Something I was so excited to see in the British Museum was the Abydos King List. There are two surviving King Lists from temples ๐๐๐๐ช at Abydos, the cult center of Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ. One temple ๐๐๐ is from Seti I ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ , and the other from his son Rameses II ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ด๐, who were both pharaohs ๐๐ป๐ฅ during the 19th Dynasty. Seti Iโs ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ list is still in the temple ๐๐๐ at Abydos, while Rameses IIโs ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ด๐ was excavated and brought to the British Museum.
While neither list is a 100% complete list, there are some glaring holes in the list – Hatshepsut ๐๐ ๐๐น๐๐๐๐ผ๐ช, Akhenaten ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐, Smenkhare ๐ณ๐๐ป๐๐ฆ๐ฃ, Tutankhamun ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ฑ๐๐น๐พ๐บ๐, and Ayโs ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐น๐๐ cartouches are missing. Obviously, these names were left off because these pharaohs ๐๐ป๐ฅ are considered non-legitimate. Hatshepsut ๐๐ ๐๐น๐๐๐๐ผ๐ช was the female pharaoh ๐๐ป, and Akhenaten-Ay is considered the Amarna Period, which was not well liked due to the drama of Akhenaten ๐๐๐๐ณ๐ ๐๐ changing the religion and moving the capital of Egypt ๐๐ ๐๐. In the picture ๐๐ ฑ๐, Iโm pointing to where Hatshepsutโs ๐๐ ๐๐น๐๐๐๐ผ๐ช name ๐๐ should be!
The point of the King Lists was not to preserve history for future generations, rather the main objective was to glorify the gods ๐น๐น๐น, and as we know, pharaohs ๐๐ป๐ฅ were considered gods ๐น๐น๐น on Earth. These lists allowed Seti I ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ and Rameses II ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ด๐ to assert their legitimacy amongst the old pharaohs ๐๐ป๐ฅ of Egypt ๐๐ ๐๐.