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Mortuary stela from the tomb of 'Iti
late First Intermediate Period, early Dynasty XI 2125 BCE-2055 BCE
- Medium
- limestone, pigment
- Measurements
- 85.5 × 56.3 × 15.0 cm
- Place/s of Execution
- Nag ed-Der, Egypt
- Inscription
- carved with hieroglyphs: (translation: An offering which the king gives, and Anubis, Who is upon His Mountain, Who is in the Place of Embalming, Lord of the Sacred Land- that funerary offerings go forth / to the Count, the Revered 'Iti, who says: "I was a prosperous commoner who acted with his (strong) arm, / who added to the property of his father. I was one who spoke good and repeated good, one who arranged things through the opportune moment. I was one light of heart, gracious of heart in dealing with (?)his brothers. I gave beer to him who was hungry, / clothing to him who was naked of my household. I gave property to him whom I did not know as to him whom I knew / in order that I might endure upon earth and that it might go well with me in the necropolis. O ye who are living upon earth, who love life and hate death, who will pass by this stela, ye shall say: 'A thousand bread and beer, a thousand of cattle and fowl, and everything good, to the revered 'Iti')
- Accession Number
- D84-1982
- Department
- Antiquities
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1939
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- Not on display
- Physical description
- A roughly rectangular slab, damaged at its edges and decorated on one face. It is decorated with two sections which compose a register of six lines of text and an offering scene below. The text is continued in the bottom right hand corner within the offering scene in smaller, rougher glyphs. This is all set within a frame outlined in red and with bars of colour alternating with others outlined in red. Offering scene: The central figure is of the deceased holding a staff and sceptre, wearing an elaborate wig and short kilt and collar. Behind him is his wife who clasps him by the arm. She wears a long wig, a collar and a long dress. Both figures are standing. On a level with the shoulders of 'Iti stand two servants bearing offerings- a gazelle, a jar and a bowl of beer. Occupying the right hand side from the level of the thighs upwards is the table of offerings. There is also a bull's head over a vase in the area below the extended left arm. The hieroglyphs are incised and sunken and the figures are in low relief. The hieroglyphs in the upper part alternate in lines from yellow to blue (frit) and the offerings on the right, the collars, skin and garments exhibit traces of colour.