Stelae from Egypt and Nubia in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, c.3000 BC–AD 1150

This catalogue provides details of 127 stelae with material in Egyptian hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic, Greek, Coptic, Carian and early Arabic. New evidence is provided on aspects of Egyptian culture such as burial customs, religion, art and iconography, daily life and the administrative systems over a period of 4000 years.

The volume provides a detailed catalogue of 127 stelae (many funerary) deriving from the Nile Valley, now part of the Egyptian collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The stelae are written in various scripts – Egyptian hieroglyphic, hieratic and demotic, Carian, Greek, Coptic and early Arabic – and cover a date-range of over 4000 years. Few museums have published their complete holdings of such material, and the carefully described and translated information from these stelae throws a flood of light on the history, religion, funerary customs, art and iconography, daily life and administrative systems of ancient Egypt and Nubia. Each entry has a photograph of the stela as well as a meticulous line-drawing which enables the texts and iconography to be understood and interpreted. Full museological details such as material, precise measurements, provenance (where known), mode of acquisition and dating are provided. The volume will interest specialists as well as a wider public concerned with Egyptology.