Pharaoh Ramesses III Killed by Multiple Assailants, Radiologist Says:

The New Kingdom Pharaoh Ramesses III was assassinated by multiple assailants — and given postmortem cosmetic surgery to improve his mummy's appearance. Those are some of the new tidbits on ancient Egyptian royalty detailed in a new book by Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and Cairo University radiologist Sahar Saleem, "Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies" (American University in Cairo Press, 2016). Hawass and Saleem studied royal mummies from the 18th to 20th dynasties of Egypt, spanning from about 1543 B.C. to 1064 B.C. Rulers during this period included famous names like Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Tutankhamun, Seti I and the murdered Ramesses III. Previously, Hawass and colleagues had reported that Ramesses III's throat was slit, likely killing him instantly. Now, Saleem, one of the authors of that study, has found that the pharaoh's toe was hacked off, likely with an ax, suggesting he was set upon by multiple assailants with different weapons. [In Photos: The Mummy of King Ramesses III] "The site of foot injury is anatomically far from the neck-cut wound; also the shape of the fractured toe bones indicate that it was induced by a different weapon than that used to induce the neck cut," Saleem wrote in an email to Live Science. "So there must have been an assailant with an ax/sword attacking the king from the front, and another one with a knife or a dagger attacking the king from his back, both attacking at the same time."
www.livescience.com...

We all knew that there was a plot to commit regicide now we have proof how , but why Pentawere and his mom couldn't wait out the old man ,escapes me, for not only was he Pentawere killed, he was disposed in such a way that barred him from entering the fields of reeds forever, a good movie should be in the works for this, not only the assassination but Merneptah's earlier years when he took on the unstoppable sea people.

a reply to: Spider879

Interesting find ! I suppose we are lucky we have elections now and only have to put up with our rulers for short periods of time.. Mid-east and other parts of Africa/the world, not so lucky !

a reply to: Spider879

Uneasy lies the crown, or at least the toe.

"Et tu Nicoladeaus"

One of the most famous and well-documented regicides in history. The "multiple assailants" is not a surprise, since the "letter to his son" (which was not written by him, btw, but was literature about his death written after his death) does seem to indicate multiple assassins.

We actually have the trial transcripts -- several of the judges were actually executed because the women on trial partied with them and seduced them.

Was probably slaughtered by the Nubian's as revenge for this V

originally posted by: zinc12
Was probably slaughtered by the Nubian's as revenge for this V

Ah donno about that, for one thing that was not Merneptah striking "Nubians" and I put Nubians en-quotes because it necessitates which Nahasi Rameses II not Rameses III was going after, if it was Kush proper then understandably they might wanna strike back as they were a constant pain in the azz..however they would hardly be in a position to upset any early 19th dynasty royals, but the Madjay Nahasi who were in in fact king makers and the traditional police and shock troops in Kmt since the restoration dynasties of the 17th and 18th dynasties were in such a position to cause much harm to any king if they were so displeased .. a later Ramses XI did have massive problems with Kush as they began to exert their power and influence in Kmt..one under name of Pinehesy who was the "bad guy" according to Kmtian lore vs a tantalizing soldier named Piankh..yrs later a Kush ite king named Piankhi would be the good guy invading Kmt from Kush to restore balance or order in the form of the 25th dynasty.

Again I can't emphasize enough that just throwing out the word "Nubians" which was never in use for a political entity untill the Roman era have as much meaning as throwing out the term Mesopotamians or Meso Americans, for one would not know the difference between a Sumerian from an Elamite or a Maya from an Aztec.

a reply to: Spider879

Some say Nubian is a word derived from the Egyptian word nebu for gold and was particularly rich in Medja inhabited by the Medjay people. I'm not sure what you mean when you say the Medjay were king makers as they were simply ku#es paid by Egyptians to secure and maintain the flow of gold into Egypt amongst other functions such as initial/outer border control.

originally posted by: zinc12
a reply to: Spider879

Some say Nubian is a word derived from the Egyptian word nebu for gold and was particularly rich in Medja inhabited by the Medjay people. I'm not sure what you mean when you say the Medjay were king makers as they were simply ku#es paid by Egyptians to secure and maintain the flow of gold into Egypt amongst other functions such as initial/outer border control.

