Even though Pharaoh Ramesses III had been the master of all that he surveyed – striking awe in the hearts of his enemies and earning admiration among his subjects – the glory days were drawing to a close. The survivor of an assassination attempt which was the result of a dastardly scheme of some members of the royal household and also his confidantes, the king who had strode the Egyptian mindscape like a colossus couldn’t have earned a worse end. The conspirators were, of course, subjected to a trial and intense interrogations; and many had to part with their lives for daring to eliminate a god on earth.
The eastern colossus of Ramesses III, standing at around 6 meters against the pylon entrance to the barque-shrine temple at Karnak; erected by the king to receive the barques of the Theban triad. The Pylon that featured traditional scenes of the king smiting his enemies only differed from Karnak’s other similar entrances in its lack of flagstaffs.
The scope and scale of the conspiracy to murder Ramesses III was staggering, not least for the disparate backgrounds of the participants who had a vested interest in toppling the regime of the day. But, their well-laid plans did not come to fruition – at least the manner in which they’d hoped. An alert Prince Ramesses who got wind of the plot in the nick of time did everything in his power to nip the vile attempt at revolution in the bud. However, he too was not entirely successful, because his father, Ramesses III, succumbed to the grievous wounds inflicted by his assailants.
