Unpublished Stela in the Hurghada Museum (CCG 20754)

In the following paper, the author analyses the stela of an-mrit.s, the lady of the house. The stela, which attracts attention because of several peculiarities, is displayed in the Hurghada Museum (CCG 20754). It mentions Nebhepetre Montuhotep and the god, Amun-Ra, its vivid colors have survived, and it is like a contract between the owner and her funerary priest. This stela comes from Qurnah and is in a good state of preservation. It has a round top and is divided into four main registers. Based on its iconographic, stylistic, and epigraphic details, the stela can be dated to the second half of the 12th Dynasty. The author describes the stela, deals with it artistically, and discusses the names, nbt-pr title and costumes of its figures.The object of this paper is to briefly present an interesting, small limestone funerary stela from the collection of the Egyptian Museum[1] in Cairo (Fig.1 and Fig. 2). Belonging to a lady named (an mrit.s) , the stela attracts attention because of several peculiarities, namely, the mention of the well-known Nebhepetre Montuhotep II and the god Amun-Ra[2], the survival of its vivid colors, its belonging to a lady[3] (for the majority of funerary stelae were owned by men), and its being a contract between the owner and her funerary priest. This stela comes from Qurnah; however, no record of its precise archaeological context seems to have survived. It may have functioned as part of an elaborate burial ritual. These funerary stelae were usually set up just outside or inside the tomb chapel. [1] (CCG 20754) Hans Lange, H. Heinrich Schafer, Grab-und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs II, (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1908), 387-389; Grab-und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs IV, Pl. LIX; PM 12/2, 800; Gorge Daressy, “Notes et remarques”, Rec Trav 14 (1893): 21-22 (XVIII).[2] Michel Malaise, “Les représentations des divinités sur les steles du Moyen Empire”, in: J Duchesne-Guillemin Orientalia. Emerito oblata (Leiden: 1984): 396 ff, 399 ff, 402 ff, 411 (393-420); Regina Hölzl, Die Giebelfelddekoration von Stelen des Mittleren Reichs, Beitrage zur Agyptologie 10, (Afro-Pub, Wien: 1990), 79-123.[3] Gay Robins, Women in Ancient Egypt, (Harvard University Press, England: 1993), 169 f; Compare in: D Dunham, Naga-ed-der Stelae of the first Intermediate Period (1937): no. 31, 44, 45, 124; Michel Malaise, "La position de la femme sur les stéles du moyen Empire", SAK 5 (1977): 189-91. Ancient Egypt was a male-dominated society; see Terry Wilfong, "Gender in Ancient Egypt", in: Egyptian Archaeology, edited by Willeke Wendrich (2010), 165 f.