Poisoned Legacy: The Fall of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty

After the death of Rameses II, the Nineteenth Dynasty soon fell into decline and familial conflict, culminating in a final civil war that ended with the accession of a new dynasty. Sethy I and Rameses IIÕs promotion of a concept of a wider Ôroyal familyÕ may have sown the seeds for the conflicts among their descendants.
Aidan Dodson explores the mysteries of the origins of the usurper-king Amenmeses and the career of the Ôking-makerÕ of the period, the chancellor Bay. Having helped to install at least one pharaoh on the throne, BayÕs life was ended by his abrupt execution, ordered by the woman with whom he had shared the regency of Egypt for the young and disabled King Siptah. Finally, the author considers how that womanÑTawosretÑbecame the last true female pharaoh, and how she finally lost her throne to the founder of the Twentieth Dynasty, Sethnakhte.