The Stele of Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu or Stele of Revealing is a painted, wooden offering

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

located in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. It was discovered in 1858 by the French Egyptologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette at the mortuary temple of the

18th Dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...

Pharaoh

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut ( ; BC) was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from until (Low Chronology) and the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She was Egypt's second c ...

, located at

Deir el-Bahari Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri (, , ) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis. History Deir el-Bahari, located on the west ...

. It was originally made for the

Montu Montu was a falcon-god of war in the ancient Egyptian religion, an embodiment of the conquering vitality of the pharaoh.Hart, George, ''A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses'', Routledge, 1986, . p. 126. He was particularly worshipped in ...

-priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i, 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 The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of t ...

/early 26th Dynasty. Originally located in the former

Boulaq Boulaq ( from "guard, customs post"), is a district of Cairo, in Egypt. It neighbours Downtown Cairo, Azbakeya, and the River Nile. History The westward shift of the Nile, especially between 1050 and 1350, made land available on its eastern ...

Museum under inventory number 666, the stele was moved around 1902 to the newly opened

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...

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 A restored gesso panel representing St. Martin of Tours, from St. Michael and All Angels Church, Lyndhurst, Hampshire Gesso (; 'chalk', from the , from ), also known as "glue gesso" or "Italian gesso", is a white paint mixture used to coat rigi ...

, 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 A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

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 Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...

, 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 Edfu (, , , ; also spelt Idfu, or in modern French as Edfou) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately 60,000 people. Edfu is the site of the Ptolemaic Temple of H ...

. 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 Thelema () is a Western esotericism, Western esoteric and occult social or spiritual philosophy and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial ma ...

, founded by the English

occultist The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

and

ceremonial magic Ceremonial magic (also known as magick, ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of Magic (supernatural), magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories t ...

ian

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

Origins

The stele is a fairly typical example of a Theban offering stele from the late

Third Intermediate Period The Third Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt began with the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1077 BC, which ended the New Kingdom, and was eventually followed by the Late Period. Various points are offered as the beginning for the latt ...

, dating to the late

/early 26th Dynasty. It was originally discovered in 1854 as part of a large burial of priests of

Luxor Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt. Luxor had a population of 263,109 in 2020, with an area of approximately and is the capital of the Luxor Governorate. It is among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited c ...

Ottoman Egypt Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a province (''eyalet'') of their empire (). It remained formally an Ottoman prov ...

, and included the coffin of the dedicant, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i.

Text

The stele is painted on both faces with Egyptian texts, some of which are Chapter 91 of the Egyptian

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' is the name given to an Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC ...

, while the back of the stele records eleven lines of text from Chapters 30 and 2. The text reads as follows.

Obverse

: 1''Beneath the Winged Solar Disk:'' (He of) Behdet, the Great God, Lord of Heaven : 2–A3''Above Re-Harakhty:'' Re-Harakhty ("Re-Horus of the Two Horizons"), Chief of the Gods : 4–A8''Above Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu:'' The

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

, God's Servant of Montu, Lord of Waset, Opener of the Door-leaves of Heaven in the Most Select of Places (''i.e.,''

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

), Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, <True of> Voice : 9''Beneath the offering table:'' (thousands of) Bread and beer, cattle and fowl : 1–B5''Main text:'' 1Words spoken by the Osiris (''i.e.'', the deceased), God's Servant of Montu, Lord of Waset, Opener of the Door-leaves of Heaven in the Most Select of Places (''i.e.,'' Karnak), Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, 2True of Voice: "O Exalted-one! may he be praised, Great of Manifestations, the great '' Ba'' whom 3the gods fear, and who appears on his great throne, make the path of the ''Ba'', the '' Akh'', and the

Shadow A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensio ...

