Seti I

Seti I, son of Ramesses I and Queen Sitre, became the second king of the 19th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Seti followed in his father's military footsteps, taking three divisions of 60,000 men into battle on a campaign in Asia, and reoccupying Egyptian posts and garrisoned cities in the Syrian territory. He plundered Palestine and brought Damascus back into Egyptian control. Proving himself a shrewd political tactician, he also reconciled with the Hittites who were fast becoming the most powerful state in the nation.

With his first son and heir, Ramesses II, Seti campaigned against Kadesh. In Karnak he completed his father's plan by converting the court between the second and third pylons into a vast hypostle hall. He built his vast mortuary complex at Abydos and went on to build his own tomb in Thebes, located in the Valley of the Kings. Cut 300 feet into the cliffs, it was the largest tomb in the area. Buried with him were over 700 Shabti - carved stone or wooden figures that were to accompany him to the afterlife to comply with the requests from the gods. His tomb in the Valley of the Kings was vandalised and his body was relocated to Deir el Bahri.

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Related artefacts

Ramesses II - Burrell, granite , Stela of Penbuy, Column From Tomb of Seti I, Four baboons adoring the rising sun, Bust of Nefertiry, Limestone stela with a seated figure of Akhenaten, Bust of Ramesses II, Ritual Figures of King Tut Hunting a Hippopotamus, King Tut's Canopic Chest, Statue of Amenemhat III, Papyrus of Hunefer, Statue of the god Bes, Vase in the form of Bes, Statue of the goddess Sekhmet, Statue of Nakhthorheb kneeling in prayer