Most Famous Murder In Ancient Egypt
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Listener, never fear, it is I, Dr. Anthony Delaney from the After Dark podcast. And I am possessing your phone or your car radio or whoever it is that you listen to podcasts to ask you to vote for us in the Listener's Choice Award at this year's British Podcast Awards. Ooh, it's that time of year again. You can vote for us while you're folding laundry or learning about mass poisonings, or while you assemble furniture and contemplate mutiny, which I would mutiny if I was assembling furniture, or while you're lost in a graveyard that you thought was going to be a shortcut, but now you find yourself in the bowels of hell. Either way, you can simply go to www.britishpodcastawards.com forward slash voting and search After Dark.
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and I promise we'll stop possessing your phone. Thank you, love you, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.
Over 3,000 years ago, in the heart of ancient Egypt, a pharaoh was murdered. Not on the battlefield, not by a foreign enemy, but from within his own household. A conspiracy involving royal wives, trusted officials, even members of his inner court. And for centuries, no one could prove whether the assassination had actually succeeded. Until now. Today, we are joined by Dr. Campbell Price to unravel one of ancient Egypt's most chilling mysteries, the Harem Conspiracy. Who was behind the plot? How close did they come to seizing the throne? And what can archaeology teach us about the trials that followed? This is the assassination of Ramesses III. Welcome to After Dark.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Anthony. And as you know, Maddy has been rewilding the meadows of Great Britain and she will be back soon. But we will leave her to her task as we continue with stories and histories from the darker side of the past. And in this episode, we will be discussing one of the most famous murders in ancient Egypt. the assassination of Ramses III. And who better, once more, to help us than Dr. Campbell Price, who is an Egyptologist, as you well know, because we've had Campbell on quite a bit on After Dark. He's one of our favourites. He is also the curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum and Honorary Research Fellow at University of Liverpool. And he is our go-to Egypt expert.
As you know, his newest book is Brief History's Ancient Egypt. And he also has a children's book out with Greg Jenner. And there is a new book in the works, Campbell, coming early next year, I believe. And I'm very, very excited about that. I'll have you back on then. How is it going before we get into today's? Are you despairing yet or are you all right?
I'm despairing. Constantly. You know what the writing process is like. It's a constant internal battle. But coming on podcasts like this really are great for clearing and clarifying your thinking.
I know.
I find it really useful, you know, if I'm stuck in the writing process, which I am myself in the middle, though nowhere near as close to finishing as you are. you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're in the world, you're in the world, you're in the world, and then you have to go out into the real world and meet people. And it's actually, it's good to have that to do where you're like, okay, and I know you're in the museum anyway, so you have that all the time. But, you know, for me, it's a bit of a godsend sometimes. Right. Let's get on to this assassination. The most famous murder in ancient Egypt, my producers tell me. Who was Ramesses III? And why? It's a name I'm familiar with. Well, is it a name I'm familiar with?
Actually, because he's the third. So which of the Ramesses am I familiar with? But actually, why does he linger with us today, if indeed he does?
Well, Anthony, we've got 11 Ramesses to choose from. 11! Yeah. Right, okay. So if people have heard the name, they'll probably be thinking of Ramesses II, Ramesses the Great. I see. And that's important because Ramesses the Great lives in the previous century to our Ramesses. And Ramesses III is something of a fanboy for Ramesses II.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–5:27
2
Who was Ramesses III and why does his assassination matter in 1155 BCE?
5:27–29:55
3
What was Egypt’s political and economic situation leading up to the Harem Conspiracy?
29:55–51:47
4
How did dynastic succession and royal households create incentives for a palace coup?
51:47–1:05:59