stela and obeliska1

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Stela (pl. stelae) is a Latin word derived from the Greek

stele, which means pillar or vertical tablet. In English, the

usual forms are stele and steles.

In ancient Egypt, stelae are slabs of stone or wood, of

many different shapes, usually bearing inscriptions, reliefs

or paintings.

There are several ancient Egyptian expressions for theterm stela, which reflect its different purposes. Represented

in :-A-(royal stela - individual stela - votive stela - boundary

stelamagical stela - etc-----)1
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In ancient Egypt, stelae were first erected as tombstones and asboundary markers, but also as Votive and commemorative

monuments. From the 1st dynasty (when the earliest stelae were

used in Egypt) onward until Roman times, considerable change in

the shapes of stelae, their decoration and their types of inscriptions

took place

The 1st dynasty:Royal Stela were erected in ancient Egypt During the 1st dynasty tomark the tombs of the Kings and their courtiers in the cemetery of

Abydos in upper Egypt and It consisted of a large slab stones withrounded Top in which the name of the king inscribed inside the serekh

The 2nd dynasty :-During the 2nd Dynasty, the use of tomb stelae gradually decreased.Owing to the enlargement superstructures of the tomb. And the

offering place moved into an decorated niches

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3rd Dynasty:-Thefalse door(considered a form of a stele) at Saqqara whichconsisted of a door niche as well as rectangular slab stela thatshow the owner of tomb in front of the offering table Similar slabstelae have already been found in the tombs of the2nd DynastyinHelwan

4th dynasty :-During the 4th Dynastystelae also appeared detached fromfalse doors in the Giza mastaba tombs. Represented slab stela witha rounded top .

George A. Reisner differentiated between two types of

stelae:-

Almost square stone slabs decorated with scenes that show the tomb owner

in front of an offering table. This type resembles the slab stelae and false door

tablets of the Old Kingdom.Vertical rectangular slabs with rounded tops that depict the standing tomb

owner. 3
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Most stelae of the Middle Kingdom were vertical rectangular

slabs, with a rounded top. There were also rectangular stelae

with a torus roll " "and cavetto cornices, two elementsthat also appear on false doors andderive from earlyreed-and-mud constructions

In the New Kingdom, the shapes of stelae were very similar tothose of theMiddle Kingdom, apart from a few innovations. For

example, round-topped stelae as well as rectangular stelae with a

torus roll and cavetto cornice also contained a triangle as the

upper part,

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1) Royal Stela :-They commemorates the important royal events like thekings 's coronation , the royal marriage building

projects

2) Votive stela: -

They were presented by the King, The high officials and theindividuals to the temples to express their thanks andgraduates to the gods and to gain more blessings.

3) Funerary stela: -they were placed inside the tomb or out side the tomb to

provide the deceased with offerings of foods and drink thatwould help him to survive in the after life. Mainly thehieroglyphic texts asked god Osiris god of the dead and

Anubis the guardian god of the necropolis to provide thedeceased with good offering and burial

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they were used to indicate the limits of the fields the

estates like (tell Al- amarna ) founded by KingAkhenaton .He erected about 14 boundary stelaearound the city.

They commemorate the successful militarycampaigns made by the king and the military leaders.like the stela of merenptah

they were placed in the houses to protect the people

against dangerous things

They have names of the persons and the families .Theywere placed inside the house

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Stelae usually have both depictions and inscriptions,executed in raised or sunked relief, or painted onto thesurface. The space within the top curve of a stela is called thelunette,

OnMiddle Kingdom :-

stelae the decoration of the lunette is clearly differentiatedfrom the rest, the lower part of the stela,

In theNew Kingdom:-the depictions in the lunette are blended with the otherelement.

Notice:-During the 19th Dynasty,Votive stelae with depictions oflarge ears were used for the first time.

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Wedjet-eyes and the winded sun disk, :-both symbols of protection and defense. Wedjet-eyes have been

interpreted" asa combination of the eyes of the falcon and awildcat. This image was also used as an amulet and was, for

example, depicted on coffins and sarcophagi. The winged sun

disk was originally a royal symbol and was usually depicted

above temple entrances. Symbols for "life" and"regeneration,

Depictions of deities :-especially the jackal godWepwawet), have also appeared in the

lunettes. With some additional decorative elements include

barques with deities in them, scarabs, floral elements and stars.8
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During the Middle Kingdom, the rectangular part of a

stela usually contained several horizontal lines of

inscription, above the depiction of the stela's owner and,

occasionally, some of his relatives

The first register of the rectangular part of a stela was

decorated with adoration scenes, showing the owner and his

family worshiping the gods.

