Copy of the Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy V) on a limestone stele
Nubayrah Stele
Combined image of two photographic plates depicting the Nubayrah stele from Ahmed Kamal's catalogue
Material
Limestone
Size
1.27 m x 0.51 m
Writing
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
The Nubayrah Stele is a mutilated copy of the
Decree of Memphis (Ptolemy V) on a limestone
stele. The same decree is found upon the
Rosetta Stone. From 1848, it was known that a partial copy of the Decree was on a wall at the
Temple of Philae, but overwritten in many places, by scenes, or damaged.
The limestone stele is rounded at the top, is 4 feet 2 inches (1.27 m) high, and 1 foot 8 inches (0.51 m) wide.'[1] The Nubayrah Stele is named for the present day town of
Noubarya-(?) on the former
Canopic branch of the
Nile River; the town is southwest of
Damanhur. The original "Nubayrah" was close to Damanhur.[2]
The hieroglyph text was published, in the 1800s and early 1900s in five resources:[4]
Urbain Bouriant, "La stèle 5576 du Musée du
Boulaq-(now
Egyptian Museum) et L'inscription de Rosette", in Recueil de travaux, Paris, 1885, vol vi, pp 1-20.
Baillet, Le décret de Memphis et les inscriptiones de Rosette et de Damanhour, Paris, 1905.
Ahmed Kamal (Egyptologist), Catalogue générale des antiquités égyptiennes, No. 22188, with photographic reproduction.