Life of Sethos
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Italic title Life of Sethos, Taken from Private Memoirs of the Ancient Egyptians (Template:Langx) is an influential fantasy novel originally published in six volumes at Paris in 1731 by the French abbé Jean Terrasson. An English translation by Thomas Lediard published at London by J. Walthoe appeared in 1732.[1]
According to classicist Mary Lefkowitz, Sethos: Template:Quotation
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[2] and George James's Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy Is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy.[3]
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.[4]
History
The Greek historian Herodotus in his Histories (book II, chapter 141) writes of a High Priest of Ptah named Sethos (Template:Langx 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.[5][6] According to Herodotus: Template:Quotation
See also
- Thamos, King of Egypt, an 18th-century play also set in ancient Egypt
References
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- ↑ Template:Cite DNB
- ↑ Mary R. Lefkowitz, Guy MacLean Rogers (eds.), Black Athena Revisited, UNC Press Books, 1996, p. 358.
- ↑ BOOKS ATTACKING AFROCENTRISM, John Elson, Time, Feb. 19, 1996
- ↑ Great Awful Books, Charles Paul Freund, Oct. 17, 1996, Slate
- ↑ Robert B. Strassler (ed.), The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories (Anchor, 2007), p. 182
- ↑ Alan B. Lloyd, Commentary on Book II, in A Commentary on Herodotus, Books I–IV (Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 237.
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External links
- Tomes I and II of The Life of Sethos (French)
- The Life of Sethos, Volume I in the 1732 (English translation)
- 1777 German translation of the Volume I of The Life of Sethos
- Séthos – Abbé Jean Terrasson, réédition (French)
- Sethos, tragédie nouvelle dédiée au grand Corneille, by Alexandre Tanevot, 1740 tragedy inspired by Terrasson's novel