It is evident that Ramses III fell a victim of a conspiracy in his harem, in which some of his concubines were involved and at least one of his children. Some of the judicial records dealt with the investigation of this case and of the judgments dictated can now be examined. These documents project an interesting light on the judicial system of ancient Egypt, and indirectly on the case of the two courtiers who shared Joseph's prison while investigating their respective cases (Genesis 40: 1-3).
Ramses III was followed by a number of weak kings, each one of which brought the name Ramses, numbered now as Ramses IV to XI (1167-1085 BC). During the period of government, Egypt experienced a constant decadence of real power and an equivalent increase in priestly influence. The priests of Amun, who formed the most influential and powerful enthroned as king their own high priest.
With the deterioration of political and economic power, the internal difficulties of Egypt were exacerbated. Ramses III was the last king who maintained the possession of Bet-Seán in the Estraelón Valley, which had been an Egyptian city for centuries. Although the base of a statue of Ramses VI was found during the excavation of Megido, there is no evidence that this king had some influence on Palestine. This bronze statuette may have been sent to Palestine as a gift. The last regal name mentioned in the inscriptions of the Sinai Copper Mines is that of Ramses IV, which shows that after it there were no more expeditions to Sinai for mining purposes.
The loss of the latest foreign possessions increased poverty and insecurity, and caused inflation. A barley bag rose from 2 to 8. The spelled (a lower wheat class) rose from 1 to 4 should during the reign of the Ramses kings VII to X, and then lowered to 2. As the cost of life rose, the revenues of the government declined, with the result that he could not pay his officials and workers. This in turn caused strikes from government workers, the first strikes recorded in history.
Thus arose several serious situations in places where many men were occupied in public works, for example in Western Thebes, where the maintenance of the huge real necropolis with all its temples required a great staff.
Another cause of the difficult situation was the widespread official corruption. As an example, the case of an official who was responsible for the transport of grain of the Bass Egypt can be cited to the Khnum temple in Elephantine, at the Upper Egypt. When later a judgment was made due to figuring, it was found that of 6,300 cereal bags received over the course of 9 years he had delivered only 576, or is about 9 percent of the total. The remaining 91 percent of the grain had been faired by him, in collaboration with some of the scribes, controllers and growers linked to the Khnum Temple.
The records of that time also have bands of wandering soldiers who were dedicated to looting and were the scourge of the population, and on continuous cases of tomb robberies. It is not surprising to read about attempts to obtain some of those treasures, because the population suffered by the economic situation of the time, while everyone knew that there were incalculable treasures of gold and silver hidden in the real tombs in the valleys of the kings and of The queens, in the western thebes. The records that we have on investigations of tomb robberies leave the impression that there were complicated officials in looting. Such robberies occurred later than all real tombs, with the exception of Tutankhamun. Little or perhaps nothing was for archaeologists.
By the end of the XX Dynasty (1085 BC), Egypt had reached one of the lowest levels in its long and varied history. There was nothing left of his previous richness and glory.
