The History of Egypt Podcast

Akhenaten (Part 5): Amarna Art. Around the time of his Sed-Festival, Amunhotep IV introduced a whole new form of artistic representation. Royal imagery was reworked from the ground up, including new proportions, displays and themes. In this episode, we explore the changes to relief and sculpture, and meet the artisans who put pharaoh's vision into practice... Time Period: c.1359 BCE (regnal year 4...

Akhenaten (Part 4). In 1360 BCE, regnal year 3, King Nefer-kheperu-Re Amunhotep IV made some of his most startling decisions yet. Promoting the sun disc, Aten, even further, Amunhotep began to give the god royal accessories (cartouches, uraei etc) and present it as a being tied intimately with the pharaoh. This culminated in an unprecedented event: a Sed-Festival, celebrated at Karnak, and shared...

Akhenaten (Part 3): Revelation of a Religion. Soon after he came to power, Amunhotep IV (later Akhenaten) began to reveal his unique vision of god and the world. A remarkable amount of evidence survives for this crucial period: from a royal speech, magnificent temples at Karnak and a massive artistic shift, the King revealed his strange and fascinating ideas... Time period: c.1361 BCE (regnal year...

Who were the Amarna Queens? Dr. Joyce Tyldesley speaks to us about Tiye and Nefertiti, their roles in royal society, and how Egyptologists know of them. Learn more about Dr. Joyce Tyldesley at Manchester University and Watson Little, Ltd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Or, the Life Aquatic with Gold Scarabs... Around 1325 BCE (estimates vary) a vessel sank near the cape of Uluburun, Turkey. The cargo was immense: twenty tonnes of goods, including copper, ivory, ornamental objects, spices, and more. Amid the finds, a curious item came to light: a gold scarab, bearing the name Neferneferuaten Nefertiti... What was a Nefertiti scarab doing on a trade ship, far from...

Akhenaten (Part 2): The Great Queen(s)... In 1361 BCE, Amunhotep IV was settled into his power. It was time to find a queen - his choice would be one of Egypt's most famous women... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments.  Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com. Select bibliography: Dorothea...

Akhenaten (Part 1): Conventional Start. Around 1362 BCE, the reign of Amunhotep IV began. Although destined to shake the Egyptian state, this King began with some surprisingly conventional choices. His monuments and art are a far cry from what he would become... Time period: c.1362 BCE (regnal year 1) King: Amunhotep IV (Nefer-kheperu-Re Wa-en-Re). Notable sites: Karnak (Ipet-Sut); West Bank of Th...

Amunhotep III (Part 14): The End. In his last regnal years, Neb-ma'at-Re Amunhotep III experienced victories and defeats. While his health declined, the pharaoh got into a serious argument with the King of Babylon, inspected his magnificent tomb, and celebrated one last Sed-Festival. Finally, after 38 years on the throne, the inevitable moment arrived... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Su...

Amunhotep III (Part 13): Foreign Wives and Magnificent Tiye. By 1366 BCE, Amunhotep was on top of the world: foreign kings begged his friendship and they were willing to pay (beautifully) to get it. Meanwhile, Queen Tiye enjoyed an unprecedented level of parity with her husband, expressed quite publicly in grand monuments... Time period: c.1366 BCE Kings: Amunhotep III, Tushratta of Mitanni Notabl...

Amunhotep III (Part 12): Pharaoh as a God. By 1366 BCE, Amunhotep III was ready to celebrate a second sed-festival. However, the King's pretensions had begun to reach celestial heights - in regnal year 34 he appeared to be an equal to the gods themselves... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal paymen...

Around 1370 BCE, wealthy Egyptians enjoyed a comfortable and well-furnished lifestyle. From their tombs, houses and scattered texts, we can get a sense of daily life for ancient aristocrats... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.com Černý, J. (2001). A C...

Kha and Merit, an Intact Tomb. In 1906, a remarkable discovery came to light: the tomb of a middle-class couple, who lived in the town of Deir el-Medina. Here, amid the craftsmen and specialists who made tombs, a man named Kha and a woman named Merit enjoyed an affluent lifestyle. When they died, they were interred with all their worldly possessions and slept undisturbed for 3300 years. Then, a wo...

