In 1886, archaeologists were digging up the complex tombs in the Deir el-Bahri valley of Luxor, Egypt, when they found a peculiar mummy; his hands and feet were tied, and his face seemed to yell in obvious pain. Named less-excitingly than his expression, the mummy is known as Unknown Man E, and is on display at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum. His painful expression is just one of many mysteries to researchers.
For one, mummies traditionally have their organs removed, their bodies filled with natron that dries them out, and are then wrapped in fine linens. Unknown Man E was treated with disrespect: his body covered in a sodium compound and left to dry in the hot sun, he had resin poured into his mouth, and was wrapped in sheepskin.
For the last 132 years, researchers did not know who the mummy was, which was extremely important since he was excavated from the royal tombs in Deir el-Bahri. This is the area where they also dug up the mummies of great Pharaohs–Rameses II, Seti I and Tuthmosis III, included.
After a recent trial of DNA testing, it was confirmed that the mummy was actually royalty: Prince Pentawere. Dr. Zink, one of the individuals who conducted the DNA test, is sure that the mummy is at least a relative of Rameses III, if not one of his (at least) 8 sons.
“They share the same Y chromosome, and 50% of their genetic material, which is typical of a father-son relationship,” he says about the mummy.
According to a 12th century BCE papyrus document, the prince, who was around 18 years old at the time at his death, orchestrated a plan to assassinate his father. It is unclear whether or not he succeeded, though scientists found a stab wound on Rameses III’s neck in 2012, and the original son and heir indeed became pharaoh.
The prince conspired with his mother and the second wife of Rameses, Tiye, to kill him during a palace coup. This conspiracy is known as the “harem conspiracy,” mainly because a group of women were recorded seducing men in the jury presiding over the case. The documents, which recorded the three trials caused by the attempt, also refer to Tiye’s and Pentawere’s names being erased from their tombs so that they would not enjoy their afterlife.
Tiye was at the center of the assassination conspiracy, because she and Rameses’s two other wives were arguing about which of their sons should ascend to the throne. The heir, who would later become Rameses IV, was the son of Tyti and the eldest child of Rameses III.
Historian Susan Redford further speculates that the prince was given the choice to kill himself rather than be killed, as it was a common offer that saved nobles the humiliation of having their ashes thrown in the streets. It is unknown whether or not he did it himself, but the marks on Unknown Man E’s neck are very similar to rope marks after a hanging, and explain why his corpse was treated with such disrespect.
Now that Prince Pentawere has been found, Rameses III’s 3,000 year-old mystery is solved, and it’s only a matter of time before archaeologists find something even more interesting in the depths of Egypt’s hidden tombs.
