How the west was won. Around 1298 BCE, King Sety I (Men-ma’at-Ra) attacked the peoples of modern-day Libya and, in a supposedly swift victory, took many captives back to Egypt. The relationship between Libyans and ancient Egyptians is complicated, but we go in search of some answers…

• Date: c.1298 BCE (Sety I, year 6).


• Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.


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• Music intro/outro: “Godzilla theme” by Akira Ifukube, cover version by Luke Chaos.


• Music interludes by: Keith Zizza, Luke Chaos.


• Sety’s War Reliefs at Karnak: Available in Open Access at The University of Chicago.

Select Bibliography:

• P. J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis (2000).


• P. J. Brand, Ramesses II: Egypt’s Ultimate Pharaoh (2023).


• W. A. Cooney, ‘Egypt’s Encounter with the West: Race, Culture and Identity’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, University of Durham (2011).


• A. Dodson, Sethy I King of Egypt: His Life and Afterlife (2019).


• A. A. el Magd, ‘Dehumanization of the “Other:” Animal Metaphors of Defeated Enemies in the New Kingdom Military Texts’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 52 (2016), 329–341.


• H. El Saady, ‘The Wars of Sety I at Karnak: A New Chronological Structure’, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 19 (1992), 285–94.


• R. O. Faulkner, ‘The Wars of Sethos I’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 33 (1947), 34–9.


• J. C. M. García, ‘Ḥwt jḥ(w)t, The Administration of the Western Delta and the “Libyan Question” in the Third Millennium BC’, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 101 (2015), 69–105.


• K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Historical and Biographical, I (Oxford, 1975).


• K. A. Kitchen, ‘The Arrival of the Libyans in Late New Kingdom Egypt’, in A. Leahy (ed.), Libya and Egypt c.1300–750 BC (1990), 15–27.


• K. A. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations Volume I: Ramesses I, Sethos I and Contemporaries (Second Publication edn, 2017).


• E. F. Morris, The Architecture of Imperialism: Military Bases and the Evolution of Foreign Policy in Egypt’s New Kingdom (2005).


• W. J. Murnane, The Road to Kadesh: A Historical Interpretation of the Battle Reliefs of King Sety I at Karnak (1985).


• D. O’Connor, ‘The Nature of Tjemhu (Libyan) Society in the Later New Kingdom’, in A. Leahy (ed.), Libya and Egypt c.1300–750 BC (1990), 29–113.


• A. J. Spalinger, ‘The Northern Wars of Seti I: An Integrative Study’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 16 (1979), 29–47.


• A. J. Spalinger, War in Ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom (2005).


• The Epigraphic Survey, Medinet Habu, Volume I. Earlier Historical Records of Ramses III (1930).


• The Epigraphic Survey, Medinet Habu, Volume II. The Later Historical Records of Ramses III (1932).


• The Epigraphic Survey, Reliefs and Inscriptions at Karnak Volume 4: The Battle Reliefs of King Sety I (1986).

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