17 Facts About Seti I

Seti I was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II.

Seti I's better known nomen, or birth name, is transliterated as "sty mry-n-pth" or Sety Merenptah, meaning "Man of Set, beloved of Ptah".

Seti I was considered a great king by his peers, but his fame has been overshadowed since ancient times by that of his son, Ramesses II.

Brand aptly notes that this evidence calls into question the idea of a 15 Year reign for Seti I and suggests that "Seti died after a ten to eleven year reign" because only two years would have passed between the opening of the Rock Quarries and the partial completion and decoration of these monuments.

Seti I made great barges for transporting them, and ships crews to match them for ferrying them from the quarry.

The German Egyptologist Jurgen von Beckerath accepts that Seti I's reign lasted only 11 Years.

Seti I's highest known date is Year 11, IV Shemu day 12 or 13 on a sandstone stela from Gebel Barkal but he would have briefly survived for 2 to 3 days into his Year 12 before dying based on the date of Ramesses II's rise to power.

Seti I fought a series of wars in western Asia, Libya and Nubia in the first decade of his reign.

At some unknown point in his reign, Seti I defeated Libyan tribesmen who had invaded Egypt's western border.

Seti I was successful in defeating a Hittite army that tried to defend the town.

Seti I entered the city in triumph together with his son Ramesses II and erected a victory stela at the site which has been found by archaeologists.

The traditional view of Seti I's wars was that he restored the Egyptian empire after it had been lost in the time of Akhenaten.

Seti I's well preserved tomb was found in 1817 by Giovanni Battista Belzoni, in the Valley of the Kings; it proved to be the longest at 446 feet and deepest of all the New Kingdom royal tombs.

From an examination of Seti's extremely well-preserved mummy, Seti I appears to have been less than forty years old when he died unexpectedly.

Seti I's mummy was found decapitated, but this was likely caused after his death by tomb robbers.

Around Year 9 of his reign, Seti I appointed his son Ramesses II as the crown prince and his chosen successor, but the evidence for a coregency between the two kings is likely illusory.

Peter J Brand stresses in his thesis that relief decorations at various temple sites at Karnak, Qurna and Abydos, which associate Ramesses II with Seti I, were actually carved after Seti's death by Ramesses II himself and, hence, cannot be used as source material to support a co-regency between the two monarchs.