Episode 48: End of an Era

Hi Dominic,
Late listener here and really enjoyed the show. I wanted to check out the pictures related to the episodes and noticed all the images for this episode is gone. Is it possible to have them back? Thank you!

During the episode, you say that the king “may have felt that greater organization, greater centralization was a way to resist order” – I believe you meant “to resist chaos.” At least that makes more sense in the context of the comments.

You’re welcome!

I am confused why such emphasis is placed on the lack of king led military expeditions as a sign of decline, this feels like a teleological intrusion due to our knowledge centuries later that the kingdom would in fact decline. Nothing presented in this or the previous episode seems to be suggestive of decline, the economy seems healthy, culture is thriving the borders are stable.

Amenemhat III appears to have been a highly active ruler domestically, while the expeditions to the Sinai were not novel for those of the middle kingdom he appears to have orchestrated a great deal of them, alongside some immense building projects.

During the reign of Senusret III you highlighted the diminishing logistical possibility of continued expansion southward into Kush, alongside this it seems by Amenemhat’s reign, all the kingdoms needs from the regions south of the cataracts had been accomplished with the securing of trade routes and extensive fort building. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as they say

No empire expands forever, the western roman empire was largely the same size from 50ce to 400ce (excluding Dacian expansion under Trajan) in size and yet experienced many of its most interesting and most powerful rulers during this period of territorial ‘stagnation.’

In the last episode you brought up the possibility that this lack of activity might have been the result of Amenemhat III being mentally disabled, which confused me greatly, as if there is evidence of that, it has not made the cut.

Thanks for the podcast, I’ve been enjoying it greatly, I was just a little perplexed by these matters.

Hello, I just finished listening to this episode and I wanted to ask you if there is a specific reason why you didn’t point out that the centralization of power means less abuse from local officials. Was it not the case in this period? A benevolent ruler might want to strengthen his grip on the high ranking officials to diminish their exploitation for their own purposes of the population at large.