The different political entities south of Kmt , Ta Seti that once over lapped into today's Egyptian Nubia and Sudanese Nubia was the first state.. later all those entities would eventually be swallowed up by Kush, much later they would push their way north until they reached the Levant.
Yes Nub was the gold producing region of KMT, however a pre-unification kingdom and perhaps the first state on the Nile called Ta-Seti existed on that site and stretched into the Sudan proper, it later became the first nome or district of Kmt, Wawat or the rejectionist part of Ta Seti would set up it's own polity, as for the Medjay their influence goes back before the 17th and 18th dynasties it was they that gave Kemitian support and refuge when they were under pressure from the Hyksos, it was through their influence that the fledgling 17th kept upper Kmt in tact, it has been suggested by some that part of that dynasty was of Madjay extraction for the name Seqenerene Tao seemed unusual and others saw his wife Queen Ahmose Nefertari of Medjay extraction through her father.
Kush could not be counted on as they were hostile to Kmt's interests and allies with the Hyksos kings of the delta or lower Kmt, matter of fact they did a massive invasion of Kmt at this time and had they stayed could have ended Kmt as a political entity .

Mr Davies, who headed the joint British Museum and Egyptian archaeological team, said: “Now it is clear that Kush was a superpower which had the capacity to invade Egypt. It was a huge invasion, one that stirred up the entire region, a momentous event that is previously undocumented. “They swept over the mountains, over the Nile, without limit. This is the first time we’ve got evidence. Far from Egypt being the supreme power of the Nile Valley, clearly Kush was at that time. “Had they stayed to occupy Egypt, the Ku#es might have eliminated it. That’s how close Egypt came to extinction. But the Egyptians were resilient enough to survive, and shortly afterwards inaugurated the great imperial age known as the New Kingdom. The Ku#es weren’t interested in occupation. They went raiding for precious objects, a symbol of domination. They did a lot of damage.” The inscription was found between two internal chambers in a rock-cut tomb that was covered in soot and dirt. It appeared gradually as the grime was removed. Mr Davies said: “I thought it would be a religious text, but it turned out to be historical. Gradually, a real narrative emerged, a brand new text inscribed in red paint, reading from right to left.” The tomb belonged to Sobeknakht, a Governor of El Kab, an important provincial capital during the latter part of the 17th Dynasty (about 1575-1550BC).

The inscription describes a ferocious invasion of Egypt by armies from Kush and its allies from the south, including the land of Punt, on the southern coast of the Red Sea. It says that vast territories were affected and describes Sobeknakht’s heroic role in organising a counter-attack. The text takes the form of an address to the living by Sobeknakht: “Listen you, who are alive upon earth . . . Kush came . . . aroused along his length, he having stirred up the tribes of Wawat . . . the land of Punt and the Medjaw. . .” It describes the decisive role played by “the might of the great one, Nekhbet”, the vulture-goddess of El Kab, as “strong of heart against the Nubians, who were burnt through fire”, while the “chief of the nomads fell through the blast of her flame”.The discovery explains why Egyptian treasures, including statues, stelae and an elegant alabaster vessel found in the royal tomb at Kerma, were buried in Ku#e tombs: they were war trophies. Mr Davies said: “That has never been properly explained before. Now it makes sense. It’s the key that unlocks the information. Now we know they were looted trophies, symbols of these kings’ power over the Egyptians. Each of the four main kings of Kush brought back looted treasures.
www.osirisnet.net...

Anything to indicate that the toe injury happened at the same time as the murder? I mean, why would they assume that? It made me think of a hostage situation like in "The Big Lebowski."

"Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o'clock this afternoon … with nail polish."

It's hard to imagine a scenario where someone is simultaneously having their throat cut AND having one toe hacked off from what, a wild swing?

edit: or proof of death, maybe?

originally posted by: 11andrew34
Anything to indicate that the toe injury happened at the same time as the murder? I mean, why would they assume that? It made me think of a hostage situation like in "The Big Lebowski."

"Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o'clock this afternoon … with nail polish."

It's hard to imagine a scenario where someone is simultaneously having their throat cut AND having one toe hacked off from what, a wild swing?

edit: or proof of death, maybe?

