Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Desert Patrols: Policing the Eastern Frontier
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Ramses the builder, Ramses the diplomat, Ramses the chariot commander at Kadesh. But there's a whole chapter of his life that rarely gets mentioned — his years as a young prince leading desert patrols along Egypt's eastern frontier. Luna: I didn't know he did that before becoming pharaoh. Lucas: Most people don't. But it makes perfect sense: his father Seti I was a military man, and Ramses was being groomed for command from a very young age. By his late teens, he was probably in charge of securing the route from Egypt into Canaan — what the Egyptians called the Ways of Horus. Lucas: This was a string of fortified wells and supply depots stretching across the northern Sinai. The whole point was to keep the road open for Egyptian trade and military expeditions, and to keep an eye on the Shasu — semi-nomadic bedouin herders who occasionally raided or harassed convoys. Luna: Were the Shasu a real threat, or more of a nuisance? Lucas: Both, depending on the moment. They weren't a unified enemy like the Hittites — they were scattered tribal groups. But they knew the desert intimately, and they could melt away into wadis faster than an Egyptian chariot could turn. A few times they even allied with larger powers, so Egypt took them seriously. Lucas: We have reliefs from Ramses's early temple at Beit el-Wali in Nubia that show him leading patrols — and the inscriptions name him as 'the strong-armed one who protects his army.' He's shown smiting a Shasu chief, which is classic Egyptian propaganda, but the context is real: these were actual skirmishes he commanded. Luna: So he wasn't just sitting in Thebes waiting to inherit the throne. Lucas: No, he was out in the grit. The garrison at Tjaru — modern Tell el-Habua — was the main base for these operations. It controlled the entrance to the Sinai. Ramses would have overseen the resupply of wells, the rotation of patrols, and the interrogation of captured Shasu for intelligence. Lucas: And here's the thing that sticks with me: this experience shaped his entire approach to logistics later. When he planned the Kadesh campaign, he knew exactly how many water stops an army needed crossing the desert. He knew where the wells were, how fast camels could move, how to set up signal stations. Luna: That's something the Hittites probably didn't have — that deep desert knowledge. Lucas: Exactly. And it's one reason Ramses could push so far north so quickly. But those patrols also taught him diplomacy. The Shasu weren't always enemies — sometimes they were hired as scouts or guides. Ramses learned early that you don't just smash through the desert; you have to negotiate with the people who live there. Lucas: We have records from the reign of Seti I — and some from Ramses's own early years — of Egyptian officers handing out bread, beer, and oil to Shasu chiefs to keep the peace. It was a classic 'carrot and stick' approach. Luna: So his later treaty with the Hittites wasn't his first diplomatic success — it started with the Shasu. Lucas: I think that's fair to say. He understood that force alone doesn't hold a frontier. You need relationships, you need intelligence, you need to know when to pay tribute and when to fight. Lucas: Now, let me tell you about one specific patrol route we know about from the reliefs. It's called the 'wells of Merneptah hotep her maat' — that's a mouthful — but it was a chain of water stations about a day's march apart. Each one had a garrison of maybe a dozen men, a few donkeys, and signal fires that could pass a message from Tjaru to Gaza in under 24 hours. Luna: Wait, 24 hours across that whole stretch? That's impressive. Lucas: It is. The signal system used pre-arranged codes — a single fire meant 'all clear', two fires meant 'raid spotted', three meant 'large force approaching'. They could relay a warning faster than any rider. Lucas: We know from the Anastasi papyri that these stations were maintained well into the 19th Dynasty. There's even a letter from a frontier commander complaining that a well had silted up and he needed ten men to dig it out — standard administrative headache. Lucas: And Ramses, as prince, would have been the one approving those work orders. It's a side of him that's very human — dealing with broken wells and tired soldiers, not just leading grand charges. Luna: It makes him feel more real. Less like a statue. Lucas: Exactly. And you know, it's easy to talk about the big monuments and the epic battles, but if you want to understand why Ramses ruled for 67 years, you have to look at the day-to-day competence. He knew how to run an empire because he started by running a desert patrol. Lucas: If today was actually useful to you — if you're coming along with us through these conversations about North Africa — the way these stay ad-free is listener support. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, it's a small thing that makes a big difference for the show. Lucas: So, back to the patrols — one of the most interesting details is that Ramses sometimes led these patrols personally even after he became pharaoh. There's a scene at Karnak showing him chasing Shasu in his chariot, and the inscription says 'His Majesty himself, like Montu in his fury.' Luna: So he never really stopped being that frontier commander. Lucas: Right. And I think that's a big part of his legacy — he remained connected to the practical business of ruling, not just the ceremonial side. The desert patrols were his training ground, and they gave him a toughness that served him his entire reign.