Tristan Hughes

How his family, including both his father Seti and his father before him, became pharaohs of Egypt after a period of turmoil for this Bronze Age superpower, laying the foundations for Ramesses and his extraordinary reign.

A reign that included great battles, buildings and so much more.

I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and this is the story of the rise of Ramesses with our guest, Dr. Campbell Price.

Campbell, it is such a pleasure to have you back on the show.

Hello, Tristan.

It's nice to be back.

And we've done episodes in the past up at your work home, Manchester Museum, and now you're down in our lovely studio in London.

Indeed.

And to talk about the rise of Ramesses II, first of all, and his dynasty, the 19th dynasty.

I mean, a 66-year reign, isn't that correct?

Around that time.

And normally, if someone says Ramesses II or Ramesses the Great, you might think this is the pinnacle of ancient Egypt.

This is when it's at the top of its military might, its wealth, its art and architecture.

Is that a fair assessment?

So actually he's kind of looking back to a golden age of years past, in a revival time almost.

And paint us a bit more of a picture, briefly, before we delve into the details.

A quick picture of Ramesses the man, what we should get an idea of, how we should picture him before we delve into the origins of his rule and of his family.

This is a man who's royalty throughout his life.

You know, he's not the man who wins a coup or anything like that.

Well, the 18th dynasty, that is where we need to begin.