The temple of Seti I also known as the Great Temple of Abydos is one of the main historical sites in Abydos. The temple was built by pharaoh

Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c.1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and the father of Ramesses II. The ...

. At the rear of the temple there is the

Osireion __NOTOC__ The Osirion or Osireion is an ancient megalithic structure located at Abydos, to the rear of the Mortuary Temple of Seti I. Its original purpose is unknown. It is an integral part of Seti I's funeral complex and is possibly built to ...

. The temple is also notable for the Abydos graffiti, ancient Phoenician and Aramaic graffiti found on the temple walls.

Documentation

The temple was described by pioneer archaeologist

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

. The temple was documented in 1933 in a four-volume series entitled ''The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos''. The books were largely devoted to the exceptional copies of the temple's wall paintings done by Ms. Amice Calverley. Abydos Galerie der Listen 03

Abydos King List

The long list of the pharaohs of the principal dynasties—recognized by Seti—are carved on a wall and known as the "Abydos King List". There were significant names deliberately left off of the list. As an almost complete list of pharaoh names, the Table of Abydos, rediscovered by

William John Bankes William John Bankes (11 December 1786 – 15 April 1855) was an English politician, explorer, Egyptologist and adventurer. The second, but first surviving, son of Henry Bankes MP, he was a member of the Bankes family of Dorset and he had Sir Ch ...

, has been called the "Rosetta Stone" of Egyptian archaeology, analogous to the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts are in Ancien ...

for Egyptian writing, beyond the

Narmer Palette The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, belonging, at least nominally, to the category of cosmetic palettes. ...

.Misty Cryer, "Travellers in Egypt – William John Bankes" (2006), TravellersinEgypt.org, web
TravEgypt-WJB
: re-discovered Table of Abydos.

Helicopter hieroglyphs

The "helicopter" image is the result of carved stone being re-used over time. The initial carving was made during the reign of

and translates to "He who repulses the nine nemies of Egypt. This carving was later filled in with plaster and re-carved during the reign of

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as ...

with the title "He who protects Egypt and overthrows the foreign countries". Over time, the plaster has eroded away, leaving both inscriptions partially visible and creating a

palimpsest In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...

-like effect of overlapping hieroglyphs.

Dorothy Eady

Dorothy Louise Eady, also known as Omm Sety (16 January 1904 – 21 April 1981), was keeper of the Temple of Seti I in Abydos.

Notes

Egyptian temples Seti I Abydos, Egypt sites {{AncientEgypt-stub