O complexo de culto real de Ramessés III: espaço e memória na XX Dinastia do Antigo Egito

Abstract

Ramesses III (1187 – 1157 BC), the second pharaoh of the XX Egyptian dynasty, reigned during the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, in the context of a delicate political and social climate, with invasion attempts by foreigners, workers’ strikes and an attempted regicide in the midst of a coup d’etat. Despite the adversities, this Pharaoh was the responsible for the construction of a sumptuous royal cult complex at Medinet Habu, the last large monumental structure erected in the New Kingdom. In this sacred space, one of the best preserved examples of templar axial structure of the time, gathers much of the Egyptian cultural heritage of the period, its artistics and architectural patterns, sculptural models, their myths, anxieties and rituals, its beliefs in the afterlife and the roles of the Pharaoh as the main mediator between the divine and the human spheres. Considering this, based on the cultural memory concept, this work aims to realize an analysis of the memorial temple of Ramesses III, through its iconographies and its inscriptions, searching to demonstrate how this may have been used to perpetuate a long-term memory of Egyptian society and its values, highlighting the different types of resources and strategies that have been adopted in this space to the consolidation of this remembrance project and of the self-image of Ramesses III at the time.