The Ramessid Civil War was a period of civil war in New Kingdom Egypt that occurred from 1203 BC to 1189 BC, at the end of the Ancient Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty and concurrent with the Late Bronze Age collapse. Pharaoh Merneptah's death in 1203 BC led to his sons Seti II and Amenmesse each claiming the throne for themselves, inaugurating years of conflict. The civil war period was marked by rampant banditry and an overall breakdown in order, as well as by foreign invasion and domestic unrest. Despite early victories against the Nile Delta-based Seti, the Kushite governor Amenmesse was slain in 1198 BC, and Seti claimed the title of Pharaoh for himself, only to die of either illness or poison a year later. His death was followed by the alliance of the Canaan-born chancellor Bay and Seti's widow Twosret to elevate the minor prince Siptah to the Egyptian throne, forming a triumvirate dominated by the two adults. Egypt's defeats at the hands of Irsu's Canaanites, the Libyans, and the Nubians resulted in continued instability, and, as Siptah neared maturity by 1192 BC, Twosret had the powerful chancellor Bay executed to prevent him from overtaking her as the eminence grise behind the Egyptian throne. The sickly child Siptah's own death in 1191 BC allowed Twosret to proclaim herself Pharaoh. However, she was unable to restore order to the entirety of Egypt, as rival princes continued to battle each other for the throne, and she was forced to turn to the Canaanite raider Irsu as an ally against her opponents. The Egyptian general Setnakhte rose in rebellion against Twosret, who personally fought Setnakhte on the battlefield and may have been slain in battle in 1189 BC. Setnakhte proceeded to take the throne for himself, drive out Irsu's Asiatic mercenaries, and pacify Egypt, establishing the Twentieth Dynasty and setting the stage for the rise of his son, Ramesses III, on his death four years later.
History[]
On the death of Pharaoh Merneptah in 1203 BC, his son Seti II, who had served as Merneptah's chief scribe and general, was crowned and widely recognized as his legitimate successor. However, his half-brother Amenmesse, Viceroy of Kush, disputed this succession, as did Merneptah B. Seti either came to an amicable agreement with Merneptah or led his army in battle against Merneptah in the Nile Delta, murdering anyone who opposed his rule. In 1201 BC, Seti took his relative Twosret as his wife to further cement his claim on the Egyptian throne, though it is possible that she was widely opposed, creating popular support for Amenmesse.
Over the next eighteen months, Amenmesse went on the offensive, pushing Seti up the Nile, out of his capital of Memphis, and back to the Delta, where Seti continued to retain support. Amenmesse was forced to pause and consolidate his conquests, possibly due to the end of the campaign season or his outrunning of his supply lines; he came to rule over Nubia and Upper Egypt, and he vandalized Seti II's tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Amenmesse elevated anyone who would support his claim, from high-ranking government jobs to workmen's camps; he also carried out politically-based murders against his opponents. Amenmesse was the undisputed Pharaoh of Egypt for two years, and he appointed Khaemtir as Viceroy of Kush.
However, he Syrian scribe Bay brokered several alliances between Bay and key government officials and generals, enabling Seti to launch a counterattack two years later and retake Memphis in 1198 BC. Amenmesse was slain in the fighting, and Seti purged Amenmesse's supporters from all levels of the government, down to the kingdom's stone-carvers. Seti erased all mentions of Amenmesse's names from royal monuments as a means of cursing his memory and establishing his own legitimacy. Seti restored defaced temples and reunified Egypt under his rule, and he died in 1197 BC, possibly from a long illness, as well as from poison.
During Seti's two-year reign, Chancellor Bay moved in the highest circles of Egyptian and Canaanite politics, creating a coalition who would depend on him for patronage and unity amid a period of civil war and foreign encroachment. Once the succession was thrown open, Bay - with his political coalition - united with the widowed Queen Twosret and held enough sway to keep the nation from falling apart. They installed the polio-stricken ten-year-old Siptah as their puppet ruler (he may have been the son of Amenmesse by a Syrian wife), as there were few valid options for the succession on Seti's death. The incapable Siptah was dominated by his regents, and his reign was marked by the invasions of the Canaanite warlord Irsu, the Libu in the west, and the restive Nubians in the south. Bay assumed control over Siptah's armies, but he was unable to win any victories against Egypt's many enemies. In 1192 BC, Twosret and Bay had a falling-out as Siptah began taking over in his own right, causing the two former partners to become driven by ambition and plot against each other. Bay was denied entry to the capital for a time, either as a formal ban or out of fear for his life, and he was ultimately executed at the behest of Twosret, via Siptah's command. The young, sickly Siptah died a few months later, just before he could come of age to make his own decisions and let the regency slip away.
Twosret proceeded to take power for herself, but she opted to number her regnal years as part of Siptah's reign, making it harder to contest her coronation. During her two years of independent rulership, Twosret spent greatly on offerings to the gods, perhaps out of desperation, and she also hoarded her treasure due to her insecurity about being able to retain it. The other pretenders of Egypt proved stronger than Twosret, whose rule was confined to the Delta. At the same time, the Canaanite warlord Irsu resumed his offensive against Egypt, taking advantage of the kingdom's instability. The Egyptian prince Setnakhte, who sought to remedy the ills that had befallen Egypt, began to marshal his own army to seize the crown for himself, and Twosret fought against this tide of violence personally, leading her army from her chariot. Desperate to re-establish control over her kingdom, Twosret formed an alliance with Irsu and allowed him to plunder much of Egypt in exchange for his military assistance. Twosret battled Setnakhte herself, and she perished in the midst of the war, either being killed in battle, being poisoned in her palace, or - least likely - dying of natural causes. Setnakhte's other enemies purchased Asiatic mercenaries to battle him, but these, too, were defeated. Setnakhte set in order the entire land that had been rebellious, established himself as Pharaoh, and expelled Irsu's Canaanites; Irsu either died or retreated into the untraceable wilderness, where he returned to being one mercenary leader among many. Setnakhte would only live for four years after he claimed the throne, and his son Ramesses III succeeded him and ushered in the 20th Dynasty, which would fight off the Sea Peoples from 1178 to 1175 BC and survive the Late Bronze Age collapse.
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