# Ramesses III Source: https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/ramesses-iii Language: en # Ramesses III The king behind Medinet Habu, whose reign left records of both military ambition and economic strain. **Reign**: c.1184–1153 BCE **Dynasty**: 20th Dynasty **Period**: New Kingdom **Also written**: Ramses III · Usermaatre Meryamun · رعمسيس الثالث · وسر ماعت رع مري آمون ## Who they were Ramesses III consciously drew on earlier royal models, especially Ramesses II, in his monuments and aspects of his titulary. Their names and reigns should still be distinguished. ## Why they matter Medinet Habu is his, and it is the most completely preserved mortuary temple (a temple for royal commemoration and divine worship, active during a king’s life and after death) in Egypt — still roofed in parts, still carrying paint on protected surfaces, and carrying the fullest surviving Egyptian account of the wars against the Libyans and against the coalition the texts call the Sea Peoples. Two other things from his reign matter out of proportion to their scale: the first recorded strike by workers anywhere, at Deir el-Medina in his twenty-ninth year, and a conspiracy against him in the palace whose trial records survive. ## What happened Medinet Habu preserves celebrated battle reliefs, including a naval encounter. A different kind of record, the Strike Papyrus in Turin, documents tomb workers protesting delayed food rations during his reign. Together they offer contrasting perspectives on royal power. ## What they built in Luxor Medinet Habu — the mortuary temple, its fortified gateway modelled on a Syrian tower fort, the palace built against its south side, and the enclosure that later became a walled town. A small temple of his own inside what became the Great Court at Karnak. KV11 in the Valley of the Kings. And tombs for several of his sons in the Valley of the Queens. ## Where to meet them Medinet Habu, and give it the time. Go through the migdol gate, then look at the outer north wall from the outside before you go in — that is where the Sea Peoples reliefs are, cut so deeply into the sandstone that the shadows do the drawing for you. Inside, look up in the covered parts: the colour on the underside of the architraves is original. His tomb KV11 is in the valley, and his sons are in the Valley of the Queens. How we label claims ## What is disputed Each claim below carries its evidence class. A claim marked interpretation or uncertain is not a weaker version of a fact — it is a different kind of statement, and the note says why. - Interpretation That the harem conspiracy killed him. Two separate things. That there was a conspiracy and a trial is fact — the papyrus records it. That his mummy has a deep transverse cut across the throat is also fact, reported from CT imaging published in 2012. That the one caused the other, and that he died in the attempt rather than later, is a reasonable and now widely held interpretation, and the trial record itself is written as though the king survived to convene it. - Uncertain Who the Sea Peoples were and where they came from. The Egyptian texts name several groups and the reliefs show their ships, headgear and ox-carts, which is real evidence about how they looked and travelled. Where they originated, whether they were an invasion, a migration or a symptom of a wider collapse around the eastern Mediterranean, is one of the long-running arguments in the archaeology of the period and is not resolved. Who added what ## Before and after [19th Dynasty **Seti I** c.1294–1279 BCE A ruler whose finely worked reliefs reward a close look at Egyptian carving. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/seti-i) [19th Dynasty **Ramesses II** c.1279–1213 BCE Sixty-six years on the throne, and his name cut into everything within reach. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/ramesses-ii) [20th Dynasty **Ramesses III** c.1184–1153 BCE The king behind Medinet Habu, whose reign left records of both military ambition and economic strain. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/ramesses-iii) Tomb ## Their tomb - [KV11 — KV11 — Tomb of Ramesses III](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/tombs#tomb-kv11) [Tomb directory](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/tombs) Continue reading ## Explore the connections 1–1 / 8 [Temple · West bank ### Medinet Habu Colour survives here wherever the roof did — on a temple built by a king fighting to hold Egypt together. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/medinet-habu)[Temple complex · East bank ### Karnak Temple Complex Two thousand years of building, rebuilding and royal ambition, gathered around the temples of Amun. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/karnak)[Necropolis · West bank ### Valley of the Kings The royal burial landscape of the New Kingdom: rock-cut tombs tucked into a desert valley, separate from the kings’ major commemorative temples. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/valley-of-the-kings)[Necropolis · West bank ### Valley of the Queens A royal cemetery whose tombs vary greatly in decoration and access. Check which are open before deciding how it fits your day. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/valley-of-the-queens)[God ### Amun The hidden god of Thebes, who became king of the gods and the state god of an empire. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/amun)[God ### Mut Amun’s consort and the mother of the Theban triad — a queen among goddesses. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/mut)[God ### Khonsu The moon god, and the child of the Theban triad. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/khonsu)[God ### Osiris Ruler of the dead, associated with restoration and renewal. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/osiris) Sources & further reading 5 Tier 1 [The Epigraphic Survey — the recording of Medinet Habu and Luxor Temple](https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/publications/epigraphic-survey) Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, University of Chicago Official page indexed · checked 2026-09-19 Tier 2 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw Oxford University Press Tier 1 [Excavation reports from Deir el-Medina](https://www.ifao.egnet.net/journauxbruyere/index.html) Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) Official page indexed · checked 2026-09-19 Tier 2 Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies, Zahi Hawass and Sahar N. Saleem American University in Cairo Press Tier 1 [Strike Papyrus, Cat. 1880 — the workers’ protest under Ramesses III](https://collezionepapiri.museoegizio.it/en-GB/document/131) Museo Egizio, Turin Online source checked 2026-09-19 Source review is incomplete. Consultation dates are shown only for checked references. Published works and institutional references for further reading. [Sources and review status](mailto:corrections@egyptmore.com?subject=Luxor101%20correction) [Pharaohs](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs)