Interlude: Sety I Phase One (Summary)

10/04/24 • 23 min

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Sety I reigned (approx.) 1303--1292 BCE. In the first half of his reign, the King's followers achieved significant and splendid deeds. We explore these achievements in aggregate, and what they all mean for the Egyptian people. Plus, what 19th Dynasty "expansion" means for our story of pharaohs, ordinary people, and the gods...

Logo image: Sety I, a painted panel from his tomb (Louvre Museum).

Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.

Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast.

Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments.

Music by Jeffrey Goodman www.jeffreygoodman.com.

Interludes by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net.

Interludes by Luke Chaos www.chaosmusick.com.

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Logo image: Sety I, a painted panel from his tomb (Louvre Museum).

Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.

Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast.

Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments.

Music by Jeffrey Goodman www.jeffreygoodman.com.

Interludes by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net.

Interludes by Luke Chaos www.chaosmusick.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

The Sword of Ramesses (News from the Field)

Blade of Frontiers (not Wyll). In September 2024, the Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities announced new discoveries including a sword inscribed with the names of Ramesses II, King of Egypt. In this episode, we discuss the weapon and its origins, as well as the larger significance of the fortress in which this discovery occurred. Who did the sword belong to? What was this fortress guarding against?

Egyptian swords in museum collections:

The Egyptian army and fortifications:

Video lecture series, "Perspectives on the Ramesside Military System" on YouTube.
The Old Kingdom (c.2500—2200 BCE): Spotify and Website.
Grave of the Unknown Warriors (c.2000 BCE): Spotify.
The Army of Sety I (c.1300 BCE), Part 1: Spotify.
The Army of Sety I (c.1300 BCE), Part 2: Spotify.
The New Kingdom (c.1500—1150 BCE): Spotify and YouTube.
Ian Shaw, Ancient Egyptian Warfare (Oxford, 2019).
C. Vogel, The Fortifications of Ancient Egypt 3000-1780 BC (Botley, 2010).
E. F. Morris, The Architecture of Imperialism: Military Bases and the Evolution of Foreign Policy in Egypt’s New Kingdom (Leiden, 2005).
B. McDermott, Warfare in Ancient Egypt (Stroud, 2004).

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Next Episode

192: The Trouble With Seth

Identity crisis. Seth (aka Sutekh / Setekh / Suty) is a complicated deity. A master of storms, winds, deserts and seas, Seth dominates foreigners and the world outside Egypt. However, he is also treacherous, violent, and aggressive; a god who slew his own brother and tried to seize the throne for himself. As a result, Seth has a complicated relationship with the Egyptian kingship. Part defender and source of legitimacy, but also a threat to the stable order of the world (ma’at). Most kings navigated this relationship fairly easily. But then, most kings weren’t named after the god himself. As a pharaoh of Egypt, a living Horus, and the son of Osiris, King Sety I had to work hard to reconcile his personal identity with his divine. The results are visible on his monuments...

Date: Reign of Sety I (c.1300 BCE).
Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.
Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast.
Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments.
Music intro, outro, and interludes: Michael Levy.
Music interludes: Keith Zizza and Luke Chaos.
Logo image: A Seth-headed-Sphinx, on an obelisk of Sety I, originally from Heliopolis but now in Alexandria (Line drawing by Dominic Perry, based on a photo by Heidi Kontkanen).

Select Bibliography:

J. P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (2nd edn, 2015).
P. J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis (2000).
E. Cruz-Uribe, ‘The Father of Ramses I: OI 11456’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 37 (1978), 237—244.
E. Cruz-Uribe, ‘Stḫ ꜥꜣ pḥty “Seth, God of Power and Might”’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 45 (2009), 201—26.
A. el-Sawi, ‘Some Variations of Writing of the Names of Sety I at Abydos’, Annales du Services des Antiquités de l’Egypte 70 Supplement (1987), 53—63.
J. G. Griffith, The Conflict of Horus and Seth from Egyptian and Classical Sources (1960).
C. A. Hope, ‘Reconstructing the Image of Seth, Lord of the Oasis, in his Temple at Mut el-Kharab in Dakhleh Oasis’, Rich and Great: Studies in Honour of Anthony J. Spalinger on the Occasion of his 70th Feast of Thoth (2016), 123—145.
K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations Volume I: Ramesses I, Sethos I and Contemporaries (Second Publication edn, 2017).
W. M. F. Petrie and J. E. Quibell, Naqada and Ballas 1895 (1896).
D. Schorsch and M. T. Wypyski, ‘Seth, “Figure of Mystery”’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 45 (2009), 177—200.
D. Stewart, ‘The Myth of Osiris in the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Monash University (2014).
I. R. Taylor, ‘Deconstructing the Iconography of Seth’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, University of Birmingham (2016).
H. te Velde, ‘The Egyptian God Seth as a Trickster’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 7 (1968), 37—40.
H. te Velde, Seth, God of Confusion (1967).
H. te Velde, ‘Seth’, in D. B. Redford (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, 3 (2001), 269—271.
P. J. Turner, ‘Seth – A Misrepresented God in the Ancient Egyptian Pantheon?’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, The University of Manchester (2012).
R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt (2003).
H. E. Winlock, The Temple of Ramesses I at Abydos (1937).
‘Stèle Cintrée E26017’, Musée du Louvre, <https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010004210> accessed 2.2.2024.