The Four Races of Mankind from the Tomb of Seti I

This richly detailed wall scene, originally painted in the tomb of Seti I (KV17), presents two distinct groups of foreigners. The four men on the left, dark-skinned and clad in white garments with red sashes, are Nubians. Each of their cartouches contains the word nḥsj, meaning “Nubian,” occasionally accompanied by ḥqꜣ nḥsj, meaning “Chief of the Nubians”. This designation reflects their origin in the southern lands of Kush and their association with archery, a role the Egyptians often attributed to Nubian warriors.

To the right stand four light-skinned figures wearing elaborately patterned robes and feathered headdresses, iconic features of the Libyan tribes known to the Egyptians. The hieroglyphs above them read ṯḥnw (Tehenu), a term used to describe the western desert dwellers of Libya. Some captions elaborate with titles such as rmt ṯḥnw (“man of the Tehenu”) or ḥqꜣ ṯḥnw (“chief of the Tehenu”), identifying these individuals as representatives or leaders of their people. Their distinctive appearance (with tattoos, feathers, and flowing garments) reflects the Egyptian perception of their exotic western neighbours. Altogether, this scene symbolically portrays the submission of foreign lands to the might of the pharaoh, with the hieroglyphs carefully preserving each people’s identity and status within the Egyptian worldview.

Book of Gates

In the pillared hall of Seti I’s tomb, Chamber F, the lower register of the wall displays a solemn procession of four figures, each representing a distinct human population known to the Egyptians. These figures: an Egyptian (Reth), an Asiatic (Aamu), a Nubian (Nehesu), and a Libyan (Themehu), are carefully distinguished by their skin tones, garments, hairstyles, and facial features, in keeping with Egyptian visual conventions. Each is labelled with hieroglyphic inscriptions, identifying them not only by origin but also by their inclusion in the divine order of the cosmos.

This scene appears in the Fifth Hour of the night journey, the fourth division of the Book of Gates, where the sun god Ra, travelling through the underworld in his solar barque, encounters gates guarded by deities. Here, the four peoples are symbolically guided toward the afterlife, not as outsiders but as participants in the universal structure of creation. Their inclusion reflects the Egyptian concept of Ma’at (cosmic balance) demonstrating the pharaoh’s dominion not just over Egypt but over all the known world.

Notably, this is the earliest known instance of the so-called “Table of Nations” motif, where the races of mankind are depicted together in a funerary context. It is a visual expression of Egypt’s political reach and its belief in divine order, now preserved in exquisite painted reliefs on the walls of Seti I’s tomb. Photographs of this chamber reveal the vivid colours and careful rendering of the figures; each frozen in procession toward eternity, eternally recognised by their place in the ordered cosmos.