Lunette (stele)

Stele with Decree of Nectanebo I (lunette of the top 1/3 of stele)
Personal votive stele

The lunette spatial region in the upper portion of stelas, became common for stelas as a prelude to a stele's topic.[clarification needed] Its major use was from ancient Egypt in all the various categories of stelas: funerary, Victory stelas, autobiographical, temple, votive, etc.

The lunettes are most common from ancient Egyptian stelas, as not only is the topic of the stele presented, but honorific gods, presenters, individuals, etc. are previewed, and often with Egyptian hieroglyphic statements.

The main body of the stele is then presented below, often separated with a horizontal line (register), but not always. In Egyptian stelas, many have horizontal lines of hieroglyphs; often the lunette will contain shorter vertical statements in hieroglyphs, sometimes just names of the individuals portrayed, hieroglyphs in front, or behind the individual.