Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Arctic Monkeys: The Gebel Barkal Stela
Transcript
- Lucas: So far in this series we've talked a lot about Ramses's monuments in Egypt proper — Abu Simbel, the Ramesseum, Karnak. But today I want to take us south, deep into Nubia, to a place that was almost as sacred to the Egyptians as Thebes itself. Luna: Gebel Barkal, right? I've seen photos — it's this stunning flat-topped mountain. Lucas: Exactly. The Egyptians called it 'the Pure Mountain' — or more poetically, 'the Throne of the Two Lands.' It's a massive sandstone butte that rises abruptly from the desert near the modern town of Karima in northern Sudan. To the ancient Egyptians, it looked like a colossal natural pyramid, and they believed it was the home of the god Amun — specifically Amun of Napata, a local manifestation that they deliberately syncretized with the state god Amun-Re. Lucas: Ramses the Great carved a huge victory stela there, about 26 feet tall and 10 feet wide, made of granite. It's one of the most important inscriptions we have from his reign — partly because it's so well-preserved, and partly because its location tells us so much about how Ramses projected power into Nubia. Luna: What does the stela actually say? Is it just boasting about battles? Lucas: It is boasting — but it's more nuanced than that. The text opens with Ramses's titulary and then describes him as 'the strong bull, beloved of Maat, who smites the nine bows' — the traditional enemies of Egypt. But the bulk of the inscription is about his relationship with Amun. Ramses claims that Amun himself led him to victory, and that the god's sanctuary at Gebel Barkal is the very place where creation began. It's both a military announcement and a theological statement. Lucas: And there's a very specific political message. The stela was erected not long after Ramses's campaign against the 'wretched Kush' — a standard Egyptian epithet for the Nubian kingdoms. But by setting up this monument at a site that local Nubians already considered sacred, Ramses was saying: 'Your god is our god, and we are the ones who speak for him.' Luna: A kind of soft power move, then — claiming the local holy mountain for yourself. Lucas: Exactly. Compare that with the earlier approach under Thutmose III, who built a temple at Gebel Barkal but focused more on military imagery. Ramses goes a step further: he inscribes his name on the very rock of the mountain, associating himself with the primordial mound of creation. It's propaganda, but it's also an attempt at genuine cultural integration — at least from the Egyptian perspective. Lucas: We have to remember that by Ramses's time, Egypt had controlled Nubia for over five hundred years, since the Middle Kingdom. The elite in Nubia were heavily Egyptianized — they spoke Egyptian, worshipped Egyptian gods, and sent their children to be educated in Thebes. But the local population still maintained their own traditions, and places like Gebel Barkal were focal points of Nubian identity. Luna: So Ramses was essentially trying to co-opt that identity. Lucas: Yes. And it worked — for a while. The stela also mentions the viceroy of Kush, Setau — whom we talked about in episode 116 — who was Ramses's right-hand man in Nubia. Setau oversaw the construction of several temples in Nubia, including at Abu Simbel and Wadi es-Sebua, and he was likely the one who oversaw the erection of the Gebel Barkal stela. The inscription actually gives Setau a cameo: it says he 'made monuments for his lord in the land of Kush, filling it with great obelisks and statues.' Lucas: Now, here's the irony. Centuries later, during the Third Intermediate Period, when Egypt fragmented, Nubian rulers from Napata — the very region around Gebel Barkal — would conquer Egypt and found the 25th Dynasty. They saw themselves as the true heirs of Ramses and Amun. They even revived the tradition of carving stelae at Gebel Barkal. One of their kings, Piye, erected a stela there that is eerily similar to Ramses's — same format, same language, same claim of divine favor. Luna: Wait — the conquered become the conquerors, and they use the same propaganda tools. Lucas: Precisely. Ramses's stela, which was meant to assert Egyptian dominance, became a template for Nubian kings to assert their own. It's a beautiful example of how power and culture flow in both directions across borders. Lucas: And that's something we try to get at in these episodes — the complexity behind the standard narrative. Ramses is often presented as the ultimate pharaoh, but his legacy in Nubia is not just one of conquest. It's also about exchange, appropriation, and unexpected reversals. Luna: It reminds me of how we try to keep this show ad-free — it's a choice about how we relate to our listeners. No interruptions, just the story we want to tell. Lucas: That's a really good point. We deliberately don't run ads on these episodes because we want the focus to stay on the history — not on selling something. And that's only possible because listeners who value that choice support us directly. If that sounds good to you, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small gesture that makes a big difference for us. And we appreciate it deeply. Lucas: Alright — back to Gebel Barkal. There's another layer to the stela that's often overlooked. Apart from the religious and political messaging, it also contains a detailed list of the tribute Ramses received from Nubia: gold, ivory, ebony, incense, cattle, and — notably — slaves. The amounts are staggering: over 300 pounds of gold dust in a single year, according to one inscription. Luna: So the stela is also a receipt, in a way. Lucas: Exactly. It's a public record of wealth flowing into Egypt. And the gold from Nubia was crucial — it funded Ramses's building projects, his diplomatic marriages, and his army. Without the gold of Kush, there would have been no Abu Simbel, no Peace of Year 21 with the Hittites, no grand hypostyle hall at Karnak. Lucas: The Gebel Barkal stela, then, is a multilayered document: a religious hymn, a military boast, a political manifesto, and a financial ledger. And it's carved into the living rock of a mountain that both Egyptians and Nubians considered the birthplace of the god. That's Ramses at his most ambitious — trying to inscribe his name onto the very fabric of creation. Luna: Can visitors still see the stela today? Lucas: Yes — it's still there, though it's been worn by wind and sand over three millennia. The site of Gebel Barkal is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the stela is one of the highlights. It's not as famous as the Rosetta Stone or the bust of Nefertiti, but for anyone interested in how ancient empires projected power across vast distances, it's absolutely remarkable. Lucas: And it's a reminder that the story of Ramses the Great isn't just about Egypt — it's about the entire Nile Valley, from the Delta to the Sixth Cataract. The Throne of the Two Lands wasn't just a metaphor; it was a real mountain, and Ramses made sure everyone knew he had claimed it. Luna: I'm going to see it next time I'm in Sudan — I had no idea it was so layered. Lucas: It's definitely worth the trip. And when you stand at the base of that mesa, looking up at the stela, you'll be seeing exactly what Ramses intended: a permanent mark of his presence, carved into the sacred landscape of Nubia.