Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Zoo
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Ramses's monuments, his armies, his diplomacy. But there's a side of his court that doesn't get as much attention — and it involves a lot of fur, feathers, and roar. Luna: Wait — are you talking about his pets? Lucas: Exactly. Ramses the Great kept a royal menagerie. Lions, cheetahs, giraffes, baboons, even elephants — all living symbols of his reach and power. And we know about it from temple reliefs, tomb paintings, and even some diplomatic records. Luna: Where did he get a giraffe? They're not exactly native to the Nile Valley. Lucas: They came from the land of Punt — probably somewhere in the Horn of Africa. Egyptian expeditions had been going to Punt since at least the time of Queen Hatshepsut, and one of the things they brought back were exotic animals. Giraffes, monkeys, maybe even a rhinoceros or two. But Ramses took it to a whole new level. Lucas: At his temple at Abu Simbel, there's a relief showing Ramses smiting his enemies — pretty standard pharaonic imagery — but right next to it, you see a lion walking beside him. That's not a metaphor. That's his actual pet lion, probably trained to follow him into battle or at least to ceremonial appearances. Luna: A battle lion? That's insane. How do you even train a lion? Lucas: We don't have a training manual, but we know the Egyptians had a long tradition of taming big cats. There are Old Kingdom scenes of lions and dogs eating from the same bowl. By the New Kingdom, royal lions were given names — one of Ramses's lions was called 'Slayer of His Foes' — and they wore collars with the king's cartouche. Lucas: And it wasn't just lions. Ramses's father, Seti I, had a whole stable of exotic animals. But Ramses, being Ramses, expanded it. At his palace city of Per-Ramesses, there were probably enclosures for oryx, ibex, and even elephants — though the elephants might have been war elephants from Syria, not the African forest variety. Luna: Did they actually use elephants in battle? I thought that was more of a later thing — like Alexander. Lucas: The Egyptians didn't field elephant corps like the Hellenistic kingdoms. But they did import elephants, probably as gifts or tributes. There's a letter from a Hittite king — maybe Hattusili III — where he mentions sending a 'great elephant' to Ramses. So it was part of the diplomatic gift economy, like sending gold or lapis lazuli. Luna: So if you wanted to get on Ramses's good side, you sent him a giraffe. Lucas: Exactly. The Nubian viceroys, especially the ones in Kush, would send live animals north as tribute. One inscription from the reign of Ramses mentions a shipment of 'lions, cheetahs, and panthers' from the land of Kush. And the Egyptians apparently kept them in special compounds near the temples — almost like a zoo but with a political purpose. Lucas: One of the coolest pieces of evidence comes from the tomb of a high official named Maia, who was the 'overseer of the king's menagerie' — yes, that was an actual job title. His tomb at Saqqara shows scenes of attendants feeding a giraffe and a pair of baboons. Dateable to the late 18th or early 19th Dynasty — right around Ramses's time. Luna: So they had a zookeeper. Did they have a vet? Lucas: Probably not a dedicated vet, but temple priests — especially those of the goddess Sekhmet, who was associated with lions — might have had medical knowledge. There are papyri detailing how to treat animal bites and wounds. And we know that when a prized animal died, it could be mummified. A few mummified lions have been found in Egyptian tombs — though not definitively from Ramses's reign. Lucas: But the most personal animal story from Ramses's court involves his favorite horse. We talked about chariots in a previous episode, but Ramses actually named his personal chariot team — they were called 'Victory in Thebes' and 'Mut Is Content.' He even had a horse named 'Amun's Strength' mentioned in the Kadesh inscriptions. Luna: He named his horses. That's sweet. But also very practical — you want a horse you can shout at in battle. Lucas: Exactly. And the horses were probably stabled right in the palace precinct, with grooms and charioteers living nearby. But the exotic animals — the lions, the giraffes — they were kept a bit further out, maybe in a park or a 'garden of animals.' There's a word in Egyptian, 'nekhen,' that might refer to a menagerie or a wildlife preserve. Luna: So Ramses had a zoo. Did regular Egyptians ever get to see it? Lucas: Probably not the ordinary folk, no. The menagerie was part of the royal estate — meant to display the king's power over the natural world, just like his temples showed his power over the human world. But during festivals, there might have been processions where animals were paraded. Imagine a lion walking through the streets of Per-Ramesses with attendants carrying fans — it would have been awe-inspiring. Lucas: We also have records of hunting expeditions — the king would hunt lions and wild bulls in the desert, which was a way of proving his strength. But that's different from keeping them alive. The menagerie was about possession, not just destruction. Luna: Do we know what happened to these animals when Ramses died? Lucas: That's a great question. We don't have clear records. Some were probably released, others maybe killed or passed down. But the tradition of royal menageries continued in Egypt for centuries — the Ptolemies had a massive one in Alexandria, and the Romans imported Egyptian animals for their games. So Ramses's collection was part of a long legacy. Lucas: One last thing — there's a fascinating relief at the temple of Beit el-Wali, not far from Abu Simbel, showing Ramses receiving Nubian tribute. And among the goods are gold rings, leopard skins, and a live giraffe, led by a rope. The giraffe is depicted with the characteristic long neck and spotted body — it's unmistakable. So we have eyewitness art of one of his exotic animals. Luna: That's incredible. So in a way, Ramses was like a collector, but instead of stamps, he collected animals. Lucas: Exactly. And like everything Ramses did, it was on a grand scale. The menagerie wasn't just a hobby — it was a statement. It said: 'My rule extends from the Nile to the ends of the earth, and even the beasts of strange lands acknowledge me as their master.'