187: The Abydos King List

Sety in Abydos (Part 2). Having toured the first part of Sety’s Temple at Abydos, we continue our exploration. Today, we discuss one of the monument’s most famous features: a King List, presenting a (supposedly) uninterrupted record of rulers up to Sety’s day. In truth, the Abydos King List is complex, with omissions and inclusions that don’t quite match scholars’ archaeological and historical information. What was Sety trying to achieve, with this curious feature? We explore…

This is part 2 in our tour of the temple. We have already visited the Hypostyle Halls, Seven Chapels, and Osiris Complex. In future episodes, we will discuss the Osireion, the secondary features of the monument, and the known priests/staff who managed it.

Images:

• Full-colour reproduction of the Abydos King List at Wonderful Things Art. Use checkout code EGYPTPODCAST for 30% off your order when purchasing 3-or-more items! Logo image by Wonderful Things Art.
• A.M. Calverley, The Temple of Sethos I at Abydos, 4 volumes, open access via Chicago University Publications.
• Wikimedia: Category: Temple of Seti I in Abydos.
• Flickr.com: Kairoinfo4u.
• Flickr.com: Heidi Kontkanen.

Details and sources:

• Read the Abydos King List at Wikipedia and Pharaoh.se.
• Date: c. 1300 BCE—1292 BCE (temple unfinished at Sety I death).
• Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.
• Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast.
• Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments.
• Music intro and interludes: Luke Chaos.
• Music interludes and outro: Keith Zizza.
• Sistrum interludes: Tahya / Hathor Systrum.
• Texts: Kenneth Kitchen's Ramesside Inscriptions volume 1. Hieroglyph versions at Internet Archive, English translations at Abercromby Press.
• Texts: Full texts of the temple, including transliteration and translation: Rosalie David, Temple Ritual at Abydos (2018) at Egypt Exploration Society.
• Peter Brand, Ramesses II: Egypt's Ultimate Pharaoh, out now from Lockwood Press.

Select Bibliography:

• P. J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis (2000).
• J. Capart, Abydos: Le Temple de Seti Ier (1912).
• A. S. G. Caulfield, The Temple of the Kings at Abydos (Sety I) (1989).
• R. David, Temple Ritual at Abydos (2018).
• C. Eyre, The Use of Documents in Pharaonic Egypt (2013).
• H. W. Fairman, ‘The Kingship Rituals of Egypt’, in S. Hooke (ed.), Myth, ritual, and kingship: essays on the theory and practice of kingship in the ancient Near East and in Israel (1958), 74–104.
• K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Notes and Comments, I (1993).
• K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations Volume I: Ramesses I, Sethos I and Contemporaries (Second Publication edn, 2017).
• H. H. Nelson, ‘Certain Reliefs at Karnak and Medinet Habu and the Ritual of Amenophis I’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 8 (1949), 201–32, 310–45.
• D. B. Redford, Pharaonic King-Lists, Annals, and Day-Books: A Contribution to the Study of the Egyptian Sense of History (1986).
• K. Ryholt, ‘The Turin King-List’, Ägypten und Levante / Egypt and the Levant 14 (2004), 135–55.
• O. Sety and H. el Zeini, Abydos: Holy City of Ancient Egypt (1981).

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