Slab Stelae of the Giza Necropolis

Book excerpt: Fifteen "slab stelae" and stela fragments were found set into the exterior walls of Giza mastaba tombs in the reign of Khufu and his successors. Taken as a group, they provide one of the most important sources of Egyptian artistic and historical documents of the early Old Kingdom; several stelae even preserve remarkable amounts of color after nearly 5,000 years. This publication presents a fresh interpretation of the Giza stelae, with new color photography, "digital epigraphy" facsimile line drawings, new translations, original discovery photographs, and recent color images taken at Giza. In a departure from traditional scholarly works, the book is published in full color, with numerous charts and catalogues, information on all Giza tombs with slab stelae emplacements, the history of their excavation, previous scholarly research, and comparative and interpretive chapters. Appendixes include both color and line-drawing palaeographies of all hieroglyphs appearing on the stelae, and a collection of the enigmatic "linen lists" that adorn the Giza stelae and many other archaic and Old Kingdom monuments. Indexes complete the volume.