Statue of Ramesses VI smiting Libyan Captive

Statue of King Ramesses VI standing, grasping the hair of a Libyan captive in his left hand and an axe in his right. A short military campaign might have ensued and from Ramesses VI’s second year on the throne onwards these troubles seem to have stopped.

This campaign could be connected with an unusual statue of Ramesses VI showing him holding a bound Libyan captive, as well as with a depiction of Ramesses VI triumphing over foreign soldiers on the second pylon of the Karnak temple. This triumph scene was the last one to be made in Egypt until the later reigns of Siamun (ca. 986-967 BC) and Shoshenq I (ca. 943-922 BC).

Ramesses VI Nebmaatre-Meryamun was the fifth ruler of the 20th Dynasty of Egypt. He reigned for about eight years in the mid-to-late 12th century BC and was a son of Ramesses III and queen Iset Ta-Hemdjert.

After the death of the ruling king, Ramesses V, who was the son of Ramesses VI’s older brother, Ramesses IV, Ramesses VI ascended the throne. In the first two years after his coronation, Ramesses VI stopped frequent raids by Libyan or Egyptian marauders in Upper Egypt and buried his predecessor in what is now an unknown tomb of the Theban necropolis.

New Kingdom, 20th Dynasty, ca. 1189-1077 BC. Granite, from the temple of Amun, Karnak Now in the Luxor Museum. CG 42152