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EC148 Stela belonging to a woman

EC148

This is a First Intermediate Period stela (note the woman standing in front of the man which shows that she was more important than him). For most of Egyptian history men are showing standing in front of women. 

The woman stands holding a long stemmed lotus in front of her. The dress she wears and the fact that the front part of the hair is striated, suggests that the piece is from Naqada (Fischer 1964, 52-53). 

The stela belongs to a woman, perhaps because many men had been killed during the First Intermediate Period, a time of civil war. The stela has the offering formula: An offering which the king gives, and Osiris in all his places gives, a voice offering, for the revered one offerings….’ The inclusion of the phrase ‘in all his places’ on the second line is typical of the 11th Dynasty (Bennet, CJC ‘Growth of the Htp di nsw formula in the Middle Kingdom’ JEA 27, 1941, 77-82).

Further Reading

Fischer, H.G. 1964. Inscriptions from the Coptite Nome Dynasties VI-XI. Rome. (number 35, pages 91, 92 and plate XXXI is similar).

 

 

Other stelae in the Egypt Centre

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