157: Ay & Horemheb vs the Hittites

In 2025 I did an interview with the AskHistorians podcast, a reddit-based show where specialists discuss history and major questions about their fields. In this interview, we discuss the history of Egyptology, stories from ancient Egypt, the situation of the field today, and why ...  Show more

Siptah, Tausret, Setnakht. Between 1205--1202 BCE, the royal house of Ramesses II crumbled into illegitimacy. After Siptah, the queen Tausret declared herself pharaoh. Her reign leaves tantalising traces. But shortly after, a man named Set-Nakht ("Seth is Victorious") seized the ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the empire that flourished in the Late Bronze Age in what is now Turkey, and which, like others at that time, mysteriously collapsed. For the next three thousand years these people of the Land of Hatti, as they called themselves, were known only by ...  Show more

Synopsis:  King Muwatalli II relocates the Hittite capital to the new royal city of Tarhuntassa near the Mediterranean coast, then faces off against the young pharaoh Ramesses II in the Battle of Qadesh.  After Muwatalli’s death, his son and brother – Urhi-Teshub and Hattusili – ...  Show more

Synopsis: The Great Kings of Carchemish continue ruling over a Hittite rump state in northern Syria as they support the region’s recovery.  After an attack by the Assyrian king Ashur-bel-kala, the Carchemish dynasty is supplanted by the house of Suhi. “In that year, in the mon ...  Show more

Ancient Egypt conjures up images of pharaohs, pyramids and hieroglyphics – but what about soldiers, generals and military campaigns? In today's episode, Jon Bauckham talks to Egyptologist Nicky Nielsen about the evolution of ancient Egyptian warfare – from the conquests of Thutmo ...  Show more