Sety I (Part 4).
Catching Up with the Kadeshians. Around 1300 BCE (chronology uncertain), Sety led another campaign into the north. This time, the pharaoh of Egypt marched into Canaan, Lebanon, and Syria. In the process, he visited local chieftains, went “shopping” for luxury items, and then launched a daring attack on Kadesh…
Details and sources:
- Date: c. 1300 BCE.
- Intro Music: Bettina Joy de Guzman.
- Interludes: Keith Zizza.
- Outro music and interludes: Luke Chaos.
- Sety’s Battle Reliefs at Karnak, published by The Epigraphic Survey of The University of Chicago: Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak, Volume IV: The Battle Reliefs of King Sety I | Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (uchicago.edu).
- Texts: Kenneth Kitchen’s Ramesside Inscriptions volume 1. Hieroglyph versions at Internet Archive, English translations at Abercromby Press.
- Peter Brand, Ramesses II: Egypt’s Ultimate Pharaoh, out now from Lockwood Press.
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The likely locations of Sety’s battles.
Sety’s battle against the Shasu, colourised according to traces of pigment (Exhibition: Egypt – In the Time of Pharaohs at Auckland Museum).
Sety in battle against Yenoam (Epigraphic Survey, Battle Reliefs).
Sety oversees tree-cutting in Lebanon (Epigraphic Survey, Battle Reliefs).
The battle for Kadesh, under Sety I (Epigraphic Survey, Battle Reliefs).
Sety’s victory stela, excavated at Kadesh (Wikimedia).
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Bibliography
- M. R. Abbas, ‘The Town of Yenoam in the Ramesside War Scenes and Texts of Karnak’, Cahiers de Karnak 16 (2017), 329–341.
- S. Aḥituv, Canaanite Toponyms in Ancient Egyptian Documents (1984).
- P. J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis (2000).
- P. J. Brand, Ramesses II: Egypt’s Ultimate Pharaoh (2023).
- T. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites (2005).
- T. Bryce, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire (2009).
- T. R. Bryce, Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History (2014).
- T. R. Bryce, Warriors of Anatolia: A Concise History of the Hittites (2019).
- A. Dodson, Sethy I King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife (2019).
- H. El-Saady, ‘The Wars of Sety I at Karnak: A New Chronological Structure’, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 19 (1992), 285–94.
- R. O. Faulkner, ‘The Wars of Sethos I’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 33 (1947), 34–9.
- K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Notes and Comments, I (1993).
- K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations, I (2017).
- W. J. Murnane, The Road to Kadesh: A Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak (1985).
- N. Na’aman, ‘Yeno’am’, Tel Aviv 4 (1977), 168–77.
- D. B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (1992).
- A. Spalinger, Aspects of the Military Documents of the Ancient Egyptians (1982).
- A. J. Spalinger, ‘The Northern Wars of Seti I: An Integrative Study’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 16 (1979), 29–47.
- A. J. Spalinger, War in Ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom (2005).
- The Epigraphic Survey, Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak Volume 4: The Battle Reliefs of King Sety I (1986).
- W. Wreszinski, Atlas zur altaegyptischen Kulturgeschichte (1988).
Wonderful episode! I appreciate the posted images and the map you included (special shout-out for any and all maps!).
Through your efforts, Dominic!
Dominic,
I’ve had a note-to-self for some time that once you resume the narrative–which I think you have just done with Episode 191–I should re-listen to previous episodes. A few days ago, I began that process with Episode #177. I am very much enjoying hearing your episodes again. Great stuff!
I just re-listened to this episode about the campaign and battle at Kadesh. I had forgotten that I had left the above note. I completely agree with my positive first line. Also, I have no clue what I was trying to write with “Through your efforts, Dominic!” I’m guessing, something such as “Through your efforts, my general knowledge of antiquity has been vastly improved, Dominic!” Sorry for the incoherence (insert embarrassed emoticon here).
Also, at the very end of this episode, you mentioned a Ridley Scott movie that employed a “shaky camera” technique. I just loath that technique. I derisively refer to it as “the camera man badly needed to use the restroom” technique. I commonly yell at the screen “hold the camera still!”…just before switching to another show.
Anyway, thank you for all your great work!
In one of Seti I’s war reliefs, there is apparently someone named Mehy, who is carved over by the Crown Prince Ramesses. Other than some speculation that this guy was Moses, I haven’t found any real research into who he was except that he was once thought to be a disgraced older brother. Is there any scholarly research on Mehy?
Yes 🙂 I’ll be covering this in an upcoming narrative episode