Ramesses I: The Soldier Who Founded a Dynasty

Ramesses I: The Soldier Who Founded a Dynasty

Ramesses I was the peasant army man who was personally selected to rescue Egypt and establish the legendary 19 th Dynasty. He was a stabilizing state in the country even though he had reigned for just two years and he was able to secure a great future for his family. His missing mummy is now a famous museum object in Canada that took 130 years to be returned as a hero in 2003.

A New Beginning for Egypt

Stone carving of the head of Ramesses I

Think of the point at which ancient Egypt was completely disintegrated. The 18th Dynasty, which was known as the period of Tutankhamun and Akhenaten had just come to an end and it was not silent. The monarchy was sterile and the ancient gods were just coming back and the nation was weary of the political play. In comes Horemheb, the last king of the time.

He was a career military man who had been occupying his life in cleaning the mess created by the other kings who preceded him. But Horemheb already possessed one big issue he lacked an heir to succeed him to the throne. He did not allow the country to go back into a mess but he made a decision that altered the course of history. He gazed upon his best general, who was a man called Paramessu. Paramessu was not royal. He was a soldier, he was the man who rescued the future of an entire nation, Ramesses I.

Military Roots: The Parents of Ramesses I

To see how a commoner made it into a king, one must look at his family background. Ramesses I was born into a military family that had it in the Delta. His father was a man called Seti who was a troop commander. His father taught the new king the discipline and rules of leadership that were to make him the best candidate for the throne of Horemheb. Although there is a lot of information about the military life of his father, we do not know a lot about his mother.

The surviving monuments and records of that particular time do not specifically mention her name. This was typical of men who had the military ladder. Although her name has not appeared in the books of history, her impact on it through the social standing of the family cannot be denied. This environment of responsibility in his childhood enabled Ramesses I to attain the concentration required by partisan politics.

From Soldier to Vizier: The Rise of Paramessu

Chapel for Ramesses I at Abydos – North Wall

Paramessu was brought up in the northeastern region of Egypt, which was around an area named Avaris. This was not the royal seat of power as Thebes but it was a huge military base along the border. Being brought up in such an environment meant that Paramessu was conversant with the operation of the military at a very early age. He did not simply walk into power but he had been trying for years to demonstrate that he could lead men and run the complicated government of a country that was still picking itself up following the civil strife.

By the time Horemheb became a pharaoh, he had to have individuals he could entrust his life to. There he discovered loyalty in Paramessu. Horemheb was very fast in his promotion. Very soon, Paramessu, the future Ramesses I was not only a general but the Vizier. In ancient Egypt, the vizier was the most senior official of the Pharaoh. It was he who kept the gears of government in motion, controlled the law courts and state money.

The Birth of the 19th Dynasty

At last, when Paramessu ascended to the throne, he did not retain his old name only. He took the name Ramesses I. Ramesses basically means Ras Tafari has created him. By choosing this name, he was informing the whole world that he was the supported one by the god of the sun despite the fact that he never belonged to a royal family. Meanwhile he assumed a throne name: Menpehtyre.

This means in time language, Eternal is the power of Ra. Looking into the future was one of the smarter things that Ramesses I did immediately. At the time he was already older when he became a king and was aware that he may not have a long time to be a king. He had his son, Seti I as a co-regent to ensure that there was no misunderstanding on who was in command. This was effectively co- ruling the nation as co-equals alongside him to the end of his life.

Achievements During a Short Stay at the Top

Ramses I making an offering before Osiris

Since he had not been on the throne long, you might imagine that he left not much of a trace. However, in fact, he had a lot of work. He concentrated on several areas that were quite essential in maintaining the unity of the nation: building, religion and the military. At the Karnak Temple in Thebes, one of his largest projects was carried out. When you have seen photographs of that huge forest of great columns there, which is the Great Hypostyle Hall, you are looking at something which Ramesses I assisted in initiating. He also took his time to Abydos, a place that was highly holy to the deity Osiris.

