Ramesses Khaemwese

Khaemwese held the position of High Priest of Ptah at Memphis, and was most likely buried either at Giza or Saqqara. His brother Merenptah succeeded his father (Kha was heir apparent from regnal years 52 to 55, until his death) as pharaoh and has his own tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV 8. Khaemwese and Merenptah are the only two sons we are certain were not buried in KV 5. Even so, their lives may give us a few clues about the lives of their brothers and half brothers interred there.

During his lifetime, Khaemwese's administrative skills, his knowledge of religious matters, his intelligence, and common sense made him one of the country's most respected individuals. A thousand years after his death, he was still regarded as one of the greatest scholars and magicians Egypt had ever produced. Several stories were written about him. One tale in "The stories of Setne Khaemwese," for example, recounts how Khaemwese tried to possess a book of magical incantations written by the god Thoth, and another tells of how he once travelled into the Netherworld to see firsthand how the good were rewarded and the evil were punished. A part of the latter tale is so similar to the account in the New Testament of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16, 19-31) that some scholars believe that the biblical story was derived from it.

The second child of Ramesses II's second wife, Isisnofret, Khaemwese was probably born shortly after their marriage, perhaps while Seti I was still alive and Ramesses II was still a teenager. Khaemwese bore several titles and epithets: "King's Son of His Body, His Beloved, the Divine Essence Issuing from Ka-nakht [the Strong Bull, meaning Ramesses II], Khaemwese, True of Voice." While still a young prince--he may barely have been in his teens--Khaemwese and his older half brother, Amun-her-khepeshef, accompanied Ramesses II on a military campaign in Nubia. Records of this campaign are carved on the walls of the temple at Beit el-Wali. In one scene the two boys are standing with their drivers in war chariots, following their father onto the field of battle. In another, Khaemwese is taking part in a military campaign at Tunip in western Asia.

Unlike several of his brother and half brothers, Khaemwese bore no military titles in these or any other scenes. He earned his formidable reputation not as a military leader, but as a cultured and erudite gentleman whose rapid rise through the ranks of the priesthood of Ptah at Memphis was due, ancient texts claim, to his talent, intelligence, and keen administrative skills. Khaemwese apparently was that rare breed of royalty--an individual admired and honored even more for his personal talent than for his royal blood.

In an inscription in the Serapaeum at Saqqara, Khaemwese wrote that he had joined the Memphite priesthood of Ptah at an early age and, not long after, had been made a "sem-priest of Ptah." The title of sem-priest can be trace back to the beginning of Egypt's history when, even then, it was regarded with significance. Whenever possible, the post was held by an elder son of pharaoh who, as sem-priest, played a major role in royal funeral ceremonies and who was therefore closely affiliated with the cult of Osiris. Sem-priests can be identified in Egyptian art by the elaborately painted panther skin they wear draped over their shoulders.

Khaemwese's appointment as sem-priest seems to have taken place just prior to his father's sixteenth regnal year. About a decade later, perhaps in regnal year 25, when he himself was about twenty-five years old, Khaemwese was promoted again, this time to the pre-eminent position of High Priest of Ptah. (For convenience, Egyptologists call holders of this title HPPs). Over twenty-eight individuals in dynastic times bore this title, and all of them came from important Egyptian families: eighteen were sons of HPPs, two were sons of viziers, three were sons of pharaohs. The post was first given great prominence during the reign of Amunhotep III, who became the first pharaoh to give the title to his son. When Ramesses II made Khaemwese his High Priest of Ptah, he was following Amunhotep's example. Some Egyptologists have argued that the High Priest of Ptah gained special prominence under Ramesses II because, like Amunhotep III, he thought that strengthening that position would effectively counter the potentially threatening powers of another priesthood, that led by the High Priest of Amun (the HPA) at Karnak.

More to come....