FRAGMENT OF THE RAMESSIDE STELA FROM TELL EL-RETABA

• Authors: Hudáková Ľubica , Hudec Jozef
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The fragment of a cream white limestone stela was found by accident at Tell el-Retaba during the season 2014. Its preserved shape is 22.5 cm x 25 cm. The frontal side of the stela is bordered by a rounded line framing the area decorated in sunken relief. The decoration features an almost completely preserved sun disc with the protruding head of a uraeus oriented rightwards, apparently the crown of a deity. An inscription identifies the figure as the god Re-Harakhty. Opposite the crown, there are remains of a cartouche whose right half is lost; the signs wsr, stp and n makes it obvious that the name of a Ramesside ruler was written in the cartouche. The stela JE 72307, kept in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, provides important parallels for interpretation of the Tell el-Retabaʼs fragment. The decoration and the workmanship show crucial similarities. It may be assumed that the stela from Tell el-Retaba also bore the representation of Ramesses II offering flowers to Re-Harakhty. Both stelae clearly belong to the corpus of so-called ‘Horbeit stelae’, which were probably exhibited in houses. Probably they were most made at Qantir/Piramesse. It can only be assumed that the transfer to Tell el-Retaba took place in the Third Intermediate Period. A fragment of another ‘Horbeit stela’ was found at Tell el-Retaba in 1978 by Hans Goedickeʼs mission.

Keywords

EN

TELL EL-RETABA; HORBEIT; STELA; RE-HARAKHTY; RAMESSES II; EGYPT

• Publisher: Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Asian and African Studies
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 163 – 172

Contributors

author

Hudáková Ľubica

• Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

author

Hudec Jozef