Metropolitan Museum of Art – Chapel for Ramesses I at Abydos – West Wall

He began erecting a small chapel there, and that was a means of demonstrating that the king had returned to the old gods. He did not overlook his military origins outside the building. Although he was a mature man, he still remained a vigilante in securing the borders of Egypt against any threats to safeguard the citizens.

Ramesses I Sarcophagus

The king was not afforded really much time to relish his position as the Egyptian ruler. He died after a period of hardly two years on the throne. To Ramesses I, preparations were underway on his ultimate tomb in the Valley of the Kings, nowadays KV16. When you compare his tomb with the huge tunnels of the kings that followed him, you can instantly conclude that his life was cut short than anticipated. The tomb is in fact a very small one in the whole valley.

But it is just a little, still the quality of the work is admirable. The burial chamber is brightly and colorfully painted on the walls with the king being portrayed with different gods. These pictures were created to lead his soul through a risky process of the afterlife. His son had built a huge sarcophagus inside this small room to bury the body of Ramesses I, and this is how much he (the son) is paying respect to the founder.

Ramses I Mummy

The account of Ramesses I does not culminate with his funeral. Robert traveled hundreds of years later when his tomb was broken by robbers. In order to preserve the royal bodies, he was transported to an unknown royal depository by priests in a location known as Deir el-Bahari. The cache was unearthed by a family of local tomb hunters in the middle of the 1800s and the items. The mummy was auctioned to a Canadian businessman by the name of James Douglas.

Douglas brought the mummy to North America and it was exhibited in the Niagara Falls Museum for over 130 years. It took more than a hundred years to make the body available to the tourists in Canada and was misidentified as an ordinary citizen by spending a few dollars. Scientists discovered only in the 1990s, when the museum was closed, that the quality of the mummification was extremely high. In the year 2003, the mummy of Ramesses I was finally repatriated to its home in Egypt with full military honors to rest in peace.

Which Ramesses is in the Bible?

Whenever human beings mention the word Pharaoh in the bible, they tend to refer to the name Ramesses. The Bible says that there was a location referred to as the land of Rameses but not specify which king was in charge during the exodus. Yet a majority of historians and biblical critics seeking to find a match normally point to Ramesses II as the probable candidate in the role of the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

This is due to the fact that he was a colossal constructionist who employed an immense amount of labor in his work including the city of Pi-Ramesses. The man referred to as Ramesses I can hardly be connected with the biblical narrative due to the shortness of his reign. It was he who established the name and the dynasty, but his grandson turned out to be the giant personality that the majority of people associate with the biblical tales. All he could do was to turn on the motor of the family to the next generation.

Legacy: The Foundation for Ramesses the Great

Relief from the West Wall of a Chapel of Ramesses I

Although the reign of Ramesses I lasted within a limited time frame, the influence that he had was enormous. He is not a person who merely assumed leadership of a country; he redefined the functioning of leadership in Egypt. With the shift of the royal bloodline that was in decline to a robust military family, he brought stability to Egypt that was required to usher in its last golden age. He introduced a soldier mentality to the throne whereby order and heirship were important.

His family was his largest legacy. This was a powerhouse of leadership by taking his son and his grandson into government at a tender age. All of that would not have been the case had he not been the consistent soldier who was ready to take a step when the old regime failed. He also demonstrated how an average man with talent and determination can ascend the military family to the throne of Egypt and be a ruler with authority.

Conclusion

The king is usually shadowed by the names that followed him, which were famous, yet he was the one who made them great. He was the place where a chaotic time became a glorious one. He was always oriented on the bigger picture whether organizing troops as a general or beginning a new dynasty as a Pharaoh, so his story is another reminder that history is not made by people who reign for decades, but it is made by people who jump into action at the right time and place to ensure that the future is safe.

He was the king who was a soldier and the father of the greatest family ever to be known in Egypt. His life shows that concentration and hard work can make any ordinary soldier a giant in world history. Ramesses was indeed the real pioneer of greatness to everyone who followed him in the 19 th Dynasty