The Stela of Pasenhor, also known as Stela of HarpesonBreasted, op. cit., § 785-786. in older literature, is an ancient Egyptian limestone

stela A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), wh ...

dating back to the Year 37 of

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

Shoshenq V Aakheperre Shoshenq V was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the late 22nd Dynasty. Despite having enjoyed one of the longest reigns of the entire dynasty – 38 years – and having left a fair amount of attestations, little is known about Shoshe ...

of the

22nd Dynasty The Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt is also known as the Bubastite Dynasty, since the pharaohs originally ruled from the city of Bubastis. It was founded by Shoshenq I. The Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-f ...

(c.730 BCE). It was found in the

Serapeum of Saqqara The Serapeum of Saqqara was the ancient Egyptian burial place for sacred bulls of the Apis cult at Memphis. It was believed that the bulls were incarnations of the god Ptah, which would become immortal after death as ''Osiris-Apis''. a name wh ...

Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...

and later moved to

The Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the '' Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A centra ...

, where it is still. The stela was intended to commemorate the death of an

Apis bull In ancient Egyptian religion, Apis or Hapis ( egy, ḥjpw, reconstructed as Old Egyptian with unknown final vowel > Medio-Late Egyptian , cop, ϩⲁⲡⲉ ''ḥapə''), alternatively spelled Hapi-ankh, was a sacred bull worshiped in the Mem ...

occurred in this year and its author, the ''Priest of

Ptah Ptah ( egy, ptḥ, reconstructed ; grc, Φθά; cop, ⲡⲧⲁϩ; Phoenician: 𐤐𐤕𐤇, romanized: ptḥ) is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god and patron deity of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the hu ...

'' and ''Prophet of

Neith Neith ( grc-koi, Νηΐθ, a borrowing of the Demotic form egy, nt, likely originally to have been nrt "she is the terrifying one"; Coptic: ⲛⲏⲓⲧ; also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an early ancient Egyptian deity. She was said to b ...

'', Pasenhor (B), was the performer of the funerary rites. Despite the commemorative nature of the stela, Pasenhor took the opportunity to inscribe his own

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

on it. The first part of the stela reflects its original purpose:

This god (i.e. the Apis) was introduced to his father Ptah (i.e. was "enthroned"), in the Year 12, fourth month of the second season, fourth day, of King Aakheperre Shoshenq (V), given life. He was born in the year 11 of his majesty; he rested in his place in Tazoser (i.e. was buried in the cemetery) in the year 37, third month of the first season, day 27, of his majesty. May he grant life, prosperity, health, and joy of heart to his beloved son, the prophet of Neith, Pasenhor.

After that, Pasenhor begins to trace back along his genealogy for sixteen generations, until about the end of the

20th Dynasty The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore toget ...

:Kitchen, op. cit., table 19. Pasenhor's genealogy is quite important since he was a member of the royal family and could claim common ancestors with many pharaohs of the 22nd Dynasty. Thanks to the stela, we know more about the dynasty's origin and chronology, as well as the name of some otherwise unattested royal wives such as

Karomama A Karomama (A), also known as Karamat, was an ancient Egyptian queen consort. She is only known from the stela of Pasenhor through which is known that she was the wife of pharaoh Shoshenq I Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I ( Egyptian ''ššnq' ...

Tashedkhonsu Tashedkhons(u) was a wife of Pharaoh Osorkon I and the mother of Pharaoh Takelot I. She is known from the Pasenhor stela.Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004. Tashedkhonsu is giv ...

and

Kapes Kapes was a wife of Pharaoh Takelot I and the mother of Pharaoh Osorkon II.Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004. Kapes is mentioned on the Pasenhor stela found in the Serapeum o ...

References

Bibliography

James Henry Breasted James Henry Breasted (; August 27, 1865 – December 2, 1935) was an American archaeologist, Egyptologist, and historian. After completing his PhD at the University of Berlin in 1894, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago. In 1901 he ...

, ''Ancient Records of Egypt, volume IV: the Twentieh to the Twenty-sixth Dynasties'', Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1906, § 785-792. *

Kenneth Kitchen Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (born 1932) is a British biblical scholar, Ancient Near Eastern historian, and Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, Univ ...

, ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)'', 1996, Aris & Phillips Limited, Warminster, , § 85ff. {{Louvre Museum P P Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt Egyptian antiquities of the Louvre Pasenhor Ptah

See also

References

Bibliography