Seti I: The warrior pharaoh who rebuilt a great empire
Seti I was the warrior pharaoh who rebuilt Egypt's empire before Ramses the Great – and history has largely forgotten him. Here's why he should be remembered.
Image: Inside the tomb of Seti I | stock.adobe.com
It’s easy to underestimate how long Ancient Egypt actually lasted: more than 3,000 years. In that time, the Egyptian empire’s fortunes went through a lot of peaks and troughs. One undoubted low point was the ‘heretic’ pharaoh Akhenaten’s reckless upending of many longstanding religious customs.
Even after Akhenaten’s death in the 1330s BC, Egypt took decades to recover from the political instability he unleashed. Around 1303 BC, the accession of Ramses II – ‘the Great’ – ushered in a new golden age. However, much of the groundwork for Egypt’s recovery had already been laid by Ramses’ father and predecessor, Seti I.
Excelling on the battlefield? Expanding the empire’s boundaries? Building stunning, towering monuments? Seti did it all, practically establishing the blueprint for his now much more famous son’s reign. As Sky HISTORY’s Raiders of the Lost Pharaohs highlights extraordinary rulers from ancient Egyptian times, available from Monday 28 September, here’s how Seti blazed a surprisingly lengthy trail.
Decades of political instability
Every political leader has their own distinct way of ruling, and ancient Egyptian pharaohs were no different. Akhenaten’s rise in the 1350s BC might have initially looked inauspicious, especially as he was the 10th pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. In the event, his religious changes turned out to be a little too adventurous, at least for his own subjects.
The ancient Egyptians had long been accustomed to worshipping multiple gods. Now, Akhenaten insisted that they worship only one, Aten. This shellshock switch from a ‘polytheistic’ to a ‘monotheistic’ religion was later reversed, starting under Tutankhamun. Ancient Egyptians after Akhenaten even scrubbed him from historical records.
Later pharaohs struggled to sire heirs. The 18th Dynasty’s last pharaoh, Horemheb, is thought to have been born a commoner. After his death, the throne went to his vizier Paramessu, who reigned as Ramses I of the 19th Dynasty. His rule lasted for only about two years in the 1290s BC before his son succeeded him as Seti I. The exact start and end dates of Seti’s reign are unknown, but 1290 BC to 1279 BC is a popularly cited timeframe.
Seti I’s military prowess
Traditionally, Akhenaten is seen as having presided over territorial losses for the Egyptian empire. How accurate is this perception? It is questionable how much direct control Egypt really had over its supposed border areas. In any case, Seti I’s triumphs on the battlefield did expand the empire’s geographic sphere of influence.
Seti’s greatest triumph in this respect is widely regarded to be his capture of Kadesh. This Syrian stronghold had stubbornly remained part of the Hittite Empire since Akhenaten’s time. So, once Seti finally made the breakthrough, he wasn’t going to let the Kadesh natives forget it. To this end, he put up a victory stela on the site, where archaeologists would later come across it.
Seti did not keep hold of Kadesh for long, as he was unable to effectively garrison an area so close to Hittite land. Ramses later tried but failed to recapture Kadesh during his own reign. Seti is known to have also waged war in Libya, Nubia and Canaan. How do we know? Because Seti commissioned monuments recording and commemorating many of his impressive battlefield victories.
How Seti I built here, there and everywhere
During his stint on the Egyptian throne, Seti I went ahead with construction work on many monuments, including the Great Hypostyle Hall. This site in Karnak is now a popular tourist destination, with wall carvings depicting several of Seti’s military activities. These include repelling Shasu nomads causing trouble along the fortified ‘Way of Horus’ route linking Egypt to the Levant.
The ‘Temple of Seti I’, located in Abydos, was also (unsurprisingly) built at Seti’s behest, even if he didn’t quite see it completed. That privilege was left to his son Ramses II, who added inscriptions to the temple. As for Seti I’s tomb, it’s one of the largest, deepest and most decorated of the many in Egypt’s famed Valley of the Kings.
Though Italian archaeologist Giovanni Belzoni discovered the tomb in 1817, Seti I’s mummy had actually been interred elsewhere. It would be 1881 before it was found in the royal cache near Luxor. Examination of the mummy suggests that Seti had not even reached the age of 40 when he died around 1279 BC. The death may have resulted from an unexpected cardiac ailment.
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