At his accession Egypt was in a wretched state, invaded on the west, threatened by a flood of barbarians on the east, without an army or a fleet, and with no resources in the treasury.  In fifteen years he had disposed of his inconvenient neighbours, organised an army, constructed a fleet, re-established his authority abroad, and settled the administration at home on so firm a basis, that the country owed the peace which it enjoyed for several centuries to the institutions and prestige which he had given it.  His associate in the government, Ramses IV., barely survived him.  Then followed a series of rois faineants bearing the name of Ramses, but in an order not yet clearly determined.  It is generally assumed that Ramses V., brother of Ramses III., succeeded Ramses IV. by supplanting his nephews—­who, however, appear to have soon re-established their claim to the throne, and to have followed each other in rapid succession as Ramses VI., Ramses VIL, Ramses VIII., and Maritumu.* Others endeavour to make out that Ramses V. was the son of Ramses IV., and that the prince called Ramses VI. never succeeded to the throne at all.  At any rate, his son, who is styled Ramses VIL, but who is asserted by some to have been a son of Ramses III., is considered to have succeeded Ramses V., and to have become the ancestor from whom the later Ramessides traced their descent.**

* The order of the Ramessides was first made out by Champollion the younger and by Rosellini.  Bunsen and Lepsius reckon in it thirteen kings; E. de Rouge puts the number at fifteen or sixteen; Maspero makes the number to be twelve, which was reduced still further by Setho.  Erman thinks that Ramses IX. and Ramses X. were also possibly sons of Ramses III.; he consequently declines to recognise King Maritumu as a son of that sovereign, as Brugsch would make out.

     * The monuments of these later Ramessides are so rare and so
     doubtful that I cannot yet see my way to a solution of the
     questions which they raise.

The short reigns of these Pharaohs were marked by no events which would cast lustre on their names; one might say that they had nothing else to do than to enjoy peacefully the riches accumulated by their forefather.  Ramses IV. was anxious to profit by the commercial relations which had been again established between Egypt and Puanit, and, in order to facilitate the transit between Coptos and Kosseir, founded a station, and a temple dedicated to Isis, in the mountain of Bakhni; by this route, we learn, more than eight thousand men had passed under the auspices of the high priest of Amon, Nakh-tu-ramses.  This is the only undertaking of public utility which we can attribute to any of these kings.  As we see them in their statues and portraits, they are heavy and squat and without refinement, with protruding eyes, thick lips, flattened and commonplace noses, round and expressionless faces.  Their work was confined to the engraving of their cartouches on the blank spaces of the temples at Karnak and Medinet-Habu, and the addition of a few stones to the buildings at Memphis, Abydos, and Heliopolis.  Whatever energy and means they possessed were expended on the construction of their magnificent tombs.