• |
  • |
  • |
  • |
Stela bears an offering formula
General Information

Carved limestone stela. BM EA 567 begins with a date, an offering formula, and then moves onto a full set of the twenty elements of the Abydos formula, of which a selection are given here, including some mentioning the Abydos mysteries. The Abydos formula is a fairly standardised set of afterlife wishes. The mature version belongs to the first half of the 12th dynasty with earlier (less standardised) versions occurring in the 11th dynasty. The full formula has twenty elements.

Number BM EA 567
Storing Place The British Museum - London - United Kingdom
Material Limestone
Type Stela
Type of Script Hieroglyphic
Discovery Place Meir - El Qusiya- Asyut Governate - Egypt
Width 63.5 cm
Historical Period The Middle Kingdom
General Comments

Meir is the necropolis of El Qusiya, the capital of the fourteenth Nome of Upper Egypt. - Ignore the sections in grey. - The names of Heket and Khnum are written with their frog and ram determinatives respectively. - The vigil of Horus the fighter (Sn) remains one of the most elusive aspects of the Osiris mysteries, although it probably refers to part of the rites concerned with the reanimation of the dead Osiris. The date: The Middle Kingdom

Inscriptions on the Monument
Transliteration
( If the Hieroglyphic,Demotic or Hieratic text is not appearing clear, install this file )

rnpt-sp 13 xr Hm n nsw-bity nbw-kAw-ra di anx Dt r nHH Htp di nsw Asir nb Ddw xnty-imntw nb AbDw wp-wAwt xnty AbDw Hqt Hna Xnmw nTrw nb AbDw di=sn prt-xrw t Hnqt kA Apd Ss mnxt xt nbt nfr(t) pr(r)t m-bAH nTr aA ms.t(w) n=f awy Xr Htp m Hb(w) nw Xrt-nTr Hna Sms(w) n Asir tp(w)-a xprw Xr-HAt sAx Tw wr(w) nw Ddw Snyt imt AbDw Dd.t(w) n=f iiw m Htp in wrw nw AbDw sDA=f Hna nTr aA m DAt-nTr r r-pqr nSmt wrt r nmtt=s m Hb(w) nw Xrt-nTr sdm=f hnw m r n tA-wr hAkr grH n sDrt m sDryt nt Hr-Sn


Translation

Regnal year 13 under the person of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt Nubkaure, given life enduringly and repeatedly. An offering which the king gives to Osiris, lord of Djedu, Khentyimentu, lord of Abydos and Wepwawet, the one at the forefront of Abydos, Heket and Khnum and all the gods of Abydos so that he may give a voice offering of bread and beer, ox and fowl, alabaster and linen, and everything good which goes before the great god. May hands be presented to him carrying offerings during the festivals of the necropolis along with the followers of Osiris, the ancestors who existed before. May the great ones of Djedu and the entourage in Abydos enspirit you. May ‘Welcome in peace’ be said to him by the great ones of Abydos. May he travel with the great god during the god’s journey to Ro-Poker, when the great Neshmet-bark is at its journeys during the festivals of the necropolis. May he hear jubilation in the mouth of Tawer (at) the Haker-rites of the night of vigil during the vigil of Horus-Sn

Scientific Publishing

M. Collier, B. Manley, How to read Egyptian Hieroglyphs, (London, 1998), 119

The Digital Library of Inscriptions and Calligraphies, Bibliotheca Alexandrina ©