Medinet Habu
Ramesses III's temple at Thebes, whose walls record the Sea Peoples overrunning Hatti, Carchemish and Cyprus.
- Location
- West bank of Thebes, Luxor
- Modern country
- Egypt
- Type
- Mortuary temple of Ramesses III
- Inscriptions
- Year 8 war against the Sea Peoples (c. 1177 BCE)
- Lands named
- Hatti, Kode, Carchemish, Arzawa, Alashiya
- Status
- Part of UNESCO 'Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis'
What is Medinet Habu known for?
Medinet Habu is the mortuary temple of Ramesses III on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes, completed in the early 12th century BCE. Its walls are covered with scenes of his wars, and it is one of the best-preserved temples of the New Kingdom.
The most famous inscription records his eighth year, around 1177 BCE. It says foreign peoples 'made a conspiracy in their islands' and that no land could stand before their arms, naming Hatti, Kode, Carchemish, Arzawa and Alashiya (Cyprus). Reliefs show a land battle and a naval battle in which Egyptian ships defeat invaders with distinctive headdresses, whom modern scholars call the Sea Peoples.
The texts are royal propaganda, but they are a central source for the Bronze Age collapse, when many states of the eastern Mediterranean fell within a few decades.
Ramesses III's account of the Sea Peoples is a key record of the Bronze Age collapse.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeBronze Age collapse
- PersonRamesses III
- PlaceCarchemish
- PlaceHattusa
- PlaceThebes (Egypt)
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Madinat Habu'Reference
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Sea People'Reference
- University of Chicago ISAC, 'Medinet Habu, Volume I: Earlier Historical Records of Ramses III' (OIP 8)Primary text
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