A couple of years ago, a Ricochet friend turned me on to author T. Lee Harris, who wrote a short novel  (The Eloquent Scribe) set in ancient Egypt in the time of Pharaoh Ramesses II.  The hero of the detective story is a young apprentice scribe named Sitehuti.  In the first chapter, he acquires a sidekick named Nefer-Djenou-Bastet, who just happens to be a Temple Cat, and extremely smart.  It’s a great story, and it rekindled my interest in the history of ancient Egypt.  I have ordered a book about Egypt, and just this week I learned about a really great podcast dealing with the history of Egypt.

I downloaded The Podcast App from the Apple App Store a while ago, since I gave up on the really awful Apple podcast app.  The Podcast App has a great search function, and when I typed in “ancient Egypt” I discovered the History of Egypt Podcast.  It is done by Dominic Perry, an Egyptologist who lives in New Zealand.  He started it in 2013, and there are hundreds of episodes.  This guy really knows his stuff, and he has a wonderful voice and manner.  I have started at the beginning, and usually listen when I am working out on my home rowing machine.  Rowing is really boring, but this podcast makes the time and kilometers just fly by.

So, if you are at all interested in the pharaohs and queens of ancient Egypt, give this podcast a try.  I can almost guarantee that you will be hooked from the first episode.  Mr. Perry even runs tours to Egypt, if you are interested in seeing where it all took place.  I expect he would be an excellent guide, since he is quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his field.  Try it, and let me know how you like it!  Oh, and you should really check out his Web site, linked above, because it is very well done.  This Harry Potter freak is also aware that ancient Egypt was the time and place in human history when Magic first appeared; the ancient Egyptians were the world’s first Magicians (in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the Weasley family wins the lottery and goes to Egypt in the summer to visit their son, Bill.  Hermione Granger mentions that “The ancient Egyptian Wizards are fascinating”).