Ramesses' Wild West with Prof. Steven Snape

The History of Egypt Podcast

Dominic Perry

Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Heart of Darkness at Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham. Far from the Nile Valley, on Egypt’s northern coastline, Ramessid soldiers and civilians constructed a significant fortress to control the maritime roads. This remote garrison faced off against Libyan tribes coming from the far west (e.g. the Meshwesh of Cyrenaica), traded with Mediterranean merchants, possibly dealt with marauding pirates and Sea Peoples, and built a life for themselves on the western frontier. Alas, it wasn’t all beaches and bonhomie, as soldiers like Nebra, the commander, would learn… Prof. Steven Snape is the author of many books and articles including The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt (2014); Ancient Egyptian Tombs: The Culture of Life and Death (2011); Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham I: The Temple and the Chapels (with Penny Wilson, 2007); Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham II: The Monuments of Neb-Re (with Glenn Godenho, forthcoming). Learn more about excavations and discoveries at this site in a free lecture, “ Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham and the Ramesside Defence System on the Maryut Coast,” on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ1QelBxYiU& Steven Snape papers and publications at Academia.edu https://liverpool.academia.edu/StevenSnape Steven Snape at The University of Liverpool: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/steven-snape; Research Profile https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/steven-snape/research Prof. Snape is currently reading The Arabian Nightmare by Robert Irwin (1983). Wikipedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:33.6	Far away from the Nile Valley on the western reaches of Egypt's imperial territory, there
0:41.8	was a lone outpost on the North African coast.
0:46.3	Today we know this site as Zawiat Um El-Rakam.
0:50.6	The ancients called it Pademi Usirma'Adrha, or a town of Remusies II.
0:57.3	That uninspiring name conceals a fascinating archaeological site,
1:02.8	one that my guest today has spent many years excavating.
1:07.8	Professor Stephen Snape works at the University of Liverpool.
1:11.6	Enthusiasts may know him from his popular histories, the complete cities of ancient Egypt,
1:17.6	and ancient Egyptian tombs, the culture of life and death.
1:21.6	But his major work is the site we discuss today.
1:24.6	For the past three decades, since he was a doctoral student,
1:29.0	he has led an excavation project at Zawiet Umel Rakam, uncovering sections of the
1:35.2	Ramesid fortress, its town, and learning more about the ancient lifestyle of the soldiers and peoples.
1:42.6	Why were they here far away from the Nile River? What were they doing
	...

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