Dr. Campbell Price

non-royal backgrounds as far as we can tell.

He must, of course, be a mover and a shaker.

He's in the royal courts.

But he clearly, we know from the extensive preserved evidence of his tomb at Saqqara, where he built a really impressive...

tomb chapel to celebrate his eternal cult he was then in charge of the military so he says he's the chief of the soldiers the fighting men he's also in charge of building works and I think this is important to understand Horemheb

He is not just a military man.

He's in charge of the recruits.

And the recruits are guys who can equally be sent on a campaign to beat people up as they can be sent to a quarry, as they can be sent to a mine.

So you're in charge not just of...

you know, military personnel, but you're in charge of people.

And so he's unusual.

Horem hep is unusual because we've got statues of him where he's very proudly writing things down as a scribe.

So don't think of him as a kind of meathead guy who's just a bit of a brute.

I think he's

intelligent he's clearly someone who understands the workings of the state and who is proud of his ability as an administrator so he really is an all-rounder and so when the throne eventually passes to him you know he's he's in charge for almost a couple of decades

He has a long reign.

So he's, again, holding the reins of power.

And he is the one who really goes back and tries to scrub out evidence of Akhenaten or begins that process.

Yeah, I mean, it sounds dramatic, but I don't think you're far from the truth.

And so he instigates what is essentially a military coup.