Well they said that there were no evidence of healing on the toe , so yeah probably a wild swing, the old guy must have put up a fight he didn't seemed to go quietly into the night.

originally posted by: Spider879


The different political entities south of Kmt , Ta Seti that once over lapped into today's Egyptian Nubia and Sudanese Nubia was the first state.. later all those entities would eventually be swallowed up by Kush, much later they would push their way north until they reached the Levant.

it has been suggested by some that part of that dynasty was of Madjay extraction for the name Seqenerene Tao seemed unusual and others saw his wife Queen Ahmose Nefertari of Medjay extraction through her father.

I'm not sure what you mean by this Nubian's travailing as far as the Levant? Are you saying the origins of the Egyptian civilisation is Nubian's travelling towards the delta?

originally posted by: zinc12

originally posted by: Spider879


The different political entities south of Kmt , Ta Seti that once over lapped into today's Egyptian Nubia and Sudanese Nubia was the first state.. later all those entities would eventually be swallowed up by Kush, much later they would push their way north until they reached the Levant.

it has been suggested by some that part of that dynasty was of Madjay extraction for the name Seqenerene Tao seemed unusual and others saw his wife Queen Ahmose Nefertari of Medjay extraction through her father.

I'm not sure what you mean by this Nubian's travailing as far as the Levant? Are you saying the origins of the Egyptian civilisation is Nubian's travelling towards the delta?

Yes but with qualifiers , the first state on the Nile as far as we know was Ta-seti aka land of the Bow misnomered "Nubia" before the rise of the first Kemitian dynasty through unification under King Scorpion and later Narmer or Menes, the Ta-Nahaisan dynasty goes back to 3,800 B.C we know this through excavations at Qustul on the spot in so called "Nubia" the rise of a unified upper Kmt in 3,100 B.C coincide with the demise of that early state, as I have said above the state of Wawat which meant rebels were a successor state, however these were not Kush who although they shared similarities and culture in the wet phase Sahara , were non the less a totally different language group, the Madjay like the predecessor Ta-Seti -Ta-Nahasians were Afrisian language speakers, while the Kush were Nilo Saharan in language group.

An Early Kingdom in the Land of the Bow: The A-Group, 3800-3100 B.C. The first continuous agricultural tradition in Africa, the Sudanese-Saharan Neolithic, developed almost ten thousand years ago in country west of Nubia that is now desert. The Nile Valley in Egypt had been inhospitable, but in the seasonally dry channels of the Second Cataract, early farmers learned to manage parts of the river's annual flood. This knowledge could then be applied in Egypt's wide floodplain, giving rise to the great sequence of Upper Egypt's early civilizations.
oi.uchicago.edu...

All the royal paraphernalia later seen in Kmt were seen in Ta-seti first and later adapted in Kmt, this was because later Kemtians were off shoots of Ta Seti, the Kemitian state were regarded as a breakaway state in the same manner as the United States Of America is a breakaway state from Greater Britain . however this shared culture goes waay back before Ta-Seti and into the wet phase Sahara, finds at Nabta Playa and Gilf el Kibir would fleshed that out.


Ta Seti Before the rise of kings in Kmt

The path and the Nomes they set up as the breakaway state of Kmt pushed fwd beginning in what was once Ta-Seti

Finally ending on the edge of the Med..later kings would expand into the near by Levant, and not for nothing the important th o defunct..so called "Nubian" state was remember with a certain fondness with the 11th and 12th Mentu named kings of that era en-capsulized by the Prophecy of Neferi.

Then a king will come from the South, Ameny, the just)fied, by name, Son of a woman of Ta-Seti, child of Upper Egypt. He will take the white crown, He will wear the red crown; He will join the Two Mighty Ones, He will please the Two Lords with what they wish, With field-circler in his fist, oar in his grasp. Rejoice, O people of his time, The son of man will make his name for all eternity! The evil-minded, the treason-plotters, They suppress their speech in fear of him; Asiatics will fall to his sword, Libyans will fall to his flame, Rebels to his wrath, traitors to his might, As the serpent on his brow subdues the rebels for him. One will build the Walls-of-the-Ruler, To bar Asiatics from entering Egypt; They shall beg water as supplicants, So as to let their cattle drink. Then Order will return to its seat, While Chaos is driven away. Rejoice he who may behold, he who may attend the king! And he who is wise will libate for me, When he sees fulfilled what I have spoken!
ib205.tripod.com...

originally posted by: zinc12
Was probably slaughtered by the Nubian's as revenge for this V

No, it's the "harem conspiracy" and was initiated by one of his secondary queens (Tiye) to put her son on the throne.

