Pithom stele

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The pithom stele is a 1.28 meter high granite stele that was commissioned by Ptolemy II in Tell el-Maschuta . The stele was discovered by Edouard Naville in Tell el-Maschuta in 1883 and is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (CGC 22183).

The 28-line inscription, written in hieroglyphic script , reports the events between the 6th and 21st year of Ptolemy II's reign (279–264 BC). The text tells of a series of visits to the cities and temples in Wadi Tumilat , a campaign by Ptolemy II to Syria to bring back images of gods, of the fortification of the region and the expansion of the canal that connected the easternmost branch of the Nile with the Red Sea. In addition, there are reports of gifts to the temples, in particular to the Atum temple of Pithom ( Tell el-Maschuta ) and visits to the sacred bulls. Finally, the establishment of the ports of Arsinoe and Ptolemais Theron and the improvement of trade between the Red Sea and Egypt are mentioned. The stele was discussed particularly in relation to a campaign by Ptolemy II to Syria, which was mentioned in the text.

literature

  • Brugsch, Heinrich, Adolf Erman: Die Pithom-Stele, in: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 32 (1894), 74-87.
  • Kamal, A. Bey: Stèles ptolémaiques et romaines (CGC), Cairo 1904, 171-177 plate LVII.
  • Naville, Édouard: The Store-City of Pithom and the Route to the Exodus (EES 1), London 1885.
  • Naville, Édouard: La stèle de Pithom, in: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 40 (1902), 66-75.
  • Sethe, Kurt: Documents of the Greco-Roman Period (Urk. II), Leipzig 1904, 81-105.
  • Roeder, Günther (Ed.): The Egyptian Religion in Texts and Pictures, Vol. 1. The Egyptian world of gods (1959) 108-128 [German translation and commentary]
  • Thiers, Christophe: Ptolémée Philadelphe et les prêtres d'Atoum de Tjékou. Nouvelle édition commentée de la "stèle de Pithom" (CGC 22183) (Orientalia Monspeliensia XVII), Montpellier 2007.