Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu

Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu
Stele Cairo A 9422 (Bulaq 666), depicting Nut, Behdety as the winged solar disk, Ra-Horakhty seated on his throne, and the stele's owner, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i, standing on the right.
MaterialWood
Height51.5 cm
Width31 cm
Created680 – 70 BCE
Discoveredc. 1856
Luxor, Ottoman Egypt
Discovered byAuguste Mariette
Present locationCairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt
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The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu or Stele of Revealing is a painted, wooden offering stele located in Cairo, Egypt. It was discovered in 1858 by the French Egyptologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette at the mortuary temple of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Hatshepsut, located at Deir el-Bahari.[1] It was originally made for the Montu-priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i,[2] and was discovered near his coffin ensemble of two sarcophagi and two anthropomorphic inner coffins. It dates to circa 680–70 BCE, the period of the late 25th Dynasty/early 26th Dynasty. Originally located in the former Boulaq Museum under inventory number 666, the stele was moved around 1902 to the newly opened Egyptian Museum of Cairo (inventory number A 9422; Temporary Register Number 25/12/24/11), where it remains today.

The stele is made of wood and covered with a plaster gesso, which has been painted. It measures 51.5 centimeters high and 31 centimeters wide. On the front, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu can be seen as a priest of Montu; he is presenting offerings to the falcon-headed god Re-Harakhty ("Re-Horus of the Two Horizons"), a syncretic form of the ancient Egyptian gods Ra and Horus, who is seated on a throne. The symbol of the west, the place of the Dead, is seen behind Re-Harakhty. Above the figures is a depiction of Nut, the sky goddess who stretches from horizon to horizon. Directly beneath her is the Winged Solar Disk, Horus of Behdet.

The stele is otherwise referred to as the "Stele of Revealing" and is a central element of the Western esoteric tradition and religious philosophy of Thelema, founded by the English occultist and ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley.[3][4][5][6]

  1. ^ In general, see Cynthia May Sheikholeslami. 2003. "The burials of the priests of Montu at Deir el-Bahari in the Theban necropolis." In The Theban necropolis: Past, present and future, edited by Nigel C. Strudwick and John H. Taylor. London: British Museum Press. 131–137.
  2. ^ Hisham el-Leithy, "Painted Wooden Stelae From Thebes from the 21st to the 26 Dynasties," in Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress of Egyptologists, edited by Jean-Claude Goyon and Christine Cardin. Orientalia lovaniensia analecta 150. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2007. 585–594 [1]; see also Abd el-Hamid Zayed, "Painted Wooden Stelae in the Cairo Museum," Revue d'égytologie 20 (1968), 149–152, and plate 7.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gillavry 2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hayward 2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tully 2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Skinner 1996 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).