Ramses III

Ramses III

Ramses III, detail of the lid of a granite sarcophagus, about 1187–56 BC; in the …

(credit: Courtesy of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)

(died 1156 BC) King of ancient Egypt, 1187–56 BC. Son of Setnakht, the founder of Egypt's 20th dynasty, he fought off Libyan invaders in the fifth year of his reign and the Sea Peoples (a conglomeration of migrating peoples from Anatolia and the Mediterranean Sea region) two years later. After another conflict with the Libyans, he achieved a lasting peace. He then reorganized society into classes grouped by occupation and resumed temple building. He encouraged trade and industry, and the country prospered. A delay in sending monthly rations to temple builders in Thebes c. 1158 BC resulted in the world's first recorded labour dispute.

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Ramses III, Rameses III

died ?1167 bc, king of ancient Egypt (?1198--?67). His reign was marked by wars in Libya and Syria