Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Scarab Beetle Propaganda Machine
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the big stuff — temples, battles, treaties — but today I want to look at something small. Really small. Something you could hold in the palm of your hand, but that carried the weight of the empire. Luna: You mean like a seal ring or something? Lucas: Close. I'm talking about the scarab beetle. Not the insect — the carved stone amulet shaped like a dung beetle. The ancient Egyptians called it kheper, and it was one of the most popular and powerful symbols in Kemet for thousands of years. But under Ramses the Great, the scarab became something new: a propaganda machine. Luna: Wait — propaganda? Like, tiny stone press releases? Lucas: Exactly. Ramses took the humble scarab — which had been used as personal seals and amulets since the Old Kingdom — and turned it into a mass-produced royal announcement system. He issued series of commemorative scarabs, each inscribed with a short text celebrating his achievements. And these weren't just kept in Egypt. They've been found from Ugarit on the Syrian coast to Byblos in Lebanon, all the way down into Nubia. They were diplomatic gifts, trade goods, and status symbols all at once. Luna: So he was basically sending out little advertisements for himself across the ancient world. Lucas: Yes — and they worked. The most famous series dates from his early reign, around Year 1 and 2. One scarab commemorates his first Nubian campaign, where he subdued the land of Kush. Another records the arrival of a rare wild bull from the desert — something that would have been seen as a divine omen. The texts are formulaic: they give Ramses's royal titles, a brief description of the event, and often mention his father Sethi I to legitimize his rule. But what's fascinating is that these scarabs were produced in official workshops, likely at Per-Ramesses, by specialized artisans. Luna: How do we know they were official? Couldn't anyone carve a scarab? Lucas: Good question. The evidence is in the consistency. Hundreds of scarabs from the same series have been found, and they're virtually identical in size, shape, and the style of the hieroglyphs. That level of uniformity points to centralized production. Plus, the texts include the pharaoh's full titulary — his five names — which would have been illegal for a private individual to use. So these were definitely state-issued. The scarabs were made of steatite, a soft stone that's easy to carve, then glazed with a blue-green faience. That color was associated with rebirth and the god Khepri, who was the dung beetle that pushed the sun across the sky. Luna: So the beetle itself had a deep religious meaning, and then Ramses added his own message. Lucas: Exactly. Khepri was the god of transformation and creation — the beetle that rolls the sun like a ball of dung. So wearing a scarab amulet was like carrying a piece of that cosmic power. By inscribing his achievements on it, Ramses was essentially linking his earthly deeds to the divine order, Ma'at. And because scarabs were so portable, they spread his name and his version of events far beyond the reach of his monuments. Luna: Were these scarabs ever found in the tombs of ordinary people? Lucas: Yes — and that's another key point. Scarabs were not just royal propaganda; they were also personal amulets used in daily life and in burial. Wealthy Egyptians would place scarabs over the heart of the mummy to ensure a favorable judgment in the afterlife. But the commemorative scarabs — the ones with royal texts — seem to have been distributed selectively. They've been found in palaces, temples, and elite tombs, both in Egypt and abroad. At Ugarit, for example, a Ramses II scarab was discovered in the royal palace, probably given as a gift to the local king. Luna: So they were like diplomatic gifts, showing off the pharaoh's power and generosity. Lucas: Precisely. And the texts themselves are carefully crafted. Take the so-called 'Lion Hunt Scarab' — though that one might be from Amenhotep III, not Ramses. But for Ramses, we have scarabs that mention his marriage to the Hittite princess, Maathorneferure. That was a huge political event, and sending out scarabs announcing it was a way to reinforce the peace treaty with Hatti and broadcast Ramses's prestige. The texts don't just say 'he married a princess' — they frame it as a gift from the Hittite king, suggesting Ramses's superiority. Luna: Clever. So the little scarabs were part of a larger messaging system. Lucas: Absolutely. And we can trace the evolution of that system. In the early 18th Dynasty, scarabs were mostly private or funerary. But by the time of Ramses, the state was using them as a tool of soft power. The inscriptions are short — usually just a few lines — but they pack in the pharaoh's names, his relationship to the gods, and a key event. Archaeologists have even found workshop debris at Per-Ramesses — unfinished scarabs, broken molds — that show the scale of production. It was an industry. Luna: It's amazing how much information these tiny objects carry. I never thought of a scarab as a news bulletin. Lucas: And that's the beauty of it. They're small enough to be overlooked, but they tell us so much about how Ramses projected power. For anyone coming with us through these conversations — about North Africa, about the ancient world — I hope you're getting a sense of how creative the Egyptians were with their messaging. If you've been enjoying these episodes, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. A couple of dollars a month genuinely keeps these ad-free conversations going, and it makes a real difference. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to help the research and the time that goes into each episode. Lucas: So back to the scarabs. One of the most intriguing examples is the so-called 'Wild Bull Hunt' scarab. It describes how Ramses, early in his reign, personally hunted a wild bull in the region of Tjehenu — that's Libya. The text says the bull came from the desert and that Ramses killed it with his own hand. Now, whether that actually happened or was a symbolic tale is debated, but the scarab served to portray the pharaoh as a heroic figure, protecting Egypt from chaotic forces. Luna: So it's like a royal hunting trophy, but in miniature. Lucas: Exactly. And the choice of a bull is significant. Bulls were associated with strength and with the god Ptah, but also with Seth, the god of chaos. By killing a wild bull, Ramses was demonstrating his ability to control disorder. It's a theme we see in his battle reliefs at Karnak and the Ramesseum — the pharaoh as the defender of Ma'at. But here, it's compressed into a few lines on a stone beetle. Luna: It's almost like a tweet from a pharaoh — short, impactful, and designed to be shared. Lucas: That's a great way to put it. And like tweets, they had to be crafted carefully. The hieroglyphic texts on these scarabs are often abbreviated or use special signs to save space. The scribes had to be skilled to fit the royal protocol into such a small area. Some scarabs have the text arranged in a spiral or in concentric circles — a real challenge for the carver. And they used a hard stone like dolerite to carve the details, which required patience and precision. Luna: Where did the stone come from? Was it local? Lucas: Mostly from the Eastern Desert and from quarries like Gebel el-Silsila. Steatite is relatively soft, but it's also found in the desert wadis. The faience glaze was made from quartz sand and copper, which gave it that bright blue-green color. So the raw materials were all within Egypt's borders, but the finished products traveled far. We've found Ramses II scarabs in the Levant, in Nubia, and even on the island of Cyprus. They were part of a gift exchange network among the great powers of the Bronze Age. Luna: Did later pharaohs continue this practice? Lucas: Yes, but not as extensively. Ramses's successors, like Merenptah and Ramses III, also issued commemorative scarabs, but the peak was under Ramses II. After the Bronze Age collapse, the practice declined. But the scarab remained a popular amulet for centuries, into the Ptolemaic period. So Ramses didn't invent the scarab, but he perfected its use as a mass medium. Future episodes might explore how other cultures adopted the scarab, but for now, I think it's a perfect example of how the ancient Egyptians combined art, religion, and politics in a single, portable object. Luna: I'll never look at a scarab the same way again. Lucas: And that's the point. These little beetles carried an empire's worth of meaning. So next time you see one in a museum, remember — it's not just a charm. It's a piece of a propaganda campaign that spanned continents.