Amunhotep III (Part 11): The Royal Palace and a King's Life. By 1370 BCE, King Amunhotep III was living in a sumptuous palace at Thebes. Built for the first sed-festival (ep.100), the "House of Rejoicing" was a magnificent structure with many beautiful elements. Today, we start to explore how a pharaoh lived and the lifestyle they enjoyed... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the sho...

The Minoans Fade Away. In 1370 BCE, an Egyptian embassy visited the Aegean. As part of their journey, they came to Crete, visiting the Keftiu (Minoans) who had ruled the island for 1000 years. Until now.... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music by Michael Levy www.ancientlyre.com Music...

A Passage to Greece. It's time to set sail! We journey far from Egypt to visit lands only whispered about until now. We are visiting Greece and the lands of Mycenae, who in 1370 BCE were beginning to make their mark on the international scene. Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Outro musi...

Successful Statues, Private Worship, and Faith in New Kingdom Egypt. Dr. Campbell Price, is the Curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum, University of Manchester. Dr. Price is an expert on non-royal statues and religion and he generously agreed to discuss these topics with me. The result was a wonderful interview, that I think you'll really enjoy! Discussion topics: 00:00 - 32:00 Non-R...

Success After Fifty. In 1470 BCE, King Amunhotep III's closest advisor was already eighty years old. The scribe, overseer and wise man Amunhotep Son of Hapu achieved prominence quite late in life, but he did not waste the opportunity. From a small town in the Delta, to the vast construction sites of Thebes, a royal scribe went to work for his pharaoh, and gained immortality... Website: www.egyptia...

A Father Begs His Son to Return Home. Late in the New Kingdom (c.1250 BCE), an Egyptian father wrote a letter to his son. The son had gone to sea, sailing on a ship; he had not sent any word of his wellbeing. Worried, the father writes a letter, begging his son to return home. The letter is possibly based off real events, for it involves people who were genuine figures in their community. The fath...

A former pupil goes off the rails and gets lost in drink; his teacher tries to bring him back. After completing his education, a young scribe might take a job in a temple, government office, or work team. But this time, the student went off into some wayward behaviours. Writing a stern letter, a schoolmaster tries to bring his former pupil back to sobriety and good living. Translations by John L....

A Princess Becomes Queen, a Prince Becomes Heir. In 1370 BCE, the same year as the Sed-Festival, pharaoh Amunhotep III made two interesting decisions. He made his eldest daughter his wife, and named his eldest (surviving) son as heir to the throne. In a short side-episode, we explore these events and their significance... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.pa...

Amunhotep III (Part 10): The Sed Festival, As Told by Kheruef Who Witnessed It. In regnal year 30, Amunhotep III celebrated the first of his sed-festivals. This was a spectacular event, with a number of rituals and performances celebrating the King's reign, and renewing his authority on earth. Some of these rites were truly arcane, hearkening back to the very earliest days of the Egyptian kingdom....

Amunhotep III (Part 9): The Dark Years. Between 1380 and 1370 BCE, Egypt may have suffered an outbreak of disease. In this decade, at least four royal family members died, and the political situation was irrevocably changed. It wasn't all bad, though: around 1380, Queen Tiy went through the difficulties of childbirth and offered a new son to the lineage... Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com....

Royal Children On the Rise. From 1385 to 1380, the prince of Egypt Thutmose was climbing up the ranks. From a lowly sem-priest to the chief of a great temple, Thutmose was a quickly rising star. His sister, Sit-Amun, also leaves a tantalizing trace of her life. We explore a non-royal funeral, the cult of the Apis Bull, and see how a prince of Egypt left some wonderful personal records, including t...

Jeffrey Goodman has composed some wonderful pieces evoking the world of ancient Egypt. Taking inspiration from mythology, art and literature, he crafts lovely songs with a focus on authenticity in instrumentation. As part of the larger investigation of music, I invited him onto the show for a discussion about composition, ancient musicality, and how to evoke the past when we have no written notati...

Instruments, Musicians, and Songs. In this mini episode, we explore the traces of ancient Egyptian songs and music. Although the melodies and rhythms are lost, we still have lyrics, instruments and artwork detailing some of these arts. From this, we can understand how certain instruments were played, and what different artists tried to achieve. Plus, modern reconstructions can give us a hint at th...