Ramses V

Ramses V,  (flourished 12th century bce), king of ancient Egypt (reigned 1150–45 bce) who died relatively young, perhaps of smallpox.

Ramses V was the successor and probably the son of Ramses IV and reigned only briefly. The priesthood of Amon was ascendant during the reign of Ramses V: as attested by the Wilbour Papyrus, a major land survey and tax assessment document dated the fourth year of Ramses V’s reign, the temple of Amon at Karnak controlled much of Egypt’s land, smaller amounts being held by the temple of Re at Heliopolis and the temple of Ptah at Memphis.

The king continued to build Ramses IV’s vast temple at Dayr al-Baḥrī in western Thebes, which probably became his own funerary monument. At his death, however, Ramses was not buried until his successor’s second year. As Egyptian burial rites normally lasted 70 days, either the king died after he was deposed or his tomb was incomplete at his death, compelling his successor to delay his burial. Since the gang of royal tomb cutters still numbered 120 men under Ramses V, the former alternative is more probable. Further, references to internal warfare contained in a diary from western Thebes date either to Ramses V’s or his successor’s reign.

Ramses V’s mummy indicates that the king may have died at an early age of smallpox, but his head also displays a major wound inflicted either before or shortly after death.