Tristan Hughes

You could admire aspects of him, you could deplore aspects of him, but he wouldn't have been easy to be around.

philip and alexander kings and conquerors in america and i think it's something else in britain but philip and alexander is the main thing it just goes for me to say well done and thank you so much for coming on the podcast thanks it's been lots of fun

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Hello from Abu Simbel, one of the greatest Egyptian temples surviving today.

I'm currently here, about 30 kilometers from the border with Sudan, and I'm staring at four colossal statues of Ramesses II, of Ramesses the Great.

Very much him showing this image that he was divine, that he was a great builder,

and that he was the man in charge of this land, of the area of what was known as Lower Nubia.

It's his story that we're covering today, his rise to prominence.

What do we know?

Well, to talk through it all, I was delighted to interview the one and only Dr. Campbell Price from Manchester Museum.

Let's go.

It's 3,315 years ago and a young Egyptian prince walks through a towering monument.

He is at the prestigious ancient city of Thebes in Upper Egypt, the capital of famous pharaonic predecessors like Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, and the home of a renowned temple complex dedicated to Egypt's chief god, Amun.

Its name?

Ipetsut.