S01 E06: Egypt Shatters

Hello everyone. I hope you enjoy this week's episode of the History of Africa Podcast. Anyways, there will be no premium episode for patrons this week (sorry!), but the posting of premium content will resume again next week. Anyways, we would really appreciate it if we could get your help in supporting the show, as we're currently 1/4 of the way to completing our current goal and to pay for hosting of the show. Here is the link if you'd like to support the show and receive access to premium content. The donations help keep the show alive, and I work really hard on the episodes, so your support is appreciated very much.

Anyways, here's a quick correction or comment on the episodes so far. I've been using the term "pharaoh" to describe Egyptian monarchs throughout our episodes. However, I feel like I should point out that the term pharaoh did not come into use until the New Kingdom period of Egypt, so I'm pushing a little too far into the future with my use of it here. Regardless, the term is so integrated into our cultural conception of Egypt that I feel like I would be pushing against hundreds of years of established Egyptology and confusing viewers in the process by refusing to use the term pharaoh.

So, in this week's episode, we learned about Seth-Peribsen, an upper Egyptian pharaoh who demoted Horus in the Egyptian pantheon and instead worshipped Seth, the god of the desert, chaos, and foreigners, as his primary deity.

Here you can see the symbol of Seth prominently featured atop Peribsen's serekh, or royal seal. Seth's symbol was a mythological creature, referred to by Egyptologists as the Seth animal. For comparison, here is a more standard Serekh (in this case, Hotepsekhemwy's) featuring the falcon, symbol of Horus. 

And finally, the Serekh of Khasekhemwy, who unites the symbols of the gods atop his serekh. 

Some egyptology enthusiasts might be surprised to see the worship of Seth in such a mainstream sense. Seth is usually depicted as a god of chaos and evil deeds, an enemy of the god Horus. His most famous story involves him mutilating Osiris and stealing the throne. So how could worship of such a negative god be so mainstream? Well, Seth was not always seen as an evil force in the Egyptian religion. As we learned in episode 3, Seth's origins come from the protector deity of Nekaterion. He was viewed as an important and integral part of the Egyptian pantheon throughout most of Egyptian history, and most myths from this time depict him positively. For example, it is Seth who protects the sun god Ra from the killer snake Apop. So, when did Seth's depictions turn so negative?

Well, Seth's image took a turn specifically due to his status as the god of foreigners. With the migration of the Hyksos into Upper Egypt, it is said that their ruler exclusively worshipped Seth, tarnishing the image of this god in the minds of the indigenous Egyptians. However, worship of Seth continued after the expulsion of the Hyksos, and it wasn't until the conquest of Egypt by the Assyrians, and later the Persians under king Cambyses that Seth's image as the god of these foreign conquerers truly became one of a demon. This is when Seth, the demon of chaos and disorder, emerges in mythology, and where many of the myths we know of him come into being.

Anyways, again, please help support the show so we can pay for hosting. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll listen next week. 

S01 E05: The Best Pharaoh You've Never Heard Of

Hello everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode about the pharaohs of Egypt's mysterious first dynasty. Anyways, I'm gonna post a map I created in Photoshop to help people not get lost, as I know that it can be kinda hard to keep up with my constant spewing of new cities and regions. I'll be updating this map for use in later episodes.

Anyways, included here is a map of the tomb complex in Abydos, Egypt. Here is where you can find the graves of two predynastic nomarchs (Iry Hor and Ka), the entirety of the First Dynasty, and the two pharaohs of the Second Dynasty. The fact to note about these tombs is how they allow you to roughly track the prosperity experienced during the rules of the pharaoh entombed. Generally, larger tombs mean that the pharaoh had more resources at their disposal at the end of their rule, indicating that Egypt was undergoing a period of economic prosperity at the time of construction.

(Note: Kaa is an alternative name for Qebeh. I chose to refer to him as Qebeh to avoid confusion with the predynastic ruler, Ka.)

In this week's episode, I briefly touched on the methods of burial and construction used to build mastabas. Here's a picture of one so you can really visualize the "pyramid with its top sliced off" comparison.

As mentioned in the episode, many of the royal attendants were buried with the First Dynasty pharaohs in an act of human sacrifice. If you'd like to learn more about the conduction of human sacrifice in Ancient Egypt, and how the practice came to eventually be abandoned, you can access it by supporting the show on Patreon. For just $1.99 a month, you'll receive access to all of our premium uploads. We rely entirely on supporters like you to ensure that our main series stays free and independent, and to pay for hosting. Thank you.

