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Amenmesse (also Amenmesses or Amenmose) was the fifth ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty in Ancient Egypt, possibly the son of Merneptah and Queen Takhat. Others consider him to be one of the innumerable sons of Ramesses II. Very little is known about this king, who ruled Egypt for only three to four years. Various Egyptologists date his reign between 1202 BC–1199 BC〔Edward Wente and Charles Van Siclen III, "A Chronology of the New Kingdom," 218〕 or 1203 BC–1200 BC〔Michael Rice, Who's Who in Ancient Egypt, Routledge, 1999〕 with others giving an accession date of 1200 BC.〔Vandersleyen, ''ĽÈgypte et la Vallée du Nil,'' vol 2: 575〕 Amenmesse means "born of or fashioned by Amun" in Egyptian. Additionally, his nomen can be found with the epithet Heqa-waset, which means "Ruler of Thebes".〔K. A. Kitchen, "The Titularies of the Ramesside Kings as Expression of Their Ideal Kingship," ''ASAE'' 71 (1987): 134-35.〕 His royal name was Menmire Setepenre. ==Usurper== It is likely that he was not Merneptah's intended heir. Some scholars such as Kenneth Kitchen and Jürgen von Beckerath believe that Amenmesse usurped the throne from Seti-Merneptah, Merneptah's son and crown prince who should have been next in line to the royal succession. It is unclear how this would have happened. Kitchen has written that Amenmesse may have taken advantage of a momentary weakness of Seti-Merneptah or seized power while the crown prince was away in Asia. Seti-Merneptah was most likely the same man as king Seti II, whose reign was traditionally thought to have followed upon Amenmesse's reign. The cartouches of Seti II's tomb in Upper Egypt were deliberately erased and then repainted, suggesting that Seti's rule in Upper Egypt was temporarily interrupted by agents of his half-brother. Confusion generally clouds Amenmesse's reign and location within the Egyptian 19th Dynasty. However, an increasing number of Egyptologists today such as Rolf Krauss and Aidan Dodson maintain that Seti II was in fact the immediate successor of Merneptah "without any intervening rule by Amenmesse."〔Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (editors), Handbook of Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill: 2006, p.212〕 Under this scenario, Amenmesse did not succeed Merneptah on the throne of Egypt and was rather a rival king who usurped power sometime during Years 2 to 4 of Seti II's reign in Upper Egypt and Nubia where his authority is monumentally attested.〔Krauss 1976, 1977, 1997; Dodson 1997〕 Amenmesse was documented in power at Thebes during his third and fourth year (and perhaps earlier in Nubia) where Seti II's Year 3 and Year 4 are noticeably unaccounted for.〔Hornung, Krauss & Warburton, op. cit., p.213〕 The treatment of Amenmesse as a rival king also best explains the pattern of destruction to Seti II's tomb which was initially ransacked and later restored again by Seti II's officials. This implies that the respective reigns of Amenmesse and Seti II were parallel to one another; Seti II must have initially controlled Thebes in his first and second years during which time his tomb was excavated and partly decorated. Then Seti was ousted from power in Upper Egypt by Amenmesse whose agents desecrated Seti II's tomb. Seti would finally defeat his rival Amenmesse and return to Thebes in triumph whereupon he ordered the restoration of his damaged tomb. Rolf Krauss, followed by Aidan Dodson, suggests that Amenmesse was once a Kushite Viceroy called Messuwy.〔Krauss 1976, 1977; (The Viceroy of Kush )〕 In particular, two representations of Messuwy on the temple of Amida allegedly shows that a royal ''uraeus'' had been added to his brows in a way consistent with other pharaohs such as Horemheb, Merenptah and some of the sons of Rameses III. Also an inscription at the temple of Amada also calls him ''"the king's son himself"'' but this may be merely a figure of speech to emphasize Messuwy's high stature as Viceroy under Merneptah. However, Frank Yurco notes that various depictions of Messuwy in several Nubian temples were never deliberately defaced by Seti II's agents compared to the damnatio memoriae meted out to all depictions of another Viceroy of Kush, Kha-em-ter, who had served as Amenmesse's Vizier.〔Frank J. Yurco, Was Amenmesse the Viceroy of Kush, Messuwy?, ''JARCE'' 34 (1997), pp.53-54 & 56〕 This strongly implies that Seti II held no grudge against Messuwy which would be improbable if Messuwy was indeed Amenmesse.〔Yurco, JARCE 34, p.56〕 Yurco also observes that the only objects from Messuwy's tomb which identified a Pharaoh all named only Merneptah, Seti II's father which leads to the conclusion that Messuwy died and was buried in his tomb at Aniba, Nubia during Merneptah's reign, and could not be Amenmesse.〔Yurco, JARCE 34, pp.55-56〕 There has also been a suggestion that the story of the "Tale of Two Brothers", first attested during the reign of Seti II, may contain a veiled reference to the struggle between Amenmesse and Seti II. The records of a court case early in the reign of Seti II also throw some light on the matter. Papyrus Salt 124 records that Neferhotep, one of the two chief workmen of the Deir el-Medina necropolis, had been killed during the reign of Amenmesse (the king's name is written as 'Msy' in the document).〔J.J. Janssen, Village Varia. Ten Studies on the History and Administration of Deir El-Medina, (Egyptologische Uitgaven 11) Leiden 1997. pp.99-109〕 Neferhotep was replaced by Paneb his adopted son, against whom many crimes were alleged by Neferhotep's brother Amennakhte in a strongly worded indictment preserved on a papyrus in the British Museum. If Amennakhte's allegations can be trusted, Paneb had stolen stone for the embellishment of his own tomb from that of Seti II in the course of its completion, besides purloining or damaging other property belonging to that monarch. Also he had allegedly tried to kill Neferhotep in spite of having been educated by him, and after the chief workman had been killed by 'the enemy' had bribed the vizier Pra'emhab in order to usurp his place. Whatever the truth of these accusations, it is clear that Thebes was going through very troubled times. There are references elsewhere to a 'war' that had occurred during these years, but it is obscure to what this word alludes, perhaps to no more than internal disturbances and discontent. Neferhotep had complained of the attacks upon himself to the vizier Amenmose, presumably a predecessor of Pra'emhab, whereupon Amenmose had Paneb punished. Paneb, however, then successfully brought a complaint before 'Mose'/'Msy' whereupon the latter decided to dismiss Amenmose from office. Evidently this 'Mose'/'Msy' was a person of the highest importance here who most probably should be identified with king Amenmesse himself.〔Rolf Krauss, Untersuchungen zu König Amenmesse: Nachträge, SAK 24 (1997), pp.161-184〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Amenmesse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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