“Sethy I – King of Egypt” Aidan Dodson, 1st June 2020

Click here to download a review of this talk.

King Sethy I ruled for around a decade in the early thirteenth century BC. His lifetime coincided with a critical point in Egyptian history, following the ill-starred religious revolution of Akhenaten, and heralding the last phase of Egypt’s imperial splendour. As the second scion of a wholly new royal family, his reign did much to set the agenda for the coming decades, both at home and abroad. Sethy was also a great builder, apparently with exquisite artistic taste, to judge from the unique quality of the decoration of his celebrated monuments at Abydos and Thebes. In this talk Aidan Dodson tells the story of Sethy’s career and monuments, not only in his own era, but also in more recent times, and the impact of his legacy on today’s understanding and appreciation of ancient Egypt.

Professor Aidan Dodson has taught at the University of Bristol since 1996, where he has been honorary Professor of Egyptology since 2018. A graduate of Liverpool and Cambridge Universities, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2003, and was Simpson Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo for spring 2013. He is the author of some 400 articles and reviews, and 25 books.

This talk was given at the June 2020 meeting of the Essex Egyptology Group, which was held at 3pm on 1st June 2020 online, via Zoom – click here to download a review of this talk.