Welcome!
The Egyptian History Podcast will tell the story of Egypt's great civilisation,
from the dawn of history (and mythology) to the defeat of Cleopatra in 31BCE.
Over 3000 years of history, in regular episodes,
from a Masters student in Egyptology.
What more could you want? Listen now!
The Creation of the Universe and the First Egyptians
In the unfathomable depths of time, the god Atum created the Universe. His children became the air (Shu), the water (Tefnut), the sky (Nut) and the land (Geb). His descendants became storms, mothers, kings and death. Through their combined powers, the natural world as we know it came to be.
Long before history "began," hunters and gatherers travelled throughout Egypt in their seasonal hunting and foraging patterns. From 18,000 to 5,000 BCE these groups moved, lived, fought and died across the pre-historic expanse of Egypt.
But then...a new way: farming and agriculture sprang up in the Faiyum, from its invention in Mesopotamia.
An ancient lithic (stone) arrowhead. Made my chipping flakes off flint to create a usable tool. From the Faiyum Oasis c.7000-4500 BCE (Source: the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
A bead and an ax discovered in the Faiyum (Source: University College London).
Bibliography
John Romer, A History of Egypt: from the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid, 2013.
David Wengrow, The Archaeology of Early Egypt, 2006 (Free Preview).
The Growth of Farming, Trade and Art
Welcome to the North, known as the Nile Delta. Here we find a whole swathe of culturally-linked settlements, from Merimda to Maadi to Buto.
From 4800 BCE to 4000 BCE, these settlements emerge and thrive. Bedouin from the Sinai Peninsula begin to bring copper into the region, allowing new building techniques and manufacturing.
To the South, the Badarians create some of the most beautiful pottery ever made by ancient Egyptians.
The major sites of this episode (Full-Size Image).
A Badarian grave, with the distinctive pots stacked to either side of the body. The sand of the desert naturally preserves the corpse by extracting moisture - an early, natural form of mummification (Source: Taylor, 2001).
A beautiful Badarian pot, typical of the polished, black-and-red style of this community (Source: Taylor, 2001).
Merimda Beni-Salaama today; the site is considerably larger than once thought (Source: Ahram Online).
The Merimda Head, the earliest image of a human discovered in Egypt. Clay impressed by fingers to make eyes, with small incisions for mouth and nose (Source: Brown.edu).
Bibliography
John Romer, A History of Egypt: from the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid, 2013.
David Wengrow, The Archaeology of Early Egypt, 2006 (Free Preview).
John Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, 2001.
UCL Website: The Faiyum; Merimde; and Maadi.
On Verdigris:
(1) Thomas Mortimer, A General Dictionary of Commerce..., 1810 (Free).
(2) Daryl Hafter, European Women and Preindustiral Craft, 1995 (Google Books).
The Rise of Naqada, the Wars in the North
Life is breezy and comfortable in the Nile Valley. The regular pattern of flood, planting and harvest has set a sedate pace of life for the people living here.
But while they live comfortably, they are aware of the disorder that lies beyond the quietude of the river. The Egyptians are developing a conception of the universe natural Order; along with that, they begin to despise its opposite, Disorder. They seek to control and regulate it.
This concept finds its first expression in the lands dominated by the people of Naqada, one of Egypt's most famous communities.
Animals, then people, will fall to the aggressive attempts of Naqadan Egyptians to control their world.
Full Resolution here.
Early palettes, showing a turtle, a fish, and an abstract shape.
The Dog Palette (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford).
The Hunters Palette (Full Resolution here).
The Battlefield Palette (Full Resolution here).
The Battlefield Palette again (Full Resolution here).
The Tehenu Palette (Full Resolution here).
The Scorpion King macehead (Full Resolution here).
Naqada II Material Culture
A bone figurine of a woman, c.3800 BCE, from an unknown place in Upper Egypt. Because of its general location and time, it is considered to be of the Naqada I "Amratian" Phase. British Museum.
A seated woman, made in limestone. Made around 3450 BCE, putting it in the late Naqada II "Gerzean" Phase. Possibly from Naqada itself! Met Museum of Art, NY.
A painted terracotta figurine of a woman. Discovered in Upper Egypt, made c. 3450 BCE. Its location and date place it roughly on the Naqada II "Gerzean" Phase, but close to the Naqada III phase as well. Brooklyn Museum. See other, beautiful objects from the same location here.
A pot of the Naqada II "Gerzean" Phase, when Naqadan tools, pots and artistic tropes were being carried throughout the country. Made of Nile mud clay and decorated in red paint before being put in the kiln.
See how these types of pots may have been fired in this attempted reconstruction (website with pictures, or academic article).
A Naqada II pot, with schematic of its decoration. Full resolution here.
A "Hathor" cow palette, in the Cairo Museum.
For an excellent corpus of palettes from Naqada I-III (c.4000-3200), see here.
Bibliography
Robert J. Wenke, The Ancient Egyptian State, 2009.
David Wengrow, The Archaeology of Early Egypt, 2006.
