MERNEPTAH (« beloved of Ptah »). — Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, also known as Meneptaq or Mineptaq, son and successor of Ramesses (Ramses) II, reigned, according to various chronologies, from 1234 to 1214, or from 1226 to 1206, or from 1244 to 1224; he fought against rebellious southern Syria, against the Libyans, and against Nubia.
Four important inscriptions bearing this king’s name have been discovered: the great inscription at Karnak, the Cairo column, the stele of Athribis, and the so-called “Victory Hymn,” found at Thebes near the Colossi of Memnon (P. Lacau, in Cat. génér. des Antiquités du Caire, Le Caire 1909, no. 34025 verso), which celebrates, among other things, the submission of Gezer, of Palestine, and the destruction of Israel (1-5-1-1-1).
A long-standing tradition, dating back to Champollion Figeac, Lepsius, Brugsch, Mariette, and Maspero, and still held by some, identifies him as the Pharaoh of the Exodus (Ex. 1, 14), though this view is not without opposition (v. EGITTO).
M.’s tomb was at Biban el-Muluk (Thebes), and his funerary temple was near the Ramesseum; his sarcophagus is now in the Cairo Museum.