Reign of Ramesses III

Ramesses III ruled during the Twentieth Dynasty and is often treated as the last major pharaoh of the New Kingdom. His reign was associated with campaigns against external enemies, large building projects at Medinet Habu and attempts to preserve royal authority during a period of strain.

The reign mattered because splendour and insecurity existed together. Egypt could still project royal power, but economic pressure, administrative problems and palace factionalism exposed the weakening foundations of the late New Kingdom.

The Lady of the Reed novels use Ramesses III’s court as the setting for Thu’s rise and fall. The context works for fiction about pharaonic authority, royal women, medical knowledge, ambition, punishment and the dangerous politics of succession.