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Life of Sethos
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Wikipedia article
'Life of Sethos, Taken from Private Memoirs of the Ancient Egyptians' is an influential fantasy novel originally published in six volumes at Paris in 1731 by the French 'abb' Jean Terrasson. An English translation by Thomas Lediard published at London by J. Walthoe appeared in 1732.
According to classicist Mary Lefkowitz, Sethos:
This eighteenth century work of fiction is a primary source of Afrocentrism and of the kind of black history found in such popular books as Martin Bernal's 'Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization'Mary R. Lefkowitz, Guy MacLean Rogers (eds.), 'Black Athena Revisited', UNC Press Books, 1996, p. 358. and George James's 'Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy Is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy'.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121026085741/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984143,00.html?iid=digg_share BOOKS ATTACKING AFROCENTRISM], John Elson, 'Time', Feb. 19, 1996
It is also a key source of a popular web of conspiracy theories positing a secret pagan subculture of Freemasons, devotees of Satan, and environmentalists dedicated to the overthrow of Christianity.[http://www.slate.com/id/3122/ Great Awful Books], Charles Paul Freund, Oct. 17, 1996, Slate
History
The Greek historian Herodotus in his 'Histories' (book II, chapter 141) writes of a High Priest of Ptah named Sethos ( 'Sethon') who became pharaoh and defeated the Assyrians with divine intervention. This name is probably a corruption of Shebitku (or Shabataka), the actual pharaoh at the time, who was a Kushite of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.Robert B. Strassler (ed.), 'The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories' (Anchor, 2007), p. 182Alan B. Lloyd, Commentary on Book II, in 'A Commentary on Herodotus, Books IIV' (Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 237. According to Herodotus:
See also
* 'Thamos, King of Egypt', an 18th-century play also set in ancient Egypt
References
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