Shabaka Stone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Shabaka Stone is a relic from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt.[1] It is a stone slab measuring 66 cm in height and 137 cm in width and was incised with the remaining hieroglyphs of a worm-ridden, decaying papyrus. This papyrus was found as pharaoh Shabaka was inspecting the temple of Ptah in Memphis, Egypt.
The Pharaoh Shabaka, concerned about the loss of the information on the papyrus, had the rest of the text written into this stone. However, in later years, the stone was used as a millstone and so some of the hieroglyphics were damaged. Nevertheless, it has been a fruitful source of insight into the culture and religious doctrines of the ancient Egyptians.
The Shabaka Stone is also noteworthy in that it places Ptah as the center of existence and as the creator god. It is the principal surviving source of the Memphite theology in Ancient Egyptian culture.
