Palermo stone
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The Palermo Stone is an ancient Egyptian stela of black basalt engraved toward the end of the 5th dynasty (twenty-fifth century BC). It is probably the earliest Egyptian historical text. Now in a number of fragments, it details the reigns of the first Egyptian kings through the middle of the 5th dynasty. Manetho possibly used it to construct his dynastic chronology. Unfortunately, most of the information concerning the first and second dynasties has not survived.
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[edit] Archaeological History
The main fragment has been in Palermo since 1866, though it was discovered by a visiting French archaeologist in 1895 and first published, by Heinrich Schäfer, in 1902. It is currently in the collection of the Palermo Archeological Museum, Sicily, although there are also further sizeable pieces in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, one discovered in 1910 another purchased on the market as recently as 1963, and in the museum of University College London, given by Sir Flinders Petrie. The engraved stone must originally have been about 2.2 m long, 0.61 m wide and 6.5 cm thick, but most of it is now missing, and there is no surviving information about its provenance, though a further fragment was excavated at Memphis [1].
[edit] Significance
It is a hieroglyphic list-(formatted as a table, or outline) of the kings of ancient Egypt before and after Menes, with regnal years, and notations of events. It also tabulates such information as the height of the flooding Nile, the Inundation for some kings, (see nilometer), information on the festivals-(confer sed festival), taxation, sculpture, buildings and warfare.
Many king lists that exist from later dates, such as the Turin Canon (13th century BCE) and the Karnak List of Kings, identify Menes (c. 3100/3000) as the first king of the first Dynasty and credit him with unifying Egypt. However, the Palermo Stone, which is substantially older, lists rulers that predate Menes. It seems to indicate that the unification of Egypt occurred earlier than Menes' rule and that he simply reunited the nation after a period of fragmentation. Scholars are divided on how to interpret the implications of the stone. Some believe the earlier kings existed historically while others believe that their inclusion in the king list has only ideological value (i.e., there must have been disorder before order).
[edit] Translations and Monographs
- A partial and dated English translation of this text can be found in J.H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, vol. I sections 76-167.
- A picture of the so-called annals fragment of the stele that the Palermo stone belonged to, with translations of the hieroglyphs.
- A description of Toby A. H. Wilkinson's study that combines for the first time all seven of the fragments.
- A reconstruction of the Palermo Stone and its assorted fragments J.D. Degreef
[edit] Further reading
- St. John, Michael, 2003. The Palermo Stone : An Arithmetical View (London:University Museum London).
- Wilkinson, Tony A. H., 2000. Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt, (New York: Columbia University Press). [ISBN 0-7103-0667-9]
