Editing Ramesses VII (section)

==Reign length==
[[File:Ramesses VII’s KVI tomb in February 2019.jpg|thumb|Sarcophagus and Tomb of Ramesses VII's [[KV1]] tomb]]
Ramesses VII's seventh year is also attested in Ostraca O. Strasbourg h 84, which is dated to II [[Season of the Harvest|Shemu]] day 16 of his 7th Regnal Year.<ref>Jac Janssen, JEA 52 (1966), p.91 n.2</ref> In 1980, C.J. Eyre demonstrated that a Year 8 papyrus belonged to the reign of Ramesses VII. This papyrus, P. Turin Cat. 1883 + 2095, dated to ''Year 8 IV Shemu day 25'' (most likely Ramesses VII), details the record of the commissioning of some copper work and mentions two foremen at [[Deir el-Medina|Deir El-Medina]]: Nekhemmut and Hor[mose].<ref>C.J. Eyre, The reign-length of Ramesses Vii, JEA 66 (1980), pp.168-170</ref><ref>Dominique Valbelle, Les Ouvriers de la tombe: Deir el-Médineh à l'époque Ramesside, 1985. note 8</ref> The foreman Hormose was previously attested in office only during the reign of [[Ramesses IX]] while his father and predecessor in this post—a certain Ankherkhau—served in office from the second decade of the reign of Ramesses III through to Year 4 of Ramesses VII, where he is shown acting with Nekhemmut and the scribe Horisheri.<ref>Eyre, pp.168-170</ref> The new Year 8 papyrus proves that Hormose succeeded to his father's office as foreman by Year 8 of Ramesses VII. Dominique Valbelle regards C.J. Eyre's attribution of this document to Ramesses VII as uncertain since the chief workman Hormose was previously only securely attested in office in Years 6 and 7 of [[Ramesses IX]] instead.<ref>Dominique Valbelle, Les Ouvriers de la tombe: Deir el-Médineh à l'époque Ramesside, 1985. note 8</ref> However, this papyrus clearly bears the cartouche of Usermaatre Setepenre—the [[Prenomen (Ancient Egypt)|prenomen]] of Ramesses VII—at its beginning whereas the royal name of [[Ramesses IX]] was Neferkare—which rules out Ramesses IX as the king whose Year 8 is recorded in the P. Turin 1883 + 2095 document. The presence of Hormose's contemporary—the foreman Nekhemmut—also establishes that this papyrus dates to the mid-20th dynasty--most probably to the reign of Ramesses VII, since Nekhemmut is attested in office "from the second year of Ramesses IV until the seventeenth year of Ramesses IX."<ref>Eyre, pp.168-170</ref>

Since Ramesses VII's accession is known to have occurred around the end of III [[Season of the Emergence|Peret]],<ref name=jvb>J. von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. (1997), p.201</ref> the king would have ruled Egypt for a minimum period of 7 years and 5 months when this document was drawn up provided that it belonged to his reign as seems probable from the royal name given in the papyrus. The respected German Egyptologist [[Jürgen von Beckerath]] also accepts C.J. Eyre's evidence that Year 8 IV Shemu day 25 was Ramesses VII's highest known date.<ref name=jvb/> However, the accession date of his successor, [[Ramesses VIII]], has been fixed by Amin Amer to an 8-month period between I Peret day 2 and I [[Season of the Inundation|Akhet]] day 13,<ref>A. Amer, A Unique Theban Tomb Inscription under Ramesses VIII, GM 49, 1981, pp.9-12</ref> or 5 months after the Year 8 IV Shemu day 25 date of Ramesses VII. Therefore, if Ramesses VII did not die between the short 2 week period between IV Shemu day 29 to I Akhet 13, this pharaoh would have been on the throne for at least another 4 more months until I Peret day 2 and ruled Egypt for 7 years and 9 months when he died (perhaps slightly longer if he died after I Peret day 2). Therefore, it is possible that Ramesses VII could have ruled Egypt for almost 8 years; at present, his certain reign length is 7 years and 5 months.

Very little is known about his reign, though it was evidently a period of some turmoil, as grain prices soared.<ref>Shaw (2000), p. 308</ref>