The Libyans: Ramses II's Other War and the Rise of the Meshwesh

Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History · May 11, 2026 · 6m · transcript

Everyone knows about Ramses II's epic clash with the Hittites at Kadesh, but a quieter, more persistent threat emerged from the west: the Libyan tribes, especially the Meshwesh and Libu. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Ramses the Great's campaigns against Libyan incursions in the Nile Delta during his second decade of rule. They examine the evidence from the Battle of Per-Ramesses and the Libyan War inscriptions at Karnak, discuss Ramses's strategy of settling defeated warriors as mercenaries—a policy that had unintended long-term consequences—and consider how Libyan…