastern Thebes or Karnak, accused his subordinate Paweraa, the Mayor of West Thebes responsible for the safety of the necropolis, of being either culpable in this wave of robberies or negligent in his duties of protecting the Valley of the Kings from incursions by tomb robbers. Paweraa played a leading part in the vizierial commission set up to investigate, and, not surprisingly, it proved impossible for Paweraa to be officially charged with any crime due to the circumstantiality of the evidence. Paser disappeared from sight soon after the report was filed. Ramesses IX brought a measure of stability to Egypt after the wave of tomb robberies.

Monuments and Attestations

In the sixth year of his reign, he inscribed his titulature in the Lower Nubian town of Amara West. Most of his building works centre on the sun temple centre of Heliopolis in Lower Egypt where the most significant monumental works of his reign are situated. However, he also decorated the wall to the north of the Seventh Pylon in the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. Finally, his name has been found at the Dakhla Oasis in Western Egypt and Gezer at Canaan which may suggest a residual Egyptian influence in Asia; the majority of the New Kingdom Empire's possessions in Canaan and Syria had long been lost to the Sea Peoples by his reign. He is also known for having honoured his predecessors Ramesses II, Ramesses III and Ramesses VII.

Burial and Succession

Ramesses IX on a wall relief in his KV6 tomb. (CC0)

Ramesses IX was buried in his KV6 rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Mentuherkhepeshef, did not live to succeed his father, though the prince has one of the most beautiful tombs in the Valley of the Kings (designated KV19). The throne was assumed by Ramesses X whose precise relationship to Ramesses IX is unclear. The tomb of Ramesses IX has been open since antiquity, as is evidenced by the presence of Roman and Greek graffiti on its tomb walls. It is quite long in the tradition of the 'syringe' tunnels of the later 19th and 20th Dynasties and lies directly opposite the tomb of Ramesses II in the Valley of the Kings; this fact may have influenced Ramesses IX's choice of location for his final resting place due to it proximity to this great Pharaoh.

Mummy

Mummyhead of Ramesses IX. (© ACI/Science Source)

During the 21st Dynasty, the mummy of Ramesses IX was moved to the royal cache at Deir el-Bahari, where it was found in 1881 within one of the two coffins of Neskhonsu, the wife of the Theban High Priest of Amun Pinedjem II. This pharaoh's mummy was apparently not examined by Grafton Elliot Smith and not included in his 1912 catalogue of the Royal Mummies. When the mummy was unwrapped by Maspero, a bandage was found from a year 5, mentioning the lady Neskhonsu, most probably from the reign of king Siamun. A further strip of linen from a year 7 identified the mummy as "Ra-Khaemwaset" which can be taken as a reference to either Ramesses-Khaemwaset-Meryamun (i.e. Ramesses IX) or Ramesses-Khaemwaset-Meryamun-Netjerheqaiunu (i.e. Ramesses XI). But since an ivory box of Neferkare Ramesses IX was found in the royal cache itself, and Ramesses XI was probably never buried at Thebes but rather in Lower Egypt, "the [royal] mummy is most likely to be that of Ramesses IX himself". It is estimated that the king was about 50 years old when he died. His mummy was found to have been quite damaged (presumably post mortem): badly cracked skin, broken limbs, a detached head, and a missing nose.

In April 2021 his mummy was moved from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.

See also

• 20th Dynasty Family Tree
• KV6

Bibliography

• Bickerstaffe, D., 2009: Refugees for Eternity: The royal mummies of Thebes. Part 4: Identifying the Royal Mummies, Canopus Press.
• Clayton, P., 1994: Chronicle of the Pharaohs. Thames & Hudson, London.
• Dodson, A./Hilton, D., 2004: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, London.
• Forbes, D.C., 1998: Tombs, Treasures and Mummies. KMT Communications Inc.
• Grimal, N., 1992: A History of Ancient Egypt. Blackwell Books.
• Maspero, G., 1889: Les momies royales de Deir el-Bahari. Paris.
• Peet, T.E., 1920: The Mayer Papyri A & B, Nos. M11162 and M11186 of the Free Public Museums, Liverpool. Egypt Exploration Society, London.
• Rice, M., 2001: Who's Who in Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London.
• Settipani, C., 1991: Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité.
• Thijs, A., 2000: Reconsidering the End of the Twentieth Dynasty. Part V, P. Ambras as an advocate of a shorter chronology, GM 179.
• Wente, E.F./Siclen, C.C. van, 1976: A Chronology of the New Kingdom. In: Studies in Honor of George R. Hughes. SAOC, Vol. 39.

Predecessor: Ramesses VIII

Pharaoh of Egypt 20th Dynasty

Successor: Ramesses X