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The Royal Funerary Stelae of the First Two Dynasties in Abydos. the "Stela" of King Den Reconsidered (RMAH, Brussels, Inv

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The Royal Funerary Stelae of the First Two Dynasties in Abydos. the The Royal Funerary Stelae of the First Two Dynasties in Abydos. The "stela" of King Den reconsidered (RMAH, Brussels, inv. E.562)∗ Cet article est la traduction anglaise d’une étude publiée en 2013 : VANHULLE (D.), « Les stèles funéraires royales des deux premières dynasties à Abydos. À propos de la “stèle” de Den des Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire de Bruxelles », in Chronique d’Égypte, vol. 88, n°176, 2013, pp. 203-229). Il est important de noter que cette version, revue et augmentée, n’est pas en tout point identique à son modèle et qu’elle doit être considérée comme la version la plus aboutie. 1. Introduction. A number of Early Dynastic (3100-2600 BC) royal funerary stelae were discovered by É. Amélineau at Abydos at the end of the 19th century. They were later distributed to several museums’ collections around the world, but have not been the focus of a detailed study. At least one funerary stela survives for most pharaohs of the first two dynasties. Following W.M.Fl. Petrie’s interpretation, it has generally been assumed that the stelae were produced in pairs and that they flanked the main entrance of each royal tomb1. However, a comprehensive analysis of the data at our disposal demonstrates that such general assumptions should be considered with caution. The so-called "stela of King Den"2 (fig.1), has been on display for over a century in the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels (inv. E.562)3. In its current form, it is mostly a modern reconstruction based on better preserved royal stelae. Little information about this fragment before its arrival in Belgium is known, and this piece has often been confused with a "mortar", now in the Royal Museum of Mariemont (Morlanwelz, Belgium). This led to the unfortunate omission of the "stela" in most studies dedicated to the royal necropolis of Abydos. ∗ We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Dr Dirk Huyge, curator of the Prehistoric and Early Dynastic Egypt section at the Royal Museum of Art and History, for allowing us to publish this masterpiece of the Brussels collections. We would also like to thank Dr Stan Hendrickx and Dr Laurent Bavay for their advice and comments. Last but not least, we are indebted to Dr X. Droux and Wouter Claes for their proofreading of this English version and their comments. 1 PETRIE (W.M. Flinders), Royal Tombs. Part I, London, Egypt Exploration Fund 20, 1900, p. 6 [= st PETRIE, RT I]. The royal necropolis of the 1 Dynasty is located at Umm el-Qa’ab, Abydos, some 90 km north of Luxor. 2 Den is the fifth pharaoh of the First Dynasty. His reign and that of its successor date to Naqada IIIC2 (ca 3000-2900 BC): HENDRICKX (Stan), « Predynastic - Early Dynastic Chronology », in HORNUNG E. et al. (eds), Ancient Egyptian Chronology. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section One. The Near and Middle East, Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung, Nahe und der Mittlere Osten, vol. 83, Leyde- Boston, 2006, pp. 55-93, 487-488; DEE (Michael W.) et al., « An Absolute Chronology for Early Egypt Using Radiocarbon Dating and Bayesian Statistical Modelling », Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol. 469, 2013, pp. 1-10. According to the Palermo Stone, the reign of Den last about fifty years. About king Den, see: GODRON (Gérard), Études sur l’Horus Den et quelques problèmes de l’Égypte archaïque, Genève, 1990; WILKINSoN (Toby A.H.), Early Dynastic Egypt, London-New York, 2000, pp. 75-78; Barker (Darrell D.), Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs. 1: Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300-1069 BC), Cairo, 2008, pp. 78-80 3 CAPART (Jean), « Nouvelles acquisitions. Collections égyptiennes. Antiquités de l’époque thinite (I) », Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels, 3e année (1903-1904), n°11, Brussels, 1904, pp. 81-83; VAN DE WALLE (Baudouin), Antiquités égyptiennes. Les Antiquités égyptiennes, grecques, étrusques, romaines et gallo-romaines du musée de Mariemont, Bruxelles, 1952, p. 17, pl. i; PUTTER (Thierry) and KARLSHAUSEN (Christina), Les pierres utilisées dans la sculpture et l’architecture de l’Égypte pharaonique, Bruxelles, 1992, p. 88. Discovered by É. Amélineau in the necropolis of Umm el-Qa’ab in 1895/1896, the stone fragment remained in France for almost a decade, until the Egyptologist sold a large part of his discoveries at auction in Paris in 1904 where it was bought by J. Capart, the assistant curator of the Egyptian collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History. R. Warocqué, the wealthy owner of the estate of Mariemont and famous collector of antiquities, also