Ramesses VI was the fifth ruler of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. He succeeded Ramesses V and reigned for about eight years in the mid-to-late 12th century BC before dying in his forties. Egypt lost control of its last strongholds in Canaan around the time of his reign. The pharaoh's power waned in Upper Egypt during his rule, while the high priest of Amun, Ramessesnakht, was turning Thebes in Upper Egypt into the religious capital and a second center of power on par with Pi-Ramesses in Lower Egypt, where the pharaoh resided. He was fond of cult statues of himself; more are known to portray him than any other Twentieth-Dynasty king after his father, Ramesses III. He usurped KV9, a tomb in the Valley of the Kings planned by and for Ramesses V, and had it enlarged and redecorated for himself. His mummy lay untouched for fewer than 20 years before pillagers damaged it. The Egyptologist Amin Amer characterises him as "a king who wished to pose as a great pharaoh in an age of unrest and decline". (Full article...)