, for I am equipped so that (I) might shine therein 4(as) an equipped-one. Make for me the path to the place in which Re,

Atum Atum (, Egyptian: ''jtm(w)'' or ''tm(w)'', ''reconstructed'' ; Coptic ''Atoum''), sometimes rendered as Atem, Temu, or Tem, is the primordial God in Egyptian mythology from whom all else arose. He created himself and is the father of Shu and ...

Khepri Khepri (Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''ḫprj,'' also transliterated Khepera, Kheper, Khepra, Chepri) is a scarab-faced Egyptian pantheon, god in ancient Egyptian religion who represents the rising or morning sun. By extension, he can also repres ...

, and

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

are therein." The Osiris, God's Servant of Montu, Lord of Waset, 5Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, <True of> Voice, son of the like titled Ba-sa-en-Mut, borne of the Chantress of Amun-Re, Lady of the House, Ta-nesh.

Reverse

: 1Words spoken by the Osiris (''i.e.'', the deceased), God's Servant of Montu, Lord of Waset, Ankh-ef-en- 2Khonsu, True of Voice: "(O) my heart of my mother times (O) my heart while I existed 3upon earth, do not stand against me as a witness, do not oppose me in 4in the tribunal, do not be hostile against me in the presence of the Great God, Lord of the West. 5Although I have united (myself) to the land (i.e. died) to the great western side of Heaven, may I flourish upon earth!" 6Words spoken by the Osiris, the StolistEgyptian ''smꜣ''; a priest responsible for clothing the image of a god. See William A. Ward. 1982. ''Index of Egyptian administrative and religious titles of the Middle Kingdom, with a glossary of words and phrases used''. Beirut: American University of Beirut. No. 1288. of Waset, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu, True of Voice: O (you who are) Unique 7 who shines like the moon, the Osiris, Ankh-ef- 8en-Khonsu, goes forth from your multitudes, 9(O) deliverer of those who are within the sun-light, open for him 10the Netherworld, indeed, the Osiris, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu who goes forth in 11day in order to do everything all that pleased him upon earth among the living-ones."

Influence on Aleister Crowley

The designation of this object as the ''Stele of Revealing'' was given in April 1904 by the English

and

ian

, in connection with ''

The Book of the Law ''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. The book is often referred to simply as ''Liber AL'', ''Liber Legis'' or just ''AL'', though technically the latter two refer only to ...

'' or ''Liber al vel Legis''.Skinner, Stephen (ed). ''The Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley: Tunisia 1923'', p. 79, n. 8. Weiser, 1996. According to Crowley, his wife

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

had already reported a revelation from the ancient Egyptian god

through the non-physical entity named Aiwass, which is regarded as his messenger in

. The couple went to the newly opened

of Cairo (where the stele had been moved), to see if she could recognize Horus on Monday, March 21, 1904. Rose recognized an image of the god on this painted stele, which at the time bore the catalogue number 666, a number holding religious significance in Thelema. According to Crowley, the stele depicts the three chief deities of Thelema:

Nuit Nuit (alternatively Nu, Nut, or Nuith) is a goddess in Thelema, the speaker in the first chapter of ''The Book of the Law'', the sacred text written or received in 1904 by Aleister Crowley. Nuit is based on the Ancient Egyptian deities, Ancient ...

(Egyptian Nut), Hadit (Egyptian Behdety), and Ra-Hoor-Khuit (Egyptian Re-Harakhty [" Re-

of the Two Horizons"]). Crowley stated that he dined with Émile Brugsch, a German Egyptology, Egyptologist and curator of the Bulaq Museum, to discuss the stele in his charge and to arrange for a facsimile to be made. According to Crowley, Brugsch's French assistant curator translated the hieroglyphic text on the stele. In 1912, a second translation of the stele was later performed for Crowley by

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal li ...

and Battiscombe Gunn.

References

External links

Boulaq Museum
* {{Thelema series 1850s archaeological discoveries 4th-century BC steles Ankhefenkhonsu Ankhefenkhonsu Egyptian Museum Hatshepsut Horus Individual wooden objects Ra Thelemic texts