Stela Fragment of Seti I, Tell esh-Shihab
From ArchaeoWiki
A Fragment of a Stela of the Nineteenth Dynasty Egyptian ruler Seti I was discovered at Tell esh-Shihab in the Hauran region of Transjordan.
Istanbul 10942
Basalt: height c. 100 cm, width c. 100 cm
Poorly executed in both draftsmanship and carved relief, the very large stela fragment in local basalt preserves the upper two-thirds of the lunette scene only. Depicted within the lunette is Seti I offering twin nw-jars to the Egyptian deities Amun-Re and Mut. A cartouche containing the praenomen of Seti I, flanked by uraei, hangs from a winged disk at top centre of the scene.
Tell esh-Shihab's suggested identification lies with Qiryat-ʿAnab, a location included in a Seti I topographical list at Abydos, together with other toponyms from the Year 1 Campaign [RITANC I, 35, §65]. An unusual form of the name of Seti I further supports an attribution to the Year 1 Campaign.
Professor Kenneth Kitchen's suggestion was that the stela was erected at a control or staging post established by Seti , situated at a crossroads where trade and travel routes east from the Yenoam ford to the Jordan River met the north-south route from Transjordan to Damascus and Upe. The poor workmanship of the stela suggests that it was possibly conceived and produced by craftsmen travelling with the Egyptian army on rapid campaign within the region. (This action may be illustrative of what appears to be a newly-discovered Ramesside interest in the Transjordan region, and in resultant access eastwards and northwards into Mesopotamia and beyond, employing routes that were achieving a new strategic importance with the encroachment of Hatti in central Syria).
Bibliography
- PM VIII, 383
- KRI I, 17, §5
- RITA I, 14, §5
- RITANC I, 21-22, §5
- Smith, George Adam [1901], "Notes of a Journey through Hauran, with Inscriptions Found by the Way", PEFQS 33 (1901), pp.347.
