RAMESSENAKHTE

Ramessenakhte held the important position of High-priest of Amun at Karnak during the reign of Ramesses IV.

An inscription in the Wadi Hammamat dating to Year 3 of this reign states that the High-priest was responsible for the temples and statues which the king presented to the local gods and, as 'Superintendent of Works', Ramessenakhte played an important role in obtaining building stone from the quarries.

He is most significant as the man whose descendants became the hereditary holders of the High-priesthood of Amun at Karnak; his son Nesamun first took this over and it was then passed to another son, Amenhotep, who achieved an almost equal status with his king, *Ramesses IX, and was shown in art representations as the king's equal in size. This increased importance of the High-priests foreshadowed the events of the Twenty-first Dynasty when Egypt became a divided kingdom, with the kings ruling at Tanis while the High-priests controlled the area around Thebes in the south.