MERNEPTAH

(ph)"I have given you power and millions of years," says the god to the king, handing him the symbols of regal authority. The quote is read in the hieroglyphs between god and king. Interesting perspective here. The god holds in his left hand (foreground) a counting stick which measures the passage of time, but it passes behind his right hand (background) which is transmitting the badges of office to the king. 1213-1202BCE (J3500-3511)

(ph)In the 1930's Mary Louise Baker created this wonderful model of what Merenptah's palace may have looked like. The reconstruction is vividly colored and exquisite. It was so large that in order to get a full picture of it in the frame, I would have had to have been in the next room and would have lost all the fine details.

(ph)Looking into the model we see against the interior wall on the left a slightly raised ramp on which, presumably, Merenptah's throne would have been. Look at all the fine detailing on the walls andcolumns.

(ph)A small window appears above the doorway to the right of the throne room. You'll see an actual window in the right-most picture on the next row of images below this one. The glyphs to the right and left of the doorway are mirror images of each other. Their orientation indicates that each is to be read starting from the doorway and progressing out to the surrounding wall.

(ph)Another look at the doorway. Flanking the door on either side are glypyhs proclaiming "The King of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lord of the Two Lands, <Ba-n-Ra Mery-Netjeru (The Ba of Ra, Beloved of the Gods)>, the Son of Ra, <Mery-n-Ptah (Merenptah), Hetep-ib (Beloved of Ra, he who pleases the heart)>."

(ph)There is no lack of detail on the sides of the model either. That's the throne room at the extreme right of the picture. The doorways here are vividly colored and finely worked, showing the careful attention that Ms. Baker put into the model. It is really quite a breathtaking work.

(ph)You can't quite read the museum label at the bottom of the picture. It says that the windows in the palace were built small and close to the ceiling to restrict the amount of bright sunlight and heat the entered the interior, a necessity in the Egyptian summer. This was a regular feature of Egyptian construction.

(ph)The U Penn museum has such an extensive collection of material on Merneptah's palace that I have dedicated a whole page to showing some of it. Here's a highly decorated doorway from the palace which gives the king's names and his titles. It is, in fact, very similar to the doorway shown above in the model. So imagine this doorway painted and gleaming like that one and you have an idea of its original brilliance.

(ph)Looking up at the lintel to see the full brilliance of the "winged Sun" design so common in ancient Egyptian imagery. Notice the cobras on either side of the Sun disk. The cobra also appeared on the royal diadem, right on the King's forehead as a symbol of his power.

(ph)The right side of the lintel looking up. The winged Sun, known as the Behedite, is a symbol of Egyptian royal power and a clear reference to the overarching importance of the Sun. Cobras, known for their deadly venom, are also connected with royalty. The king provides light and warmth, he can also provide death.

(ph)The musuem label, located in the middle of the doorway, gives more information on the colors and symbology associated with the imagery.

(ph)Every king of Egypt served, or wanted to be portrayed as serving, the protection of the nation. From the first king to the last, across 3,000 years of Egyptian history, this pose was repeated. Here is Merneptah, striking down some now repentent enemy who is begging, in vain, for mercy. Mercy is not a royal quality. Again, the glyphs identify Merneptah. Imagine the original colors.

(ph)This picture, stitched together from several images, shows all but the top-most panel of the left hand side of the gateway. Compare it with the gateway plan in the row below this one. Again we have a smiting scene, but we also see the evident pleasure that the gods take in watching Merneptah perform his duties.

(ph)The inside of the left hand column of the gateway. Again we see Merneptah's names and titles, and more proof of the god's choice of him to be absolute ruler of Egypt and the only intercessor between the gods and humanity.

(ph)Merneptah was the 13th son of King Ramesses II. The old king lived into his 90's and at his death was probably, literally, the oldest person in all of Egypt. He outlived the first 12 of his sons. Merneptah was already in his 60's when he came to throne. Like his father, he was long lived, an indication of genetic-derived robustness and resistance to disease and other forms of infection.

(ph)Compare the various images of the actual gateway with this plan.

(ph)The inside of the right hand column as erected in the museum matches the right hand column in the drawing shown in the gateway plan. The god standing in his booth is Ptah.

(ph)The topmost part of the inside of the right hand column (goes above the image to the left).

(ph)Moving around to the front of the right hand column of the gateway, our view is dominated by another smiting scene. Merneptah actually DID fight against a serious invasion by the "Sea People"e;, tribes who entered from the Mediterranean and from Libya to the west. The threat was long-lasting. Ramesses III had to battle them as well. So it was very important Merneptah to be seen as Egypt's protector.

(ph)Merneptah also provides the first independent mention of the word "Israel", proclaiming (elsewhere) that he trampled them so badly that their seed (presumably that of the king or leader) was no more. Actually, very little of the biblical story of ancient Israel is corroborated by other sources.

(ph)Another scene very much like the left hand one in the top row of this page, except here the god is on the left side and Merneptah on the right. The god says "I have given you power and the rule over the Two Lands in your strong hands".