Propylaeum

With the beginning of the 19th dynasty, rulers ascended the Egyptian throne who had no family ties to the royal family of the 18^th dynasty. Ramses I, a highly decorated military official, was made successor to the throne by Haremhab at a crucial time with regard to both domestic and foreign affairs. Domestically, Egypt  was still feeling the impact of the post Amarna period and had not fully returned to a traditional concept of Egyptian kingship. Externally, the growing strength of the Hittite empire posed a serious threat. Against this  historical background, the first kings of the Ramesside Period had to face problems concerning the legitimization of their rule. After all, they could not refer to any descent from a royal dynasty. Investigating royal representation of the early 19^th dynasty, the text type of king’s eulogies offers a most demonstrative image of their solution to this problem and the combination of these officially commissioned monumental texts and their iconography gives an excellent impression of Ramesside political propaganda.