imported>Happyecheveria: Adding short description: "Ancient Egyptian stela"

2024-06-23T23:24:19Z

Adding short description: "Ancient Egyptian stela"

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{{Short description|Ancient Egyptian stela}}
{{Infobox artefact
| image = Ikhernofret stela berlin.jpg
| created = {{circa}} 1864 BC
|caption=|discovered_place=[[Egypt]]|height=100 cm|material=[[Limestone]]}}
The '''Ikhernofret Stela''' ([[Egyptian Museum of Berlin|Berlin Museum]] ref 1204) is an [[ancient Egypt]]ian [[stela]] dated to the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] and is notable for its veiled description of how the mysteries of the [[deity]] [[Osiris]] were carried out in [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]]. The stela is 100 cm high and made of limestone. Osiris is depicted standing under a [[winged sun disk]] facing [[Senusret III]]. The text is laid out below Osiris in twenty-four horizontal lines. Underneath the text, [[Ikhernofret]], a [[12th Dynasty]] treasurer under Pharaoh Senusret III, is depicted at an offering table with his family.<ref name="simpson">"''The Literature of Ancient Egypt''", [[William Kelly Simpson]], pp. 425–427, Yale University Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-300-09920-7}}</ref> The rituals celebrated the god's kingship, death and resurrection.<ref name="miriam">"''Ancient Egyptian Literature: The Old and Middle Kingdoms''", [[Miriam Lichtheim]], pp. 123–125, University of California Press, 1975, {{ISBN|0-520-02899-6}}</ref>

The stela describes how Ikhernofret is regarded as a beloved "''foster child''" of the King who was made "''Companion of the King''" when twenty-six. He is sent on a mission to Abydos by the King to carry out work in honour of the Kings Father "''Osiris, Foremost of the Westerners"''.<ref name="miriam"/>

The stela records how the festivities were celebrated in four main parts.<ref name="jan">"''Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt''", pp. 227–229, [[Jan Assmann]], Translated by David Lorton, Cornell University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-8014-4241-9}}</ref>

*Procession of [[Wepwawet]] ("''The Opener of the Ways''"). Wepwawet was in this instance a manifestation of the triumphant [[Horus]] who came to the aid of his father Osiris. The rite involved excoriation rituals relating to the enemies of Osiris.
*Great Procession. Leaving the Temple of Osiris, a re-enactment of the funeral procession of Osiris in the Neshmet-Barque.
*Haker Festival ("''The Night of the Battling Horus''"). The acting out of the battle between Horus and [[Set (mythology)|Set]].
*Procession to the Temple of Osiris. Osiris returns to the Temple, symbolising resurrection and the triumph over death.<ref name="jan"/>

The [[Egyptologist]] and novelist [[Christian Jacq]] used the Ikehernofret inscriptions as the foundation of his Osirian series "''[[Mysteries of Osiris|The Mysteries of Osiris]]''".{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

==See also==
*[[Osiris myth]]
*[[Ancient Egyptian religion]]
*[[Mysteries of Osiris]]

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20181020175459/http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/ikhernofret.htm Picture and translation of the stela]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Ancient Egyptian stelas]]
[[Category:Ancient Egyptian religion]]
[[Category:Senusret III]]
[[Category:Egyptological objects in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin]]
[[Category:Osiris]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Egypt]]
[[Category:19th-century BC steles]]

Ikhernofret Stela - Revision history

imported>Happyecheveria: Adding short description: "Ancient Egyptian stela"