Ancient Art from the Palace of Ramesses III at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts

Ancient Art from the Palace of Ramesses III at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ramesses III was the last great military pharaoh of the New Kingdom. In his fifth year on the throne he defeated the Libyans and brought them back to Egypt as slaves. In his eighth year he faced an even greater threat: a confederation of displaced eastern Mediterranean tribes on the move, including Greeks and Philistines, known collectively as the Sea Peoples. Fresh from their victory over the Hittites, the Sea Peoples attempted to invade Egypt with the intention of settling there. Ramesses roundly defeated them both by sea and by land, recording his victories on the walls of his mortuary temple at Medinet Habu, "United with Eternity," which remains the best-preserved royal mortuary temple on the west bank of Thebes.




Images: Tiles depicting a Hittite chief, a Nubian Chief, and a Syrian Chief recovered from the Palace of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, Egypt. Courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

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