1186–1184 BCE
20th Dynasty of Egypt
1186–1069 BCE
The 20th Dynasty is the last dynasty of the New Kingdom. Setnakhte restored order after the troubles at the end of the 19th Dynasty, and his son Ramesses III defeated Libyan invaders and the Sea Peoples, recorded at Medinet Habu.
Later reigns show growing pressure: the first recorded labour strike at Deir el-Medina, tomb robbery trials, a harem conspiracy against Ramesses III and an increasingly powerful priesthood of Amun at Thebes. The ninth to eleventh Ramesses ruled a smaller and divided Egypt, and the New Kingdom ended around 1069 BCE.
- Period
- New Kingdom
- Dates
- 1186–1069 BCE
- Rulers profiled
- 10
Setnakhte restores order
The 20th Dynasty began with Setnakhte, who ended the disorder that followed Queen Tawosret. His reign was short, and he passed the throne to his son Ramesses III, who became the last great king of the New Kingdom.
Ramesses III and the Sea Peoples
Ramesses III faced the most serious threats to Egypt in centuries. In his fifth and eleventh years he defeated Libyan invasions in the west, and in his eighth year he fought off a land and sea attack by the groups Egyptian texts call the Sea Peoples. The reliefs at his temple of Medinet Habu at Thebes record these wars in detail.
He also gave large gifts of land and goods to the temples, especially that of Amun, which increased the priesthood's wealth and later its political weight.
Strain within the state
Late in the reign the state began to struggle to pay its workers. In about his twenty-ninth year the craftsmen of the royal tomb community at Deir el-Medina stopped work because their grain rations were late, the first recorded labour strike in history.
Ramesses III was also the target of a plot from within the royal household, the Harem Conspiracy, which is known from court papyri recording the trials of the conspirators. A 2012 study of his mummy concluded that his throat had been cut, which supports the view that the plot succeeded in killing him.
The later Ramessides
Ramesses IV to Ramesses XI ruled in turn, most for short periods, and all took the name of the great Ramesses. Rising grain prices, tomb robbery in the Theban necropolis and the shrinking of Egyptian control over Nubia and the Levant marked these reigns. The tomb-robbery papyri from the time of Ramesses IX show officials disputing how bad the problem was.
The end of the New Kingdom
Under Ramesses XI, authority split. The high priest of Amun, Herihor, took royal titles at Thebes, and the viceroy of Kush, Panehsy, fought a civil war with the priests. Smendes governed the north from Tanis and founded the 21st Dynasty when Ramesses XI died around 1069 BCE, opening the Third Intermediate Period.
Rulers of the 20th Dynasty
Every ruler profile in the archive for this dynasty, in the order used by the chronology. Each name links to a full profile with dates, background, sources and illustrations.
1184–1153 BCE
1153–1147 BCE
1147–1143 BCE
1143–1136 BCE
1136–1129 BCE
1129–1126 BCE
1126–1108 BCE
1108–1099 BCE
1099–1069 BCE
Major monuments
- Medinet Habu, mortuary temple of Ramesses III
- Royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings (Ramesses III to Ramesses XI)
- Deir el-Medina workmen's village and its records
- Temple additions at Karnak, Luxor and Medinet Habu
Key events
- Ramesses III's defeat of the Libyans and the Sea Peoples
- The strike of the Deir el-Medina workmen
- The Harem Conspiracy against Ramesses III
- Tomb robbery investigations under Ramesses IX
- Split between Thebes and the north under Ramesses XI
Reading the evidence
Victory texts are ideological; decline was gradual and multi-causal.
Sources: UCL Digital Egypt; Metropolitan Museum; Shaw (2000). See the full bibliography.