Seti I

Menmaatra Sethy, or Seti I, son of Ramesses I and Sitra, was the second pharaoh of the 19th dynasty; he ruled some fifteen years, from c. 1294 to 1279 B.C. C. In other chronologies his reign is estimated between the years 1318 a. C. -1304 a. C., or between 1305 B.C. C. - 1289 a. C.

Origins

He was a soldier, like his father, born in the Nile delta region, in the Avaris area. His name comes from Seth, the god of war, weapons and the army, to whom Seti I served as a priest before becoming a soldier.

Not much is known about Seti I's youth, but about his reign. His father becoming Horemheb's vizier and later pharaoh, he was soon associated with the throne, but by then he was of middle age. In his first year of solo rule, he launched into the reckless conquest of Palestine, Syria, and Phoenicia, which had either gained their independence during the reign of Akhenaten or had been conquered by the fearsome Hittites, Egypt's traditional enemies. Seti's campaigns to the south of these territories were a resounding success, unparalleled since the times of Thutmosis III and Amenhotep II, but he did not dare to go further north due to the advance of Hittite rule.

Reign

On his accession, Seti was already a family man, and his lifelong wife, Tuya, was not promoted to the rank of Great Royal Wife until his death. It has been assumed that Seti I was husband of the obscure Tanedyemy, a queen from the beginning of the dynasty, whose affiliation we do not know, but who was probably the daughter of Horemheb and the link between the 18th and 19th dynasties, which gave legitimacy to the reign of the new dynasty and which explains why his wife, Tuya, was not promoted to Great Royal Wife until his death.

Horemheb, Ramses I and Seti I had to pacify and reorder Egypt, another of their conquests being to dominate the powerful priests of Amun, who after the end of Akhenaten's revolution had once again become too powerful. One success in this silent battle was preventing the sons from inheriting the position. At the same time, the cult of the other traditional gods was promoted (prohibiting, of course, mentioning the god Aten), especially the god Seth, whose temple was restored in Avaris. It was precisely under Seti I that the real persecution towards the memory of Akhenaten began, and his unfinished capital, Akhetaten, began to be demolished.

Seti I exploited the gold mines of Nubia on a large scale with the aim of strengthening his treasury and making his large construction projects viable. At first he failed in this objective when he could not find water in the new wells that he had opened in around the Wadi-el Alaki mine in Lower Nubia. He believes that his son Ramses II would continue and finally succeed in finding the layer of water about 12 cubits below the previous excavation. In Upper Nubia, Seti I built a city at Amara-West, about 180 km south of Wadi-al-Alaki. It is believed that he also built the temple of Amun at Djebel Barkal, near Kereima.

The 19th dynasty had been born as a true family of warrior kings, of clear military origin. Seti's successor, the future Ramses II, would not be an exception, and it was due to the immense fame that this pharaoh gained that the memory of Seti I has reached us, undeservedly, somewhat diminished. Also the XIX dynasty, especially in its beginnings, was a royal house that promoted large constructions, and only the relatively short reigns of Ramses I and Seti I prevented the completion of colossal monuments that Ramses II would later claim as his own.

Offspring

The descendants of Seti I at his marriage to Tuya were:

• Nebchasetnebet (1305 BC-1289 BC), son of Tuya
• Amennefernebes
• Tia or Tiya (1307 B.C.-?)
• Henutmira or Henutmire, possibly daughter of Tuya
• Ramses II (c. 1300 BC-1213 BC), son of Tuya

Burial

Momia de Seti I at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Seti died around the age of 40, after a reign very similar, even in duration, to that of Thutmosis I, around 13-16 years. He was succeeded by his son Ramses II, with whom he had established a coregency to ensure the peaceful succession.

Seti's mummy, one of the best preserved, was found in 1881 in the Deir el-Bahari cache and has been kept ever since in the Cairo Museum. the mummy do not shed light on the reasons for his early death, although it is believed that he suffered from a vascular disease that caused his heart to malfunction. In fact, it was found to the right of her body, which is why it is thought that Pharaoh ordered that, at her death, it be placed on the opposite side so that it would function correctly in the next life. Although other experts believe that this could have been a mistake by the mummifiers.

The tomb of Seti (KV17) is one of the largest in the Valley of the Kings and one of the most beautiful. It was discovered on October 16, 1817 by Belzoni. His sarcophagus, one of the most beautiful found in Egypt, is currently in the Sir John Soane Museum in London.

Testimonies of his time

He erected temples and his name appears on various monuments and inscriptions:

Sethy I Temple in Abidos.

• Temple and cenotaph in Abidos (Frankfort 1933 - cenotaph; Kitchen 1975:129 - 199 - inscriptions)
• Buildings in the temple of Karnak, with a long series of scenes and inscriptions of the king's wars (Kitchen 1975:6 - 32)
• Main temple for the cult of the king, in Luxor, West Thebes (Petrie 1909:13 - 14, p. XLIII-XLVI, Osing 1977)
• Found Blocks in Elefantina (Junge 1987:48 - 50)
• Mentioned in several inscriptions near Aswan (from Morgan 1894:20. 123-124; 28.5)
• Registrations in the Artemidos Speos (Hatshepsut time in Beni Hasan) (Kitchen 1975:41 - 44)
• Calcite trail found in Karnak (Cairo CG 34501) (Kitchen 1975:38 - 39)
• Statue in El Kab (El Kab 1940: pl. 33)
• Tomb in the valley of Jezrael, near Nazareth, of a high Egyptian official with the seal of Seti I found in 2014.

Degree

Name of Horus:

k) n)t) m w)st (Kanajt Jaemuaset Seanjtauy) Victorious bull manifested in Thebes

Name of Nebty:

uhm mswt s 9m 9ps dr pdt 9 (Uehemmesut Sejemjepesh Derpedyetpesdyet) The one who reborns, powerful who submits to the Nine Arcos (foreign villages)

Name of Hor-Nub:

whm ww wsr ḳdwt m t mw nbw (Uehemjau Ueserpedyutemtaunebu) The one who reappears [glorious] of power over the arches (enemies) in all lands

Name of Nesut-Bity:

mn m)t r) (Menmaatra) Signature is Ra's Justice (Maat)

Name of Sa-Ra:

sthy mr n ptḥ (Sethy Merenptah) The God of Seth, Beloved of Ptah