died 1156 BC
King of ancient Egypt, 1187–56 BC.
Son of Setnakht, the founder of Egypt's 20th dynasty, he fought off Libyan invaders in the fifth year of his reign and the Sea Peoples (a conglomeration of migrating peoples from Anatolia and the Mediterranean Sea region) two years later. After another conflict with the Libyans, he achieved a lasting peace. He then reorganized society into classes grouped by occupation and resumed temple building. He encouraged trade and industry, and the country prospered. A delay in sending monthly rations to temple builders in Thebes с 1158 BC resulted in the world's first recorded labour dispute.
Ramses III, detail of the lid of a granite sarcophagus, about 1187–56 BC; in the ...
By courtesy of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge