Divine kingship was as old as Egyptian civilisation itself, when the Predynastic kings of Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) ruled as avatars on Earth of the falcon god Horus. Pharaoh was entitled the ‘Good God, the Son of Ra’. Egypt’s gods and goddesses were his fathers and mothers. In life he was the incarnation of Horus; in death, his identity fused with Osiris, Lord of the Underworld.

But there were limits to royal godhood. Each king inevitably aged, sickened, and died. However, this contradiction between Pharaoh’s human frailty and sublime godhood was not a problem: the divine was understood to inhabit the earthly body, but be quite separate from it. The king’s human self was a mortal vessel containing the divine essence of kingship. Most kings only truly became a god after death.

In a series of articles in Ancient Egypt magazine, Professor Peter J Brand of the University of Memphis explores the life of Pharaoh Ramesses II and reassesses the Nineteenth Dynasty. For the first of these articles, Brand explored the divinity of the early Ramesside kings. And on this episode of The PastCast, he spoke with Ancient Egypt’s deputy editor Sarah Griffiths about his findings. Sarah also discusses what readers can look forward to in the upcoming issue of the magazine, out on 8 June in the UK. It will also be available to read in full on The Past website.

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