Ramesses IX was probably a grandson of Ramesses III. All his predecessors had very short reigns and Egypt was now beset by many problems, including the increasing powers of the High Priests of Amun at Thebes (the pharaoh would have been ruling from the north, probably at Memphis), rising grain prices, and incursions of Libyans from the Western Desert. Economic pressures caused an increase in tomb robbery and the investigation and trial of some of these robbers is recorded in a papyrus written at this time. Egypt had lost control over the areas it had previously held in the Levant, though it still maintained its presence in Nubia.

This limestone relief of unknown provenance shows the king enthroned in a shrine. He faces a hymn of praise that compares him to the creator gods Ra and Khnum. The king is rendered in a very summary style, perhaps indicating a decline in the artistic traditions at this time of economic and political stress.

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