Chancellor Bay

Bay, also called Ramesse Khamenteru, (died 1192 BC) was an important Asiatic official in ancient Egypt, who rose to prominence and high office under Seti II Userkheperure Setepenre and later became an influential powerbroker in the closing stages of the 19th Dynasty. He was generally identified with Irsu (alt. Arsu, Iarsu, Yarsu) mentioned in the Great Harris Papyrus, although no contemporary source connects Bay with Irsu.

Bay's importance is emphasized by the fact that he was given permission, possibly by Seti but more probably by Siptah, to construct his own tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings (KV13). His tomb was clearly constructed as part of a triad of tombs, including that of the Pharaoh Siptah and Queen Twosret. This was an unprecedented privilege, the likes of which were rarely accorded to a commoner, let alone a foreigner (though previous exceptions, such as that of Yuya, have occurred). It is possible that Bay was accorded this tomb because he was a relation of Siptah's mother, a Canaanite concubine of Seti II, or perhaps even of Amenmesse. His tomb was later usurped under the Twentieth Dynasty by prince Mentuherkhepshef, a son of Ramesses IX.

Bay is called a Syrian (Hurru = Hurrian or Harran-born) Asiatic. While his precise background is unknown except for his Syrian origins, Bay is first attested as scribe and butler, an important position in Egypt, during the reign of Seti II. However, Bay probably entered Egypt's civil administration earlier under a previous pharaoh–either Merneptah, Seti II's father, or Ramesses II.

Indeed, Bay's first official position may have been that of a priest in the temple at Heliopolis, where a small statue of him has been found. By the time of the death of Seti II, Bay had risen to the post of Chancellor and played the role of "kingmaker." Bay's status at Siptah's court was so great that on several of the young king's monuments, "the chancellor is shown in scenes with the pharaoh on the same scale as the latter, the earliest occasion in which a commoner was depicted in such a manner." Furthermore, Bay explicitly claims, in several inscriptions with reference to Siptah, that it was he who established the king "on the throne of his father" without providing further details on how this came about. Bay was also included in the cult of the mortuary temple of Siptah in Year 3 of the latter's reign. During the same period the tomb of Queen Twosret, KV14 was also started, and built as part of a threesome with those of Siptah and Bay. The tombs of Bay and Twosret (2nd building phase) are smaller copies of the royal tomb.

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