John Romer, A History of Egypt from the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid, 2013.
Toby Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, 2001.
King Narmer and the Unification
There are some new kids on the block. Communities are beginning to connect with each other beyond trade or fighting: a greater sense of connection is coming to be.
How, and why?
The answer is revealed to us through a person, a place, and a god.
The person - Narmer - is a king whose appearance in the iconographic record sets the ball rolling for the Egyptian kingdom as we know it.
The place - Nekhen - is one of the country's earliest royal centres. With a large population, a complex urban layout, and a very impressive amount of industrial productivity, Nekhen dominates our archaeological record. It reveals personalities and practices, people and gods.
The god - Horus - is Nekhen's chief deity. One day, Horus will be the symbol of the king, a god whose power, range and grace is synonymous with authority, might and piety.
All this and more as Egypt's people begin to form something new: a unified kingdom.
Major sites of this episode. Full resolution here.
The Narmer Palette in line-drawing. At left, the King wears the White Crown; at right, the Red Crown. At bottom right, the King destroys a town, in the form of a Bull.
An artist's representations of the two crowns in life. However, the geographical associations can only be observed from c. 2500 onwards, 500 years after the country became a united kingdom.
King Scorpion in the White Crown, acting as a farmer.
The earliest representation of the Red Crown, discovered in a community of Upper Egypt. The pottery ware is distinct black-and-red Badarian, a Southern community whose influence spread through the country around 3600 BCE. (Source: Wikipedia).
The burnt house of a Nekhenite potter (Source: Hierakonpolis Online).
The archaeological zone of Hierakonpolis (blue = fertile lad; pink = desert).
Bibliography
Robert J. Wenke, The Ancient Egyptian State, 2009.
David Wengrow, The Archaeology of Early Egypt, 2006.
John Romer, A History of Egypt from the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid, 2013.
Toby Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, 2001.
Horus Versus Seth [2014 Edit]
Dynasties I and II establish and expand their authority, both within the Nile valley and outside their borders.
Civil war is hinted at in Peribsen's sudden shift to a Seth-dominated royal emblem.
Khasekhemwy defeats this "rebellious" king, aligning himself with both Horus and Seth.
Is this the source of the myth of these warring gods?
Limestone statue of Khasekhemwy, from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; Wikipedia.
Left: Peribsen's serekh surmounted by the Seth animal. Right: Khasekhemwy's dual serekh.
Khasekhemwy's enormous tomb enclosure, from Abydos. The niched foundations suggest a "palace facade,"
designed to resemble the walls of the royal palace.
Notable sights of Episode II, and the first two Dynasties.
The War of Horus and Seth
The conflicts of Horus Khasekhemwy and Seth Peribsen continue.
The Second Dynasty passes with little record to tell us of its rulers or events.
Djoser and the Step Pyramid.
The Third Dynasty opens with a king named Netjerykhet Djoser, whose architectural achievements
gave birth to pyramid building. Egypt's government reveals its developing hierarchy,
and the expansion into the eastern deserts brings gods like Hathor to the fore.
Hathor's bloodlust, described in the tale The Destruction of Mankind, is discussed.
Netjerykhet Djoser
Funerary Statue of Djoser in a shrine at Saqqara. Offerings would be placed before the opening to provide sustenance for the king's spirit.
The Step Pyramid at Saqqara, west of Memphis. Courtesy of Britannica.com
Djoser, Imhotep and Elephantine.
Djoser's Step Pyramid is completed. Imhotep returns, and later becomes a patron deity of wisdom and learning.
Elephantine, one of the best sources for Old Kingdom villages and architecture, gets a look-in.
2014 update: a pyramid at Edfu has been revealed by Egyptologists! It may be one of the ceremonial pyramids commissioned by Huni up and down the Nile valley. View the photos below or on Live Science.
The ceremonial pyramid of Edfu.
Huni, last king of the Dynasty; father (?) of Sneferu.
A ceremonial pyramid of Huni at Elephantine; not a tomb, this pyramid was built as a southern monument to the king's power (localised around Memphis in the north).
Dynasty Four Begins.
A new dynasty has begun with the king Sneferu ("one who causes fine things").
The attempt to construct the world's first "true" pyramid would see numerous false starts
and catastrophes before the king's architects got it right.
Egypt also begins to raid the Nubians and Libyans.
Trade ships appear from Syria-Palestine, and at home the King's aura of mystical power is strengthened.
The collapsed Pyramid of Meidum. Strike I.
The Bent Pyramid of Dashur (left). Strike 2. The Red Pyramid (right). Home run!
The Bent Pyramid.
The Great Pyramid
Onwards to Giza, where Khnum-Khufu commissions the largest stone building in history.
Thousands of labourers toil under the sun, but it is the planning, organisation and
working environment into which we delve as we continue the narrative of the Old Kingdom.
A reconstructed carrying chair from the tomb of Queen Hetep-heres I. Pharaonic-monuments.blogspot.com
All photos by Dominic Perry, 2013.
Khafre: Giza Part II
Khufu passes to the afterlife, succeeded by two sons: Djedefre and Khafre.
