Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Horse Breeding Program: The Strength Behind the Chariotry
Transcript
- Lucas: So, Luna, we've talked a lot about Ramses's chariots — the hardware, the tactics at Kadesh. But there's something we haven't really touched on: where did all those horses come from? Egypt wasn't exactly horse country. Luna: I never even thought about that. They must have needed hundreds. Lucas: Thousands, actually. A standard chariot team was two horses, and Ramses had thousands of chariots. That means a breeding and training operation on an industrial scale. And the evidence is scattered, but it's there. Lucas: Let's start with the stables. At his capital, Per-Ramesses, inscriptions describe a facility called 'the Great Stable of Ramses II.' It wasn't just a barn — it was a complex with feed storage, veterinary clinics, and training arenas. The whole city was designed with horses in mind. Luna: So he built his capital around his army's logistics. Lucas: Exactly. Per-Ramesses sat on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, with wide boulevards perfect for chariot drills. Papyri from the era list rations for horses — barley and straw — and the names of individual horses. Some were imported from Syria, which was famous for its horses. Luna: Did they breed their own too? Lucas: Yes, and that's the fascinating part. Egypt had a native horse, but it was smaller. For chariot warfare, you needed larger, stronger animals. So Ramses imported breeding stock from Syria and also from Nubia, where there was a distinct breed. The goal was to produce a horse that was fast, agile, and could carry a charioteer and archer into battle. Lucas: We have a relief from Abu Simbel showing horses being led before Ramses. They're depicted with careful detail — their manes, their harnesses. It's not just art; it's a record of royal investment in horse flesh. Luna: And what about the people who trained them? Lucas: That's where it gets really specific. We know titles like 'Overseer of the Horses of the Lord of the Two Lands' and 'Chief of the Chariot Horses.' These were high-ranking officials. Training started when horses were young — they were conditioned on long runs, taught to respond to rein commands, and accustomed to the noise of battle. Lucas: There's even a papyrus — Papyrus Anastasi IV — that lists the daily routine for stable hands. Mucking out stalls, grooming, checking for injuries. It's mundane, but it shows how seriously they took horse care. Luna: Did they have veterinarians? Lucas: They did. There are references to 'physicians of horses' in New Kingdom texts. And we have a veterinary papyrus from around that time — it's fragmentary, but it describes treatments for wounds and colic. They used honey and fat as salves, and they knew how to splint legs. Lucas: All of this was expensive. A good chariot horse could be worth more than a farmer's yearly income. So the state controlled the supply tightly. Breeding was a royal monopoly, and horses were given as diplomatic gifts — Ramses sent horses to Hattusili III as part of the peace treaty. Luna: Horses as diplomacy. That's a different kind of power. Lucas: It is. And it's one reason Ramses was able to field such a formidable chariot corps. The horse breeding program was a strategic resource, as important as the gold mines of Nubia. Without those horses, Kadesh might have gone very differently. Lucas: Now, I want to circle back to something we've talked about before — how listener support keeps this show ad-free. If today's episode felt worth a coffee to you, there's a link at the top of the show notes: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's the smallest thing, but it genuinely helps us keep doing deep dives like this. Luna: Yeah, it's a way to say 'I appreciated that' without any strings attached. Lucas: Exactly. So back to the horses — one last detail. After Ramses's reign, we see a decline in the quality of Egyptian chariotry. The breeding program seems to have fallen apart under his successors. By the end of the 19th Dynasty, Egypt's enemies had better horses. It's a reminder that even the greatest pharaoh's achievements could fade without constant attention. Luna: So the horses were part of the legacy, and they didn't last. Lucas: They didn't. But in Ramses's day, they were the engine of his empire. The next time you see a chariot in a temple relief, think of the stables, the trainers, the grooms, and the horses themselves — all part of a system that made Ramses 'Userrenput-aanehktu,' strong of years and of victories.