On tomb stelae of the Late Periodand the PtolemaicPeriod, the deceased was primarily shown among deities of

the hereafter. 9
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A. Stelae inscriptions were usually written in hieroglyphs but

occasionally also in Hieratic, the cursive writing of the ancientEgyptians. Late Period stelae were also inscribed in Demotic, a

written and spoken language that evolved during the 26thDynasty.

B. Some stelae from the Ptolemaic Period also have texts in Greek.In fact, some stelae from the Ptolemaic Period, the mostfamous example of which is the Rosetta stone, had textrepeated in several different forms and languages.

C. The earliest stelae of the 1st and 2nd dynasties had only the

name and title of the owner. However, by the Middle Kingdom,stelae were inscribed with various kinds of texts, and theoffering formula

D. Besides the offering formula, Votive stelae were usuallyinscribed with hymns to gods, while commemorative stelae had

autobiographies or descriptions of certain important events. 10
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(1) The ancient Egyptian believed if you dont have your name writtendown some where , that after your death you would disappear everyone made sure Their name was written some where including theirtombs .

(2) The pharaohs ordered the monuments built so as to write their namesdown in a very public way . Some monument like temples and obelisks .

(3) Obelisks were made out of stone and often built in pairs . Each obeliskswas at least 70 tall and most was taller each was decorated withwriting telling us the greatest achievement of the person who built theobelisks .


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1) The obelisk (It is a Greek word diminutive from obelos ) and

was tall ,slender Four side shaft and topped with a pointKnown as the pyramidion shape

2) The obelisk was a great monument that their names ,theirtitles and their dedication to the Gods . The flat sides arecarved with hieroglyphics . And the pointed tip of the obelisk

represented the ground that the Sun God Re stood to createthe universe

3) The word obelisks which used in English nowadays is aGreek word rather than its Egyptian origins because the GreektravelerHerodotusdescribedit as Obelisks

4) Finally the obelisks were known as tekhneuand they wereconsidered to be sacred to the Sun god re whose main cultcentre was at Heliopolis where the oldest survivingmonumental obelisk in Egypt still standing .


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A. The obelisks were first erected at Heliopolis and thepractice was continued Through the pharaonic period

made from the so called Behen stone which resembles the pyramidion of the obelisks and was consideredsacred to the Sun God Re and also resembles the

primeval stone of Atum . And it was associated to theBenu- Bird or the phoenix

B. The earliest obelisk was first appeared stood in pairsbefore the entrance of the tomb and the earliest knownexample excavated at Abu-Sir Egypt , dated from theold Kingdom during the reign of the King Neuserre(244-2417 Bc )


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A. First they brought a block of stone weighting about 25tons . Then they prepared a path by embedding a woodenrails in to the ground and placing a sledge on them withmegalith weighting about 26 tons on it

B. Initially they tried to tow the obelisk with over about 100people ,but they unable to budge it . And finally withover a bout 140 people pulling it at once when yelledAllah Akbarand an additional dozen using levers to

prod it forward and finally they managed to move it

C. Over a course of the day they were able to tow it forabout 10-20 feet and with a lot of a problem with brokenrope


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A. The obelisks were made by the King so as to inscribed their

names , their titles , their dedication and their blessing tothe sun God Re

B. And as we said before the ancient Egyptian If you haventyour name written down some where , that after your death ,you would disappear .So every one make sure that their

names were written somewhere . And that why the ancientEgyptian built their monuments like temples and obelisks

A. The use of the obelisk is even more of mystery than their carving .while theobelisk are usually covered with inscriptions these offer no clue to the

function .B. It has been suggested that the erection of the obelisk was to symbolize the

djed pillar ,the Osirian symbol standing for the back bone of thephysical world . And the channels refers to the divine spirit


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Egypt - 9Pharaoh Tuthmosis I , karank temple , LuxorPharaoh Ramses II , Luxor templePharaoh Hatshepsut , Karank temple , LuxorPharaoh senusert I , Al- masalla area of Al- matariyyiahdistrict of Heliopolis , Cairo

Pharaoh Ramses III , Luxor templePharaoh Ramses II, Gezira island ,CairoPharaoh Ramses II , international Cairo AirportPharaoh Seti II, Luxor templePharaoh senusert I faiyum

France-1Pharaoh Ramses II ,Luxor temple obelisk , Paris

Israel -1

Caesarea obelisk

Turkey -1

Pharaoh Tuthmosis III at square of the horse


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Italy -11

8 in Rome ( see obelisks in Rome )Urbane

Piazza del Duomo Catania (Sicily )

United Kingdom -4

Pharaoh tuthmosis III (Cleopatra s needle ) in Victoria .LondonPharaoh Amenthotep II , in the oriental museum

Ptolemy Iv , Philae obeliskPharaoh Nectanobe II , British museum

United States-1

Pharaoh Tuthmosis III (Cleopatra s Needle) In thecentre park of New York

stela and obeliska1

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