We continue our discusison of the royal funeral cult, and its relationship to the priests as a group.
Khafre immortalises himself in the Great Sphinx of Giza, a monument of beauty and theological importance.
Khufu's royal ship, above and below. Buried by Djedefre in a pit next to his father's monument.
A cross-section of the ship, in model. Planks and beams were lashed together tightly,
in a sophisticated arrangement designed to ensure no leakages.
Khafre's pyramid, seen from the mastaba field west of Khufu's Great Pyramid.
The pyramid of Khafre, viewed from the court of his mortuary temple.
This would have been roofed in antiquity, and the priests would offer to the king's statues, which look like.....
The quarrie in which Khafre's pyramid is built.
Here you see the shape of the limestone blocks being prepared by the monument builders.
This arrangement covers quite a large area; probably used more for Khufu's monument than Khafre's.
The passage into Khafre's chamber. Mind your head.
Khafre's burial chamber. The body is long-lost.
Dehumidifiers keep the air dry from people's breath.
Giovanni Belzoni's testament to his successful entrance of the chamber on 2 March, 1818.
195 years have passed since that day.
All images (except Khafre's statues) by Dominic Perry, 2013.
Menkaure and the Egyptian Economy
The death of Khafre sees his elder son Menkaure take the throne.
His pyramid, the third and smallest of Giza, reveals the strain on the Egyptian economy.
We discuss the economic nature of the Egyptian state and its relationship to the people.
Menkaure's Triad Statues: Hathor at [our] left, a nome goddess at right.
The Pyramid of Menkaure viewed from the courtyard of his mortuary temple.
The Pyramid of Menkaure, viewed from Khafre's pyramid.
The gash in the side is the remnant of a twelfth century attempt to demolish the pyramid.
Workers struggled for eight months to tear the stones down, but only succeeded in removing these few.
Egyptian building practices win the day!
Royal Women, Dynasty IV Ends.
The power of the throne is now in the hands of the queen Khentykaus I, a mother of two kings.
Although she may not be a full-fledged king, the queen wields significant power and influence.
Khentykaus I from her tomb at Giza; image from Miroslav Verner's Forgotten Pharaohs, Lost Pyramids.
A seated scribe of the early Fifth Dynasty. Pharaonic-monuments.blogspot.com
The Fifth Dynasty Begins.
The end of the Fourth Dynasty comes with the reigns of Shepseskaf and his brother, Userkaf.
These two rulers are guided (or led?) by their mother, Khentykaus I.
We also amend some of our conclusions from the previous episode.
Userkaf, first ruler of the Fifth Dynasty, initiates a significant new institution: the Sun Temple.
The deification of the king proceeds aided by the rise of Osiris.
[Right] The Pyramid of Userkaf, near the Step Pyramid of Djoser [left].
The monuments seen from the north, showing the terrible state of Userkaf's tomb.
Sahure and the Royal Fleet
A new ruler comes to power: Sahure, son of Userkaf.
The new king commissions a magnificent fleet to vist the mysterious land of Punt.
To commemorate the voyage the king decorates his pyramid at Abusir in lavish style.
The organisation of temples gets a look-in.
One of the ships of Sahure's great royal fleet, from the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Sahure, Neferirkare and Raneferef.
The long reign of Sahure now draws to a close, and his son Neferirkare Kakai takes the throne.
The wife of Neferirkare, Khentykaus II, wields enormous influence from her position of power.
But...with the Sun Temples playing a major religious role in this period, how much do they clash with the king's authority?
We investigate these institutions and their impact.
Bibliography
Miroslav Verner. Abusir III: the Pyramid of Khentykaus II. 1995.
Paule Posener-Kriéger. Les Archives du Temple Funéraire de Neferirkare Kakai - Les Papyrous d'Abousir. 1976.
Niuserre (Part I).
The reign of Niuserre has begun, and the political landscape is changing with the times. Courtiers with no blood-link to the royal family begin to enter the highest levels of administration.
Ptah-shepses, once a hairdresser, strides up the career ladder, eventually attaining the rank of Vizier.
Ny-ankh-Khnum and Khnum-hotep appear as well; a special pair in an evolving world.
The Mastaba of Ptah-shepses today; off-screen at left is a chamber designed for the burial of a boat.
[Photo: Touregypt.net]
Ptah-shepses, on a pillar in his tomb.
Ny-ankh-Khnum and Khnum-hotep embrace in their tomb. Photo: Wikipedia.
Niuserre (Part II).
The reign of Niuserre is a time of great achievement and splendour. Outside the royal family, elite families are gaining status and expressing themselves anew.
His short-lived successor, Menkauhor, also appears on the throne. His pyramid may have been rediscovered recently.
Djedkare (Part I).
The reigns of Niuserre and Djedkare are notable for the increased visibility of nobles in the state administration. With this new found status comes an increase in the kingdom's literacy rate.
The state administration flourishes, becoming more visible than ever before.
The pyramid of Djedkare at Saqqara.