No Nubians involved.
en.wikipedia.org...

BTW, that panel is of his father, Ramesses II (as you can see from the cartouche: Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses)

originally posted by: zinc12
I'm not sure what you mean by this Nubian's travailing as far as the Levant? Are you saying the origins of the Egyptian civilisation is Nubian's travelling towards the delta?

No.

There were two main centers of power that arose before Egypt was united (around 3,000 BC) - the place we call "Thebes" (which was Nubia and southward) and Memphis (the area closer to the Delta) although sometimes Heracleopolis played into it (the yet-undiscovered city "Thinis" was the first capital of unified Egypt, later replaced by Abydos). In predynastic history there was constant warfare between the north and the south (lots of interesting detail there if you like to read papers), resolved when Narmer unified the land.

But the culture in the north was on the same level as the culture in the south, as is evidenced by a whole lot of archaeology.

To say the Egyptian civilization had its genesis in Kush and then gradually proceeded along the Nile towards the delta is incorrect for obvious reasons. Even today Egyptians on average look physically different from the people in Kush and that is after more then a thousand years mixing.
This is mirrored by examining the appearance of the majority of Egyptians depicted in Egyptian wall art.
If those from Kush were responsible for the Egyptian civilisation then there should be no apparent difference however that not being the case we are talking about two different peoples. This is assuming you dont want to write-off modern Egyptians as Arab invaders which I have seen some are hapy to do which only brings more complications because they grater resemble on average (taking into account subsequent mixing) the ancient wall paintings of Egyptians the do those living in Nubia today.

Secondly we would expect the structures in Kush to be far older and the age to decrease as we approach the Nile delta which is not so, there is no Pyramids in Kush anyway near the age of those in Egypt.

We have to also take into account looting and war booty in cases where items appear to be not the norm. There are several ancient accounts in which Egyptian culture and physical appearance is compared with those in Kush and deemed not to be the same.

a reply to: zinc12

To say the Egyptian civilization had its genesis in Kush and then gradually proceeded along the Nile towards the delta is incorrect for obvious reasons. Even today Egyptians on average look physically different from the people in Kush and that is after more then a thousand years mixing. This is mirrored by examining the appearance of the majority of Egyptians depicted in Egyptian wall art.

That's why proper names are important, I said the first state was in what's now called "Nubia" in upper Egypt and lower Sudan known as Ta-Seti these were not Kush-ites, and they can look similar or dissimilar depending on tribe or ethny I have a study that goes into that, the people of Pwnt looked exactly like the kemitians further away but appears on the face of it to look somewhat different than their closer neighbor the Kush-ites.

This is assuming you dont want to write-off modern Egyptians as Arab invaders which I have seen some are hapy to do which only brings more complications because they grater resemble on average (taking into account subsequent mixing) the ancient wall paintings of Egyptians the do those living in Nubia today.

No but modern Egyptians and Modern Sudanese for that matter do not looked exactly the same as their fore fathers, and you can go to pics of the early dynasty and the Middle Kingdom they do bare some resemblance to both Kush-ites and other Nahasi.

Secondly we would expect the structures in Kush to be far older and the age to decrease as we approach the Nile delta which is not so, there is no Pyramids in Kush anyway near the age of those in Egypt.

That's because Kush was not a state in 3,800 B.C but Ta Seti was, Kmt only seem to have older structures ,but that's because they embarked on dress stone early on by dynasty III , and even so that was mainly for semi public places but they continued using sun baked mud structures like their neighbors most of which disappeared from lack of up keep.

This massive structure looking like a small hill is called a Deffufa a structure build out of baked mud bricks centered in Kerma, if uncared for it will all but vanish, Kerma was the capitol of early Kush in 3000 B.C so by this time Kush was a state, pls stay with me for a sec.

This is Djoser's temple complex, notice the entrance, ok

Compare with the earlier example of the Qustul find at Ta-Seti aka "Nubia" of the first example of a Pharaoh wearing the white crown, sailing towards his Palace with bound captive.

Here from cemetery L Qustul ,discovered by Bruce Williams showing a man saluting the palace labeled with a bow and guarded by the falcon god Horus, the building may well have disappeared long ago if it was not destroyed by emergent Kemitians if left abondoned and built of sun dried mud brick it would no longer be there.
xoomer.virgilio.it...