122: Letters from Akhet-Aten

Assassins! Around 2355 BCE, King Teti died. Legend tells us that the king was murdered by members of his own family. If this is true, it is the first time in Egyptian history that we hear about royal ...

9 Sep 201327min

The Sixth Dynasty, and its wisdom. Around 2380 BCE, King Teti inaugurated the Sixth Dynasty of Egyptian rulers. Teti married into the royal family and began a new (male) bloodline. This period was cre...

19 Aug 201329min

Beer, Bread and Pharaoh's Power. Recorded 2019. My guest today is Prof. Leslie Anne Warden, Associate Professor of art history and archaeology at Roanoke College in Virginia, USA. An insightful schola...

12 Aug 201353min

What’s the deal? We explore the Pyramid Texts’ meaning, as well as their origins and scholarship. The Osiris achieves his apotheosis. Having awakened from death and received his offerings (or taken th...

10 Aug 201341min

The Osiris achieves his apotheosis. Having awakened from death and received his offerings (or taken them by force), Unas now prepares to enter the sky at last. We add more protections and defeat more ...

9 Aug 201344min

We leave the Duat and enter the horizon. On the walls of the antechamber, Unas’ Pyramid Texts describe the king’s entry to the sky. The ruler establishes and affirms his power. And, in a famous passag...

8 Aug 20131h

We travel deeper into the stars. Unas’ Pyramid Texts, on the walls of his burial chamber, lay out protections against serpents and dangers. They also introduce offerings, to sustain the King’s soul an...

7 Aug 201354min

Unas in the sky with deities. Around 2320 BCE, King Unas did something interesting. His pyramid, at Saqqraa, is the first (surviving) monument to feature the Pyramid Texts. These elaborate hieroglyph ...

6 Aug 201344min