Temple and Palace of Ramesses III Medinet Habu, Egypt

Medinet Habu lies south of Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile across from Luxor and Thebes. To the right of this photo is the Greco-Roman facade of a temple to Amun (begun by Hatshepsut and enlarged over the next 1,500 years.) To the left, and extending behind the Amun temple, is the palace and mortuary temple of Ramesses III (ruled 1182-1151), the last great warrior pharaoh of Egypt. Ramesses' enclosure wall contains both his temple/palace and the temple of Amun, so that Ramesses is symbolically "united with eternity in the estate of Amun."

Ramesses III is best known for crushing an invasion of the Sea Peoples and for his victorious campaigns against invaders from Libya. He lived in Medinet Habu, in between campaigns, for thirty years but was eventually poisoned to death in a conspiracy. The conspirators did not escape punishment - the story is told in the Harem Conspiracy Papyrus - but it was too late for Ramesses, who was buried nearby in the Valley of the Kings.