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Abstract

The article is devoted to analysis of the lines 36–38 of the 8th regnal year’ inscription of Ramses III in Medinet Habu: “I trusted in this god, the father of the gods[......the fath]er of mine. I didn’t forget his sanctuary. My wish was strong to double the festivals and off erings (37) in addition to what it was former. My heart was truthful daily. Abomination for me was falsehood [...what] was made by the gods who was satisfi ed with it. Their arms were for me as a shield of my breast (38) to dispel ... who were in my body”. The author shows that two words in hieroglyphic transcription mean evildoers and enemies correspondingly who were in the body of the Pharaoh. Based of parallel context from Medinet Habu, the author comes to conclusion that the body of Ramses III was considered by the inscription’s creators as whole Egypt. Accordingly, the enemies who harm to him were the Sea Peoples which are mentioned in this inscription before.

Keywords

Medinet Habu, Ramses III, the Sea Peoples, the royal ideology in Egypt, New Kingdom.

Aleksandr V. Safronov

Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Russian Technological University, Moscow, Russia

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