Seti I
The second pharaoh of the 19th dynasty
Seti I, the second Pharaoh of Dynasty 19, was acutely aware of his role in creating a new dynasty and restoring Egypt’s prestige and reputation among its neighbours, as was his father Ramesses I. He fought in the Levant, and his war reliefs adorn the external walls of the massive hypostyle hall he constructed to Karnak’s temple. In the eastern desert and Nubia, he also revived gold mines. He erected a fine funeral temple for himself at Abydos, as well as a funerary temple at Thebes, in which the renowned Abydos kinglist was carved. He erected one of the most ornately carved and ornamented tombs ever seen in the Valley of the Kings. Ramesses I and his queen Sitre had a son named Seti. He most likely governed as co-regent, as attested by an inscription on a Medamud monument. Seti married into a military caste of his own. Tuya, the daughter of a charioteer lieutenant, was his first wife. His first son died early, but Ramesses II was his second son. This was a fantastic time in Egypt, maybe the best in terms of art and culture.
Seti I’s reliefs and other designs were probably never equaled by other monarchs in the architectural projects he undertook. He is credited with starting the huge Hypostyle Hall in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, which was completed by his son Ramesses II. When compared to later expansions, Seti’s reliefs are on the north side and have a fine style.
Seti I had been buried in one of Egypt’s most colorful royal tombs, but his body was gone by the time its richly decorated halls were uncovered in 1817.
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Reign
Horemheb, Ramesses I, and Seti I’s principal priorities after Akhenaten’s religious reform were to re-establish order in the kingdom and to reestablish Egypt’s authority over Canaan and Syria, which had been weakened by rising external pressures from the Hittite state. Seti fought the Hittites multiple times, and each time he did it with vigour and resolve. He reconquered most of the disputed lands for Egypt and often ended his military expeditions with triumphs, although failing to eliminate the Hittites as a possible threat to Egypt.
The legacy of Seti I’s military victories was preserved in a series of colossal pictures on the façade of Karnak’s Amun temple. Seti had a burial temple built for him at what is now known as Qurna (Seti I’s Mortuary Temple), on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes, while his son began and finished a beautiful white limestone temple at Abydos with superb relief sculptures. Memphis was his capital. His peers regarded him as a brilliant monarch, but his legacy has been eclipsed by that of his son, Ramesses II, since ancient times.
Seti’s military campaigns
During Seti’s rule, his extensive military expertise was crucial. Many military missions into Syria and Libya were directly conducted by him. He attempted to restore Egypt’s empire to its former splendour during the 18th dynasty by expanding it to the east. His armies were the first Egyptian army to engage in combat with the Hittites, preventing them from entering Egypt.
Seti was known to Egyptians as the “Repeater of Births,” implying that he ushered in a new period of order and restoration. Between the reigns of Tutankhamen and Seti I, almost 30 years had passed. During this time, the pharaohs worked on restoring not just the empire, but also the reliefs that had been defaced during King Akhenaten’s rule. Due to his labelling of repairs with his name, Egyptologists consider Seti I to be the most well-known of all the restorer pharaohs. Many of Seti’s repairs and expansions are regarded continuations of previous kings’ work that had been left unfinished. He carried on his father’s work on the huge Hypostyle hall at Karnak. He also started building the Great Temple of Abydos, but left it to his son to finish.
The Temple of Seti I at Abydos
This temple is made up of seven sanctuaries that are lined up in a row, each devoted to a different deity (the southernmost of which honours Pharaoh Seti I of the 19th Dynasty). The building’s aim was to serve as a funeral shrine for Seti I, as evidenced by the building’s name: “The home of millions of years of the King Men-Ma’at-Re [Seti I], who is pleased at Abydos.” Despite the fact that he was buried at Thebes’ Valley of the Kings, Seti followed the royal practise of building a second funeral complex in Abydos, the Egyptian deity Osiris’ cult centre.
This temple’s bas-reliefs are among the best preserved from ancient Egypt, with many retaining the original paintwork. The raised relief design carved on beautiful white limestone under Seti I evokes a classical, conventional style. Horus, Isis, Osiris, Amen-Re, Re-Horakhty, and Ptah are among the Egyptian gods honoured in the temple from north to south. This joint commitment might be explained by Seti resuming the worship of Egypt’s old gods after the Amarna era. The “king’s gallery” also reflects the aftermath of the Amarna era. The names of Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, and Tutankhamun are absent from this list of genuine pharaohs from Egyptian history, as if their reigns were erased from history.
Death and burial
In October of 1817, archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni uncovered Seti I’s tomb. The tomb, which is located in the Valley of the Kings in western Thebes, has an outstanding exhibition of tomb paintings that cover the walls, columns, and ceilings. Researchers can learn a lot from the paintings and bas reliefs since they are loaded of symbolism and significance.
The tomb was regarded by Belzoni to be the best of all the pharaohs’ tombs. Long hallways used to confound tomb robbers, while hidden tunnels revealed secret apartments. Seti’s sarcophagus and mummy were gone, despite the magnificent tomb. The ultimate resting location of Seti I would take archaeologists 70 years to discover. Seti’s mummy was discovered in the mummy hoard at Deir el-Bahri in 1881. His grave had been looted and his body disturbed throughout antiquity, according to damage to his alabaster coffin. His mummy had been damaged, but it had been restored and rewrapped with care. Seti died of unknown circumstances before reaching the age of forty, according to his mummy. Some researchers assume he died of a heart-related ailment. During mummification, most pharaohs’ hearts stayed intact. Seti’s mummified heart was discovered on the wrong side of his body, leading to the speculation that it had been moved to rid it of sickness.
F.A.Q
1294 BC
Several incidents happened during Seti I’s reign that had an influence on Ancient Egypt’s way of life. Seti accomplished a lot to improve Ancient Egypt’s wealth; he was also a superb function Object() { [native code] }, erecting several structures throughout his reign and considerably expanding Ancient Egypt’s territory.
He reinforced the boundary, opened mines and quarries, dug wells, and renovated temples and shrines that had fallen into disrepair or been destroyed; he also completed his father’s work on the huge hypostyle hall at Karnak, which is one of Egypt’s most remarkable architectural structures.
On October 17, 1817, Belzoni discovered his most important discovery: the tomb of Ramesses’ father, Seti I, which had 10 beautifully painted rooms and hundreds of hieroglyphs, as well as Seti’s finely carved white alabaster coffin.
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