49 



III. On the Egyptian Stele, or Tablet. By the Rev. Edward Hincks, D. D. 

 {Communicated by the President.) 



Read June 28, 1841. 



Of the Egyptian monuments that are collected in European museums, there 

 are none which ought to attract more attention than the steles, or funeral tablets ; 

 and yet I suspect that there are none which are more generally overlooked. 

 They are certainly not so well calculated to arrest the attention of the uninitiated 

 observer as many other objects ; but they are much more likely to afford infor- 

 mation. They in general record facts ; and it not unfrequently happens that the 

 facts recorded throw light on the history of the country, or on the state of society 

 in it. Sarcophagi, on the other hand, mummy cases, sepulchral figures and 

 cones very seldom determine any thing but the name and parentage of the 

 deceased person whom they commemorate. The copious inscriptions, with which 

 the former are often covered, contain merely extracts from the Ritual, or other 

 general formulas, in which the names and offices of the deceased and of his 

 parents are alone peculiar. There are some scarabaei, on which historical facts 

 are recorded, and which are somewhat of the nature of medals. There is one, 

 for example, in the museum at Liverpool, of which there is a duplicate at the 

 Louvre, which records the name and parentage of the Queen of Amenothph III., 

 and the northern and southern limits of his kingdom. These were probably 

 sculptured in considerable numbers on the occasion of the marriage of that prince, 

 which must have taken place when he was a mere child ;* and which was in all 

 probability an important political event, as transferring the actual government 



s 



• At the death of his father, this Amenothph and a twin brother, who shared with him the 

 nominal sovereignty, were infants in arms ; yet the scarabaei recording his marriage, are dated in the 

 eleventh year of his reign. 



VOL. XIX. Gf 