acquired some of the objects put on sale, including an imposing fragment of a greywacke4 artefact (fig.2). About two thirds of this object are preserved, and the name of King Den is inscribed on its surface. Known as the "mortar of Den"5 since its discovery, it was recently described as a "basin"6 but its true nature remains mysterious. This object and the "stela" fragments acquired by J. Capart belonged to the same sale lot7, and bear obvious similarities: both are carved in the same stone and the signs on their surface were created with the same technique. Their apparent resemblance, combined with the lack of archaeological documentation, led to a series of unfortunate and persistent confusions. While listing the royal stelae of the first two dynasties8, H.G. Fischer was the first to point out the inconsistencies surrounding Den’s “stela”9. For example, in Porter and Moss' Topographical Bibliography, the text mistakenly refers to the "mortar" of Mariemont while describing, in fact, the Brussels "stela"10. our primary goal was to give to this object the place it deserves within Egyptological documentation. However, it soon became clear that it is most unlikely to be a royal funerary stela. This paper first presents the observations that led to the reidentification of this piece; it then reviews the royal stelae from Abydos on the basis of an updated inventory. 2. A reconstituted artwork. The Brussels stela consists of three greywacke fragments that were originally part of a larger monument. The "stela" was reconstructed with a height of 78.5 cm and a width of 54.5 cm; it has an approximate thickness of 15 cm. For the purpose of this study, the “stela” was removed from its display niche in order to observe its back, 4 If this identification of the stone is now certain, it was originally considered to be granodiorite. Greywacke, the Bekhen stone of the ancient Egyptians, was extracted in the Wadi Hammamat (DE PUTTER (Thierry) and KARLSHAUSEN (Christina), Les pierres utilisées dans la sculpture et l’architecture de l’Égypte pharaonique, Bruxelles, 1992, pp. 87-88). 5 VAN DE WALLE (Baudouin), Antiquités égyptiennes. Les Antiquités égyptiennes, grecques, étrusques, romaines et gallo-romaines du musée de Mariemont, Bruxelles, 1952, p. 17, pl. i; DERRIKS (Claire), « L’aventure d’une collection », in DERRIKS (Claire) and DELVAUX (Luc) (Edd.), Antiquités égyptiennes au Musée royal de Mariemont, Musée royal de Mariemont, 2009, pp. 20-23; HENDRICKX (Stan) and EYCKERMAN (Merel), « Les vases en pierre », in DERRIKS (Claire) and DELVAUX (Luc) (Edd.), Antiquités égyptiennes au Musée royal de Mariemont, Musée royal de Mariemont, 2009, pp. 305-306. 6 HENDRICKX (Stan) and EYCKERMAN (Merel), « Les vases en pierre », in DERRIKS (Claire) and DELVAUX (Luc) (Edd.), Antiquités égyptiennes au Musée royal de Mariemont, Musée royal de Mariemont, 2009, pp. 305-306. 7 Auction sale: Antiquités égyptiennes trouvées à Abydos. Ivoires, bois sculptés ... Vente de l’Hôtel Drouot, lundi 8 et mardi 9 février 1904, Paris, 1904, p. 30, n°186. 8 FISCHER (Henry G.), « An Egyptian Royal Stela of the Second Dynasty », Artibus Asiae, vol. 24, n°1, 1961, pp. 45-56. 9 FISCHER (Henry G.), « Varia Aegyptiaca », in Journal of the American Research Centre in Egypt, vol. 2, 1963, pp. 41-43. 10 PORTER (Bertha) et MOSS (Rosalind L.B.), Upper Egypt: sites: Deir Rîfa to Aswân, excluding Thebes and the temples of Abydos, Dendera, Esna, Edfu, Kôm Ombo and Philae, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings, vol. V, oxford, 1937, p. 83 [= PM V]. which seems to have been left rough by the carver (fig.3). Depressions and asperities indicate that the rear is quite damaged and was not intended to be seen. This suggests that the "stela" was probably set in a niche or against a wall. The main fragment, engraved with the name of Den, is by far larger than the other two secondary pieces. only part of the inscription is preserved, and the rest of the object has been carefully reconstructed in plaster. This reconstruction was carried out on the basis of better preserved stelae, such as the one of King Djet now in the Louvre Museum (E 11007, fig.6). These royal stelae are rectangular in shape with a rounded top. The right edge of the Brussels “stela” is partly preserved, showing that the sides of this object are not parallel to the serekh as expected, but are instead slanting upward so that the upper part of the object was narrower than its base. Royal funerary stelae are also inscribed with the name of the king set in a serekh11. The upper part of the Brussels’ falcon is not preserved but has been reconstituted based on the large Mariemont "mortar". The name of Den is rendered by two hieroglyphs, the hand ("d") and the water ("n”), and it can be understood as "the Crusher"12. The serekh is enclosed in a raised relief rectangular frame, a feature never found on Protodynastic funerary stelae (cf.
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