Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Vizier Paser The Power Behind the Throne
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked about the scribes, the viceroys, the architects — the people who actually made Ramses' reign work. But there's one figure who oversaw all of them, the second most powerful person in Kemet after the king himself. I'm talking about the vizier, and specifically Ramses' vizier Paser. Luna: Wait — Paser? I don't think we've mentioned him before. Lucas: Exactly. And that's partly because he's not as flashy as a battlefield commander or a temple builder. But the vizier was the head of the entire civil administration. For Ramses, that was Paser, and he held the office for over three decades, from early in Ramses' reign well into his later years. Lucas: Paser's full titulary is fascinating. He was 'overseer of the city and vizier' — that's the standard title — but also 'overseer of all the works of the king,' 'overseer of the treasury,' and 'overseer of the granaries.' Basically, if it involved administration, Paser had a hand in it. Luna: So he was like a prime minister and finance minister rolled into one? Lucas: Pretty much. And the vizier also served as the chief justice of the land. There's a famous text called the 'Installation of the Vizier' from earlier in Egyptian history that describes the ideal vizier: he must be impartial, listen to both sides, never take bribes. Paser seems to have lived up to that ideal, at least based on the inscriptions he left. Lucas: One of the best sources we have for Paser is his tomb in Thebes, which is decorated with scenes of his career. He's shown receiving offerings, but also supervising the construction of the Ramesseum — Ramses' mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile. That was one of his major projects. Luna: So he was personally overseeing the building of one of the most famous temples in Egypt. Lucas: Yes, and the Ramesseum is enormous. It's the temple that inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias' — though that's a corrupted Greek form of Ramses' throne name. But Paser's role there was far from just ceremonial. He would have managed the workforce, the procurement of stone from Gebel el-Silsila, the payment of workers in grain and beer. Lucas: And we know from records that Paser also oversaw the administration of the Theban necropolis, including the workmen's village at Deir el-Medina. That was the community that built the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. So Paser was responsible for the security and logistics of the most secret project in the kingdom. Luna: That's a lot of trust. Ramses must have really relied on him. Lucas: Absolutely. And Paser seems to have been one of the few officials who remained in favor throughout Ramses' long reign. We have statues of Paser from different periods, showing him with different titles as his career progressed. One statue from Karnak depicts him kneeling with a naos — a shrine — dedicated to Amun-Re. Another from the Ramesseum shows him holding a standard. Lucas: He also held the title 'king's scribe' earlier in his career, which would have put him in direct contact with the royal court, probably even as a young man under Ramses' father Seti I. So he worked his way up through the bureaucracy, which was typical for a vizier. They were rarely born into the role — they earned it through competence and loyalty. Luna: Were there any other viziers under Ramses, or was Paser the only one? Lucas: Good question. Ramses actually had two viziers sometimes — one for Upper Egypt and one for Lower Egypt, though the division wasn't always strict. Paser was the vizier of the south, based in Thebes. For the north, there was a vizier named Neferrenpet, who served around the same time. But Paser's career is much better documented. Luna: So there was a split administration? Like a north-south divide? Lucas: Exactly. And that goes back to the earliest dynasties. The vizier of the south handled the region from Thebes to Aswan, while the vizier of the north handled the Delta and Memphis. But both still answered to the king, and they'd coordinate on major projects like the Ramesseum or the temples at Per-Ramesses, the new capital. Lucas: Honestly, if this deep dive into Egyptian bureaucracy has been worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It keeps the show ad-free and lets us keep talking about the real engine behind the pharaohs. Luna: Yeah, and it really shows how the empire ran on more than just military might. Lucas: So back to Paser — we also have letters from him. One papyrus, now in the British Museum, is a copy of a letter from Paser to the scribe of the necropolis, instructing him to investigate a complaint about missing tools. It's mundane, but it shows how the vizier was involved in day-to-day administration. Lucas: Paser also had a family. His father was a high priest of Amun, and his mother was a singer in the temple of Amun. So he came from a priestly family, which helped. He married a woman named Tiy, and they had several children. Some of them also served in the administration, continuing the family's influence. Luna: It sounds like a dynasty within the dynasty. Lucas: Exactly. And that's how Egypt worked — powerful families held key offices generation after generation. But Paser is notable because he served for so long and under such a long-reigning king. Most viziers served maybe 10-15 years. Paser served over 30, from around Year 5 of Ramses into his 40s. Lucas: There's also evidence that Paser was responsible for the annual 'Going Forth of the Nile' festival, which celebrated the inundation. The vizier would oversee the offerings to Hapi, the god of the Nile flood, to ensure a good harvest. So he had a religious role too, not just administrative. Luna: So he was like a bridge between the king and the people, and between the state and the gods. Lucas: That's a perfect way to put it. And what's remarkable is that we can still see his name and titles carved on monuments all over Egypt — at Karnak, Luxor, the Ramesseum, even as far south as Abu Simbel. He was everywhere because his work was everywhere. Lucas: One of the most personal artifacts is a statue of Paser now in the Louvre. It shows him with a smooth, serene face, wearing a long robe and a wig. The inscription says, 'May he be given a good burial in the necropolis after a long life.' And it seems he got it — he died probably around Year 45 of Ramses, an old man, honored and wealthy. Luna: That's a rare thing in history — a high official who dies of old age, still in power. Lucas: Yes, and it speaks to his skill at navigating the court. Because Ramses had many officials, and some fell out of favor. But Paser managed to stay on top, serving not just Ramses but the state itself, embodying the concept of Ma'at — order and justice. In many ways, he was the backbone of the empire.