Katherine Reece Wrote:
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> Is the attempt on Ramesses III the only documented
> attempt from AE history?


No: some are speculated but only one other seems certain. From the literature is the Instructions of Amenemhet I to His Son Senwosret I, otherwise known as pMillingen, when it was rendered from earlier texts in the 18th Dynasty.

It starts off, as these proleptic forms of didactic texts do, when the spirit of the dead king speaks to his son:

Beginning of the Instruction made by the majesty of King Sehetepibre, son of Re, Amenemhet, the justified, as he spoke in a revelation of truth, to his son the All-Lord. He said:

Risen as god, hear what I tell you,
That you may rule the land, govern the shores,
Increase well-being!

Beware of subjects who are nobodies,
Of whose plotting one is not aware.
Trust not a brother, know not a friend,
Make no intimates, it is worthless.
When you lie down, guard your heart yourself,
For no man has adherents on the day of woe.

I gave to the beggar, I raised the orphan,
I gave success to the poor as to the wealthy;
But he who ate my food raised opposition,
He whom I gave my trust used it to plot.

(...)

[[b]Amenemhet then discusses the night of his assassination[/b]]

It was after supper, night had come. I was taking an hour of rest, lying on my bed, for I was weary. As my heart began to follow sleep, weapons for my protection were turned against me, while I was like a snake of the desert. I awoke at the fighting, alert, and found it was a combat of the guard. Had I quickly seized weapons in my hand, I would have made the cowards retreat in haste. But no one is strong at night; no one can fight alone; no success is achieved without a helper.

Thus bloodshed occurred while I was without you; before the courtiers had heard I would hand over to you; before I had sat with you so as to advise you. For I had not prepared for it, had not expected it, had not foreseen the failing of the servants.

[[b]Amenemhet implies the conspirators of the plot may have come from the harem, and then states his deeds as one unworthy of assassination[/b]]

Had women ever marshaled troops ?
Are rebels nurtured in the palace ?
Does one release water that destroys the soil
And deprives people of their crops ?

No harm had come to me since my birth,
No one equaled me as a doer of deeds.
I journeyed to Yebu, I returned to the Delta,
Having stood on the land's borders I observed its interior.
I reached the borders of the strongholds
By my strength and my feats.

I was grain-maker, beloved of Nepri,
Hapy honored me on every field.
None hungered in my years,
None thirsted in them,
One sat because I acted and spoke of me,
I had assigned everything to its place.
I subdued lions, I captured crocodiles,
I repressed those of Wawat,
I captured the Medjai,
I made the Asiatics do the dog walk.

I built myself a house decked with gold,
Its ceiling of lapis lazuli, Walls of silver, floors of [acacia wood],
Doors of copper, bolts of bronze,
Made for eternity, prepared for all time,
I know because I am its lord.

[[b]Amenhemhet discusses the evil times of the present and how Senwosret I will set it aright[/b]]

Behold, much hatred is in the streets,
The wise says "yes," the fool says "no,"
For no one knows it without your presence
Sesostris, my son!

As my feet depart, you are in my heart,
My eyes behold you, child of a happy hour
Before the people as they hail you.

I have made the past and arranged the future,
I gave you the contents of my heart.
You wear the white crown of a god's son,
The seal is in its place, assigned you by me,
Jubilation is in the bark of Re,
Kingship is again what it was in the past!

(Lichtheim 1975: 136-138)

Lichtheim, M. 1975. Ancient Egyptian Literature: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley: University of California.

HTH.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom