Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Abandoned Monuments: The Mysteries of His Unfinished Works
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about what Ramses built — the temples, the statues, the whole city of Per-Ramesses. But one thing we haven't touched on is what he didn't finish. Even the most prolific builder in Egyptian history left some projects incomplete. Luna: Wait, really? I thought Ramses basically built everything he wanted. Lucas: That's the image. But if you look closely at his monuments, there are clear signs of things left undone. The Ramesseum, his mortuary temple on the west bank of Thebes — if you visit the second court, you'll see columns that were never carved. The walls are rough, unfinished. Luna: That's surprising. You'd think a pharaoh with a 67-year reign would have had time to finish. Lucas: You'd think. But time wasn't the only factor. Resources, labour, shifting priorities — even Ramses had to make choices. And some projects were simply abandoned when something more pressing came up. For instance, at Tanis in the Delta, Ramses began a massive construction project, reusing statues and obelisks from earlier kings. But many of those colossi were left unfinished or only partially inscribed. Luna: Why Tanis? Wasn't that in the Delta, not his capital? Lucas: Good question. Tanis was a cult centre for Seth — the god Ramses's family favoured from the Delta region. So he wanted to elevate it. But the logistics of moving stone there were a nightmare. The Nile branches shifted, and the site was marshy. Some of the granite blocks there were left half-carved. You can still see the quarry marks. Luna: Quarry marks — like the lines that show where the workers stopped? Lucas: Exactly. At Aswan, there's the famous unfinished obelisk — it's not Ramses's, it's from Hatshepsut's time, but the same kind of thing happened under Ramses. There's a granite quarry at Aswan where Ramses commissioned several obelisks. One of them was partially cut from the bedrock, but a crack appeared, and they just abandoned it. It's still there, lying on its side, three-quarters detached. Luna: That must have been frustrating — all that work for nothing. Lucas: Absolutely. And it gives us a rare window into the practical side of Egyptian monument building. These weren't magic projects that appeared fully formed. They were messy, with failures and compromises. The Ramesseum's unfinished court, for example, might indicate that Ramses died before it was completed — or that funds were diverted to other temples like Abu Simbel. Luna: Speaking of Abu Simbel — that was finished, right? The great temple of Ramses there is pristine. Lucas: It was finished, yes. And that's the key — Ramses knew how to prioritise. The temples on the Nubian border, like Abu Simbel, were political statements to the south. They had to be done. But his home projects could wait. There's also evidence at Per-Ramesses itself: parts of the palace complex were never roofed, and some mudbrick walls lack their final plaster coating. Luna: So even the capital city wasn't fully finished? That's wild. Lucas: Not fully, no. And it's not just Ramses — this happened throughout Egyptian history. But with Ramses, the contrast is starker because his self-promotion was so thorough. He claimed to have built everything, but the archaeological record shows us the gaps. And those gaps are actually more revealing than the finished works. Luna: How so? Lucas: Because they show us the constraints. They show us that even a pharaoh with absolute power had to deal with material realities — stone that cracks, labour that gets reassigned, budgets that run out. It humanises the whole enterprise. And it helps us understand that the Egyptian state, for all its grandeur, was still a pre-industrial society dependent on the Nile's rhythms. Luna: It makes you wonder what else they could have built if they'd had more time or resources. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the kind of question that keeps archaeologists and historians digging. For instance, there's a theory that Ramses's building boom actually strained Egypt's economy. He conscripted vast numbers of workers, diverted grain and copper from other uses, and maybe even caused inflation. The unfinished projects could be a symptom of overreach. Luna: So he was trying to do too much at once? Lucas: Possibly. After the peace treaty with the Hittites, there was a long period of stability, and Ramses used that to build on an unprecedented scale. But the labour force wasn't infinite. The workers at Deir el-Medina, for example, had their own schedules and demands. There are records of strikes during Ramses's reign — workers refusing to work because their rations were late. So even the royal tomb project had hiccups. Luna: Yeah, we talked about that in the builders episode — the workmen sometimes protested. Lucas: Right. So the unfinished monuments are another piece of that puzzle. They remind us that history isn't just success stories. And speaking of which, if you've been enjoying these deep dives into Ramses's world, there's a small way you can help keep them coming. A couple of dollars a month — it's the kind of thing that genuinely makes a difference for a small show like this. You can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just if you've gotten something out of these conversations. Luna: Yeah, honestly, every little bit helps. We don't have ads, so it's listener support that keeps us going. Lucas: Exactly. Anyway, back to Ramses's unfinished business — another fascinating example is at the temple of Heryshef at Heracleopolis. Ramses added a court there, but the reliefs were never carved. Just smoothed walls, waiting for a chisel that never came. Luna: Do we know why that specific one was left? Lucas: Not for certain. It could be that Ramses's successor, Merenptah, had different priorities. He faced invasions from the Sea Peoples and Libyans, so he focused on defensive works. The unfinished temples of his father were left as they were. It's also possible that the priests of Heryshef lost influence after Ramses's death, so the project was shelved. Luna: So the unfinished monuments tell us about politics after Ramses too. Lucas: Exactly. They're like archaeological fossils of changing priorities. And there's one more that's really intriguing: at Memphis, Ramses built a great temple to Ptah, but only the gateway was completed. The inner sanctuary was never finished. Some scholars think the water table rose and made the site unstable. Others think Ramses simply lost interest. Either way, it's a reminder that even the best-laid plans of a divine king could falter. Luna: I guess no one gets everything they want, not even Ramses the Great. Lucas: No, not even him. And that's what makes him more interesting, doesn't it? A perfect pharaoh would be boring. But one who tried to do everything and couldn't quite pull it off — that's a real person.