Illustrative model — an approximation, not a scan of the original object.
c. 2950 BCE
Stela of King Djet
First Dynasty.
- Material
- Limestone
- Findspot
- Tomb of King Djet, Umm el-Qa’ab, Abydos
- Discovery
- Found by Émile Amélineau in Djet’s tomb (tomb Z) at Umm el-Qa’ab in 1895–96; bought by the Louvre in 1904 at the sale of Amélineau’s Abydos antiquities.
- Held by
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Inventory number
- E 11007
A round-topped stela carved with the Horus falcon standing on a serekh — a frame representing a palace façade — enclosing the cobra sign that writes the king’s name.
Stelae like this were set up, usually in pairs, at the royal tombs to proclaim the owner’s name.
Certainty: Established
The king’s name on the stela is a serekh topped by the Horus falcon and enclosing the cobra sign.
- Musée du Louvre, Paris — Department of Egyptian Antiquities “Stela of King Djet, inventory E 11007”
- Toby A. H. Wilkinson (1999) “Early Dynastic Egypt” Routledge
Certainty: Probable
Royal name stelae were usually erected in pairs at the Abydos tombs.
Scholarly note: Most stelae were found displaced, so their exact arrangement is a reconstruction.
- Toby A. H. Wilkinson (1999) “Early Dynastic Egypt” Routledge
- David O’Connor (2009) “Abydos: Egypt’s First Pharaohs and the Cult of Osiris” Thames & Hudson, London