Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses and the Nubian Temples Beyond Abu Simbel
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- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Abu Simbel, Ramses the Great's most famous Nubian temple, but the truth is he built a whole chain of temples along the Nile in Nubia — from just south of Aswan all the way to the Fourth Cataract. Each one was a statement of power, but also a practical tool for controlling the region. Luna: I didn't realize there were that many. How many are we talking? Lucas: At least six major ones, plus several smaller shrines. Some are still standing — at least partially — but many were flooded by Lake Nasser after the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s. The ones that survived were literally cut up and moved to higher ground, thanks to a massive unesco led salvage campaign. Luna: Right, I've heard about that — the temple of Dendur was moved too, wasn't it? Actually, that one's now in New York. Lucas: Exactly. Dendur was a Roman-era temple, but Ramses's Nubian temples were among the most spectacular moved. One of the lesser-known ones is Beit el-Wali — that means 'House of the Holy Man' in Arabic. It's a small rock-cut temple just south of Aswan, dedicated to the gods Amun-Re, Satet, and Anuket. It's famous for its vivid painted reliefs showing Ramses smiting Nubian and Libyan enemies. Luna: So the classic smiting scenes we talked about in episode 58 — they're not just on temple walls in Egypt proper. Lucas: No, they're plastered on every Nubian temple too. But Beit el-Wali is unique because it also shows everyday life — farming, hunting, even a scene of Ramses offering to the Nile god Hapi. It's like a propaganda billboard and a documentary rolled into one. The temple was originally cut into a sandstone cliff, but when the dam project threatened it, the whole thing was dismantled and reassembled on higher ground in the 1960s. Luna: And it's not the only one that was moved. What about Gerf Hussein? I've seen that name. Lucas: Gerf Hussein is fascinating. It was a temple dedicated to Ptah, the creator god, and it's unusual because it was partially free-standing, not just rock-cut. Built during Ramses's reign, it had a huge courtyard with colossal statues of the pharaoh, very much like the Ramesseum. But it was so close to the river that the rising waters of Lake Nasser would have completely submerged it. So UNESCO moved it to a new site called New Kalabsha, along with a few other temples. Luna: Wait — New Kalabsha? Is that an artificial island? Lucas: It's a promontory near the Aswan High Dam, specifically created as a relocation site. Besides Gerf Hussein, it now houses the Temple of Kalabsha — that one's actually from the Roman period, dedicated to the Nubian god Mandulis — and a small chapel from the Ptolemaic era. So it's become a sort of open-air museum of saved monuments. But my favorite among Ramses's Nubian temples is Wadi es-Sebua. Luna: Wadi es-Sebua — 'Valley of the Lions,' right? Because of the sphinx-lined avenue? Lucas: Exactly. That avenue of sphinxes — about 12 of them — leads to the temple entrance. The temple itself was originally built by Amenhotep III, but Ramses took it over and expanded it, adding a second court and a pylon. He also rededicated it to Amun-Re and to himself as a god. It's unique because the inner sanctuary still has traces of paint, and you can see Ramses making offerings to various deities. Luna: So he wasn't just building from scratch — he was deliberately appropriating earlier monuments to assert his own legacy. Lucas: Absolutely. It's a pattern. At Wadi es-Sebua, he even carved his own name over Amenhotep III's in several places. That kind of damnatio memoriae — erasing a predecessor's name — was common, but Ramses did it on an industrial scale. And it wasn't just about vanity. These temples were strategic: they marked Egyptian territory, impressed local Nubian chiefs, and served as administrative centers for collecting tribute — especially gold. Luna: Which brings us back to the gold mines we talked about in episode 75. So these temples were like fortified treasuries. Lucas: Exactly. The gold from Nubia — from the eastern desert and the region around the Nile — was the lifeblood of the Egyptian economy. Ramses couldn't afford to lose control of it. So he stationed garrisons at these temples, and the priests doubled as tax collectors. The whole system was designed to project power and extract wealth, wrapped in the language of divine kingship. Luna: It's a pretty cynical view, but it makes sense. Do we know how the local Nubian population felt about all this? Lucas: That's harder to answer. We have virtually no written records from the Nubian side. But we do know that some Nubian chiefs were given Egyptian titles and sent their children to be educated at the pharaoh's court — a kind of hostage diplomacy, but also a way to co-opt local elites. And the temples certainly employed local labor, so there were economic benefits. But the overall picture is one of domination. Luna: And then, centuries later, those same temples were uprooted again by the Aswan High Dam. It's like a second displacement. Lucas: That's a really poignant way to put it. The UNESCO campaign was a massive undertaking — between 1960 and 1980, they moved 22 monuments, including Abu Simbel, Philae, and all these smaller temples. But it wasn't without controversy. Some argued that cutting the temples into blocks and reassembling them on concrete foundations stripped them of their original context — the landscape, the orientation, the relationship to the river. Luna: Still, better than leaving them at the bottom of a lake. Lucas: No question. And in some ways, the relocation made them more accessible. Before the dam, many of these temples were remote and rarely visited. Now they're tourist attractions. But I think it's important to remember that the Nubian people themselves — the modern Nubian communities — were also displaced. Their villages were flooded, and they were resettled in new towns. That's a human cost that doesn't get as much attention as the temples. Luna: That's a good point. The cultural heritage we're talking about — the temples — were part of a living landscape. And the people who lived there lost their homes. Lucas: Yeah, about 100,000 Nubians were relocated. Their traditional lands and many of their villages now lie under the lake. A few Nubian temples were actually dismantled and shipped abroad as gifts — like the Temple of Dendur, which is in the Met in New York, or the Temple of Debod in Madrid. So the legacy of the salvage is complicated. Lucas: That said, if today's episode felt worth a coffee to you — we do rely on listener support to keep this show ad-free. There's a link at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you'd like to help us keep digging into stories like these. Luna: Yeah, honestly, it's the least pushy way to support something you enjoy. And every bit helps. Lucas: So, back to the temples — one more I want to mention: the Temple of Amada. It's the oldest of the Nubian temples, built by Thutmose III and Amenhotep II, but Ramses added to it. It has some of the best-preserved painted reliefs anywhere in Nubia, showing scenes of the pharaoh being crowned by Horus and Thoth. That temple was also moved — it now sits about 2.5 kilometers from its original site, higher up. Luna: So even the ones that aren't Ramses's originals have his fingerprints on them. Lucas: Exactly. He was an inveterate renovator and self-promoter. But his Nubian building program wasn't just about his own glory — it was about securing the southern border and the flow of gold. And in that, he was hugely successful. Nubia remained firmly in Egyptian hands throughout his reign and beyond. Luna: It's interesting to think that the same pharaoh who fought the Hittites at Kadesh and built Per-Ramesses in the Delta also spent so much energy on these remote southern outposts. Lucas: That's the key to Ramses's strategy: secure the borders, control the resources, and build monuments everywhere. The Nubian temples were a vital part of that vision. And thanks to the salvage efforts, we can still visit them — just not in their original locations. Luna: It makes you wonder what other temples might still be buried under the sand, waiting to be discovered. Lucas: That's the exciting part. Even now, archaeologists are finding new sites. Just a few years ago, they uncovered a temple of Ramses II near Abydos. So the story isn't over yet.