The "Lost" Obelisks and Colossi of Seti I

commemorate the opening of new quarries for the production of a number of obelisks and colossal statues, the latter to be made in black granite.1 By year nine, construction of many of Seti's building projects was nearing completion and the king now made plans to embellish them with statuary and other stone furnishings such as obelisks.2 Only a relatively small number of statues of Seti I are known to us.3 Although most of these are in black granodiorite and can be dated to the later part of Seti's reign on stylistic grounds, none of them are the colossal statues mentioned in the two inscriptions.4 Of the monuments referred to on the larger Aswan stela, only the Flaminian obelisk (now in Rome), can be identified (figs. 1-2).5 Its decoration clearly indicates that it was destined for a Heliopolitan venue, since the scenes on all four faces of its pyramidion and the base and upper part of its shaft portray Re-Horakhty and the other Heliopolitan sun gods Atum and Khepri. So, by the end of Seti's reign, at least one obelisk had been quarried, moved to Heliopolis and decorated on three of its four sides. Its texts proclaim the king's intention to magnify the temple of Re in general and with obelisks in particular.6 It has long been recognized that the Flaminian obelisk was part of Seti's grand design to aggrandize the main temple of Re in Heliopolis, which is commemorated in a temple model found at Tel el-Yahudiya.7 As restored, this model represents a pylon gateway and court embellished with two colossal statues, a pair of obelisks and an avenue of sphinxes. A sandstone doorjamb, originally from Heliopolis and now in Alexandria, may originally have come from this same gateway.8 A large block bearing Seti's name, now also in Alexandria where it supports Pompey's pillar, may also have belonged to the same building.9 To date, however, no trace of the Flaminian obelisk's companion has been found. Habachi published a fragment of a much smaller, unfinished obelisk of Seti I in the quarries at Aswan consisting of the upper part of its shaft and pyramidion (figs. 3-4).10 The fragment seems to have been extracted and partially dressed. Some decoration was also carved on three faces

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Egyptology · Political science · Politics · Reign · Temple · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Near East History · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Law