As Egypt's "Third Dynasty" began, a new monument took shape. King Netjerykhet Djoser and his architect, Imhotep, created something unusual. The Step Pyramid rose on the western horizon, ushering in a new era of monument building...
Time Period: circa 2700 – 2650 BCE
Kings: Netjerykhet (Djoser)
Notable sites: Saqqara, Iunu (Heliopolis)
Episode Music by Ke ... Show More
May 25
234: Destroying Amarna / Splitting Heirs
Sometime in Ramesses II's reign, royal artisans dismantled the city of Akhet-Aten (Amarna). Carefully, methodically, they removed the talatat blocks and carted them away to the nearby town Hemenu (Hermopolis) for reuse in a temple. This demolition of the Horizon of Aten remains a ... Show More
28m 20s
May 18
233: Friendship in Dark Times (The Bronze Age Collapse Begins?)
Ramesses and Hattusili (Part 2). After the marriage to a Hittite princess in Year 34, Ramesses II had much to offer his northern family. A visit from the King of Hatti's son, seeking food supplies, may relate to repeated hunger crises in Syria and Hatti. Pharaoh's support brought ... Show More
34m 51s
Apr 27
The 100 Children of Ramesses II with Prof. Peter Brand
Ramesses is famous for fathering 100+ children. But what did all these princes and princesses do? Prof. Peter Brand joins us once more to explain the lives and roles of these children, how we know about them (or don't), what's up with those "Daughter Wives," and where all the 100 ... Show More
42m 39s
May 2025
How They Built the Pyramids
In 2013, a group of French and Egyptian archaeologists discovered of cache of papyri as old as the Great Pyramid of Giza. Some of the texts were written by people who had worked on the pyramids: a tally of their daily labour ferrying stones, for instance, between quarry and build ... Show More
48m 14s
Apr 2025
The Egyptian Sphinx
Measuring 240 feet long from paw to tail, and around the height of a six-story building, the Great Sphinx is one of Egypt’s most spectacular, and mysterious, monuments. Believed to have been built over four millennia ago, much of its story has been lost to history, and the rest i ... Show More
56 m