Stela

The round-topped sandstone stela belongs to the 19th Dynasty pharaoh Seti I and was discovered in the Nubian fortress at Buhen, a strategic military base where royal officials operated, solidifying Egyptian control in the south. In the stela, Seti is shown wearing a nemes-headress surmounted by an elaborate crown composed of two plumes curled at the end and a sun-disk, mounted atop ram horns and flanked by uraei. Seti is holding an ankh in his left hand and is reaching out with his right arm, holding an aba-scepter over a pile of offerings for consecration. A hieroglyphic inscription containing the king’s cartouches is incised near his figure and identifies him: “The good god, Menmaatre, son of Re, Seti, beloved of Ptah, given life, like Re, beloved of Ptah, who hears prayers.” The god Ptah, in customary mummiform guise, is shown standing on a dais within a shrine, which includes its own offering stand and goods. In the lunette of the stela the winged sun-disk is ornated with two dangling uraei that are flanking the throne name of the pharaoh, Menmaatre, without it being enclosed within a cartouche.

The remaining space of the stela is occupied by hieroglyphic text which details that the stela was erected in the first year of the reign of King Seti I. The remainder of the text, though missing its left section, follows a standard genre pattern: praise of the king accompanied by an enumeration of his divine affiliations.