Ramesses I

Ramesses I was the first pharaoh of the 19th dynasty of ancient Egypt. He was born into a noble military family from the Nile Delta region, and rose to become the vizier and high priest of Set under Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. Horemheb had no surviving children, so he chose Ramesses as his heir and coregent in his final years. Ramesses I reigned for a short time, about one year and four months, and mainly continued the policies of his predecessor. He restored the old religion after the Amarna heresy of Akhenaten, and completed the decoration of the second pylon and its vestibule in the Karnak temple of the national god, Amon. He also started the construction of the great colonnaded hall in the same temple, but died before finishing it. He was succeeded by his son, Seti I, who became one of the most powerful and successful pharaohs of the New Kingdom. Ramesses I was buried in a small tomb in the Valley of the Kings, but his mummy was later moved to a secret location to protect it from looters. In the late 19th century, the tomb was rediscovered, but the mummy was already gone. It was later found in a small museum in Niagara Falls, Canada, and then transferred to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Georgia. In 2003, the mummy was returned to Egypt and placed in the Luxor Museum.