The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the 13th Century BC

by Colleen Manassa Darnell

The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah's 5th regnal year, the longest surviving continuous monumental text from Egypt, describes the combined Libyan and Sea People invasion of Egypt c.1208 BCE. This new study, the first complete commentary on this long but unfortunately damaged text, begins with a translation of the text, accompanied by detailed notes. The study considers specific military aspects of the inscription alongside its religious background. A grammatical analysis of the Great Karnak Inscription also sheds new light on the grammar of Ramesside monumental texts.

Genres: Egyptology

210 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Also credited as: Colleen Manassa, Colleen Darnell, John and Colleen Darnell

Dr. Colleen Darnell is an American Egyptologist known for her Instagram account Vintage Egyptologist as well as a YouTube channel of the same name that she runs with her husband and fellow Egyptologist John Darnell.

She has made numerous contributions and discoveries to the study of Egyptian history and has appeared in documentaries as an expert of the field, including on the Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, the Science Channel, and Smithsonian, as well as appeared in National Geographic’s “Lost Treasures of Egypt.”

Colleen teaches art history at the University of Hartford and Naugatuck Valley Community College; she has curated a major museum exhibit on Egyptian revival art and design at the Yale Peabody Museum.