S01 E04: Birth of the First Pharaohs

Hello everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode about Narmer, the first pharaoh of Egypt. So, as I mentioned during the episode, our source for this week was Manetho. He was a historian from Ptolemaic Egypt, and, as an indigenous Egyptian, spoke Egyptian and was familiar with the region's history. He wrote one of the most extensive histories about the early pharaohs of Egypt, but is also responsible for some of the confusion we face in Egyptology today, as he used many Greek names from ancient Egyptian pharaohs in his writing. For example, in this episode I state that Narmer had two nicknames, Scorpion and Menes. The name Menes is used by Manetho to identify the great pharaoh who united Egypt. Some scholars though argue that Aha, not Narmer, is the true Menes. I personally don't think this hypothesis holds much water, but it's interesting nonetheless so I figured I'd talk about it on the blog. 

As promised, here's the comparison image of Scorpion, as depicted on the macehead, and Narmer, as depicted on the palette. I whipped this up in photoshop to show some features of their depictions that make them look incredibly similar. Though, again, as noted in the podcast, this could potentially be due to artistic motifs when depicting ancient kings of Egypt, rather than an actual similarity of appearance between the two men.

Finally, as always here's the donation link to help support the show. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode, and I hope you'll enjoy next week's episode on Narmer.

To support the podcast and receive access to premium content, click here. This week's premium episode focuses on Neithhotep, the wife of Narmer, and the first female monarch in human history. Enjoy.

S01 E03: Egypt Before the Pharaohs

Here's some accompanying images for this week's episode, as well as some bonus content.

So, avid Egyptian history buffs might be disappointed that I didn't mention Crocodile, another powerful nomarch from the Protodynastic period. Crocodile was purported to have ruled in the city of Tarkhan, a city near modern Cairo, shortly after Scorpion's rule, or may have been a pretender who attempted to usurp the rule of Ka in Nekhen. The reason that I didn't include Crocodile on my list of important predynastic nomarchs is due to the lack of information known about him, even to the standards of predynastic Egypt. Every other king I referenced has a spotty biography, but fairly decent evidence to corroborate his existence. Crocodile's existence, on the other hand, is supported by the existence of one sloppily written inscription on a few jars in Tarkhan. Given the lack of evidence surrounding his rule and lack of corroborating evidence for his existence, I thought it would be better to just leave him out of the podcast's narrative.

Here's an accompanying map of Egypt with relevant locations labeled, in case you felt lost during this episode.

Finally, as always here's the donation link to help support the show. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode, and I hope you'll enjoy next week's episode on Narmer.

To support the podcast and receive access to premium content, click here

S01 E02: Languages and Prehistory

Hello everyone. As promised, here's the accompanying image for this episode. This is Ge'ez script, a system of writing still used today in Ethiopia in the Amharic and Tigrinya languages.

Also, I'd like to issue a quick correction about a small error in the episode. I listed Tigrinya as the official language of Eritrea. However, this is not true. Eritrea has no official language, but rather several nationally recognized languages. Tigrinya is the most widely spoken and is thus generally used as a working language throughout the country, followed by the closely related Tigre language, so I incorrectly assumed that it was official. Another small error was that I incorrectly stated that the rainshadow in Ethiopia moves East-West, while the correct statement is a bit more complicated. Moist winds blow across the southern coast of Arabia, then curl southwest. This new southwestern wind is absorbed by the highlands of Ethiopia and contributes to the dry climate of northern Somalia. 

I'd additionally like to comment on my use of the word Pygmy to describe the peoples of Central Africa. I'm aware that generally people from these groups prefer not to be called pygmy, and prefer to be referred to by their individual ethnic group. However, I couldn't find a better term to be used to describe these peoples collectively. If anyone has a better term, please submit a comment with a suggestion. Until then, have a splendid day everyone!

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S01 E01: Where Are We?

Hey everyone, here's the accompanying post to this week's episode.

Here's a climate map to help you follow along with the locations in the podcast.

The Sahel is the semiarid band that stretches to the South of the Sahara desert in the North.

Here is the flag of the kingdom of Benin. Pretty sweet, huh? Imagine you're riding into battle and your enemy's flying a bunch of these bad boys. Again, when and why it was used is unclear, but still, pretty badass, huh?

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