Famine Stela - Dating of The Inscription

Dating of The Inscription

Since the initial translation and examination by French Egyptologist Pascal Barguet in 1950, the Famine Stela has been of great interest to historians and Egyptologists. The language and layout used in the inscription suggests that the work can be dated to the Ptolemaic period, perhaps during the reign of king Ptolemy V (205 – 180 BC). Egyptologists such as Miriam Lichtheim and Werner Vycichl suggest that the local priests of Khnum created the text. The various religious groups in Egypt during Ptolemaic Dynasty jostled for power and influence. So the story of the Famine Stela could have been used as a means to legitimise the power of Khnum´s priests over the region of Elephantine.

At the time of first translating the stela, it was thought that the story of a seven-year-famine was connected to the biblical story in Genesis 41, where also a famine of seven years occurs. But more recent investigations have showed that a seven-year famine was a myth common to nearly all cultures of the Near East. A Mesopotamian legend also speaks of a seven-year-famine and in the well known Gilgamesh-Epos the god Anu gives a prophecy about a famine for seven years. A further Egyptian tale beside the Famine Stela about a long-lasting drought appears in the so-called “Book of the Temple”, translated by German Demotist Joachim Friedrich Quack. The ancient text reports about king Neferkasokar (late 2nd dynasty), who faces a seven-year-famine during his reign.

The Famine Stela is one of only three known inscriptions that connect the cartouche name Djeser (“lordly”) with the serekh name Netjerikhet (“divine body”) of king Djoser in one word. Therefore, it provides useful evidence for Egyptologists and historians who are involved in reconstructing the royal chronology of the Old Kingdom of Egypt.