New Revision for
Ramses II
Part Two: Ramses
III was not emulating Ramses II
Why did Ramses
III try to emulate Ramses II?
He did not.
Ramses II and III were the same.
The question (a
reasonable one in a conventional context) is asked at:
Why did Ramesses III try to emulate Ramesses II?
….
The most immediate efforts that
Ramesses III made to emulate his predecessor and try to follow suit of Ramesses
II’s reign was the use of his name, which would have been a significant factor
in attempting to align the two pharaohs in the minds of contemporary 4 Egyptians. The desire to emulate the
reign of Ramesses II did not come from an attempt to continue the family line
of dynastic ideals, however, as Ramesses III was no more than perhaps a distant
relative of Ramesses II, and he ascended the throne in a new dynasty.
Regardless, by
using Ramesses’ name there was a clear and immediate link to be made between
the pharaohs. At the mention of his name, the people would be reminded of the
previous prosperity of Egypt not much longer than only a generation previously,
and the new pharaoh would be associated with the hopeful revival of this,
distanced from the failures of the pharaohs who reigned between them.
Similarly, his name as recorded on monuments would bear similarity to the
previous king, so that in posterity he may be remembered alongside him in a
similar respect. Ramesses III’s royal titulary demonstrates his desire to
emulate previous pharaohs and associate himself with their success, not only
with Ramesses II but also with dynastic founders.
His Horus name
was a copy of those of the dynastic founders Ahmose (eighteenth dynasty) and
Ramesses I (nineteenth dynasty), emphasising that he recognised the importance
of being associated with the achievements of previous pharaohs and did not aim
to emulate only one. This connection to the founders of previous dynasties
introduces the idea that Ramesses III considered himself the true founder of
the twentieth dynasty. However, more important to the image that Ramesses III
was creating for himself was the connection of himself to Ramesses the Great.
The other components to his name were based on those of Ramesses II, boldly
making an immediate connection between himself and the previous pharaoh to make
it clear that his own reign would attempt to be similar to that of Ramesses II
(Kitchen 1983, 137; Kitchen 2012, 3–4). ….
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