Tristan Hughes

Karnak.

The young prince walks through the newest great building being constructed at the sanctuary, commissioned by his father, the current pharaoh.

The interior is a dense forest of columns, more than a hundred in total, each over 15 metres in height, closely spaced and supporting a large roof above, with slits high up in the walls to let in beams of sunlight.

This great hall was to be a centre of ceremonies and rituals for Amun, where only the pharaoh, his family and his closest entourage could enter.

This newest sacred space for Amun is not yet complete.

Decorations still need to be added.

Reliefs of pharaohs, gods and offerings still need to be carved into the walls and columns.

Paint still needs to be applied.

But the work is underway.

As the prince walks through the hall, the sounds of workmen grow louder.

He exits the northern entrance and sees a great cluster of builders.

They are gathered around the exterior wall, busy carving reliefs into it.

The prince recognises the scene instantly.

There in the wall is his victorious father, larger than any other figure, riding a chariot.

There are countless captives bound in front of him, a river filled with crocodiles and a city under siege.

The scene records his father's most recent military venture up into Syria and the Great Bastion of Kadesh, a city hotly contested between the Egyptians and their northern rivals, the Hittites.

The campaign had proven a success.

The prince's father had returned to Egypt in a stronger position, consolidating his family's new hold over the throne.

Seti was his name, Pharaoh Seti I. And his young son, then overseeing his father's achievements, being immortalized in stone, was none other than Rameses, soon to be Pharaoh Rameses II, Rameses the Great.

In this episode, we are going to cover this early story of Ramesses.