This episode is brought to you by Pepsi Max. Christmas is great, but there's loads of ways to make it better.

Like sneaking some chili into the gravy for some extra oint, or building a playlist that will even get your

none up on the table or just cracking open an ice cold Pepsi Max.

Christmas.

Better with Pepsi Max. Hello. Hello and welcome to a history of Egypt podcast mini episode, The First Pharaohs.

This is a quick look at the word Pharaoh, where it comes from, what it means, and why you should technically only use it for kings who ruled from the 15th century B.C. E. onwards. Read any book or article on Egyptian history and nine times out of ten the author will

refer to the reigning monarch of Egypt as the Pharaoh.

This is correct.

It comes from a genuine Egyptian word and that word did refer to the ruler of the country.

But you may have noticed that I in this podcast have almost never

used the word Pharaoh to refer to the king. In 70-plus episodes I think there are

maybe two where I use the term.

Otherwise I refer to them as kings, rulers or monarchs.

Why?

It's quite simple.

The term Pharaoh didn't become common as a reference to the king until much later in Egyptian history.

If the history of the Egyptian kings lasts about 3,000 years, then Pharaoh was really only used for about half of that time.

A full 50% of Egyptian royal history doesn't use the term Pharaoh in the way that we think of it. So where does this word come from and what does it mean?

The word pharo is a Greek word and it is derived in turn from a Hebrew word

paro and then from an older Egyptian term.

The Egyptian term is per aia and it means Great House.

Per Aia is a reference to the Palace of the King and the power which resided within it.

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