Winter in Egypt, 2024 - A Visit to Minya, Part 5 - Tuna al-Gabal, Boundary Stela A

Near the entrance to Tuna al-Gabal, one of the Amarna boundary stelae, Stela "A", can be seen in the distance.  Of course, we were interested to get a close up look at this notable monument.

As we approached the stairway leading up to the boundary stela, we noticed some toppled signs, both at the base and the top.

The signs at the bottom appeared to be quite old and were, in fact, "retired" signs meant for the nearby necropolis of baboons and birds which we had skipped during the visit to the tombs described in the previous post.

  

 

It is a tough climb to the top due to the blowing sand deposited on the stairs. It's easy to see how entire buildings and monuments in Egypt can disappear over the years.

There was another pair of overturned information signs at the top which our helpful police escort stood up for me to take a photo.  

  

While both signs appear to have been painted over at some time, the Arabic version is fairly legible; the English side is very difficult to read.   Google Translate, applied to the Arabic side yields the following"

The boundary panel of the city of Akhetaton, one of fourteen faces established by the new god Akhenaten, the city of Anun, the political capital of Egypt in the period from 1350 AD, was inscribed on it by King Akhenaton and his wife, and his wife Neferini, worshiping the god Anun, the one, and the text in the roll of the two giants, the rest of the joy, and after Muawiyah, the dangerous religious and now Mr. Abu Halima, the other side has the son Ali al-K and the royals from Melin with her theological T Anun, Anun passed away - Ankhesen, Ya Anun, and from their daughters, Heri

1982

Somehow, Google Translate never quite satisfies my curiosity!

This boundary stela was first depicted for the general public in a drawing by Robert Hay in 1827:

In fairly recent times a protective roof was added; In 2009, smoked glass doors protected the remnants of the statues and stela when British photographer and blogger, Su Bayfield, took this picture in 2003.

We were lucky in 2024 to be free to browse and see the stela up close (under the watchful eyes of our police escort, of course.)

Naturally, I took quite a few pictures, especially of the stela and its hieroglyphics.

At the top of the stela Akhenaton, Nefertiti and their first two daughters are portrayed worshiping the sun god, Aton, in front of offering tables.

 

The hieroglyphic text below the royal family is largely eroded except for the upper left and lower right corners. This is apparently one of two royal proclamations that are repeated on the several boundary stelae.  This one states that Akhenaton does not plan to expand the city.

The full stela:

The Armana Project has a good explanation of the content of the various boundary stellae here.

Walking back down the stairs, the rocky cliffs on the eastern boundary of Amarna were barely visible in the distance.  

As we returned to our van, our path was littered with a large number of what appeared to be agate geodes. One had been cracked open.  Being a native Oregonian, I would like to have sawed a couple of the others in half to determine whether they might even be "thunder eggs".

  

More photos at our Flickr album, of course.