The Harem Conspiracy

The final years of the reign of Egypt's last great pharaoh, Ramses III, were characterized by economic problems and increasing popular discontent.

Records from the period describe what may have been history's first general workers' strike in Egypt's 29th year under Ramses III's rule, an unlikely display of social and political sedition that sharply illustrates just how vulnerable the sitting God-King had become.

But the beleaguered pharaoh's troubles didn't end there. It wasn't just the rabble crying out for his head. As he would soon discover, conspirators within his own harem were busily plotting against him, making secret preparations for an ambitious bid to end his life--a ruthless assassination plot orchestrated by one of his own queens and carried out by his most trusted palace servants and high officials.

Arising from what might best be described as a lethal confluence of pride, ambition, and polygamy, the Harem Conspiracy enjoys the distinction of being both one of history's oldest known conspiracies and of being the oldest example of a criminal conspiracy resulting in a formal court proceeding. The official record of the proceedings from that criminal prosecution survive intact to the present day, enshrined in a papyrus scroll known as the Judicial Turin Papyrus.

Although many of the details surrounding the Harem Conspiracy plot remain in dispute, the generally accepted elements of the conspiracy are as follows:

1. The Harem plot was instigated by Ramses III's Queen Tey and her son Pentaware, who had been passed over to succeed the pharaoh to the throne in favor of Queen Isis' son Ramses IV.
   
2. Participants in the conspiracy included trusted palace staff, high state officials, military leaders, and other members of the royal court.
3. Although the plot was exposed and the collaborators all tried and punished, Ramses III did not survive the trial proceedings. The cause of the pharaoh's death remains uncertain, but poisoning has been suggested as one likely possibility (the body, recovered in modern times, shows no obvious signs of injury). Others have suggested the pharaoh's death came as a result of spells cast by court magicians also implicated in the conspiracy, but for obvious reasons, historians are skeptical of such suggestions.
   
4. Whether or not the conspiracy succeeded in bringing about the death of Ramses III by poisoning or other means, the conspiracy failed to achieve its ultimate goals and Ramses IV went on to become Ramses III's successor.
   

Submitted by: The Museum Curator

Curator's Remarks:
This story has all the ear-markings of a great historical drama: murderous palace intrigue, internecine power politics, shadowy patricidal machinations. If a film of these events were produced in Hollywood today, no doubt there would be suggestions of an incestuous relationship between the sensuous and sinister Queen Tey and her equally wicked son Pentaware (whose name seems readymade for a silverscreen villain). Ramses III might be depicted as a noble but fading Arthurian hero, Queen Isis and her son Ramses IV as virtuous royals besieged on all sides by treachery. But perhaps what makes the Harem Conspiracy most significant is its place in the history of jurisprudence as antiquity's first recorded, formal criminal prosecution for the crime of conspiracy.

Links for Further Reading:

• Ruins of Ramses III's Palace
• Translation of Judicial Turin Papyrus (warning: Link may launch pop-up)
• Conspiracy Against the King (Wikipedia)
• Timeline of New Kingdom Period in Egyptian History