The Shabako Stone
From Memphis, Egypt
25th
Dynasty, around 700 BC
Copy of a 'worm-eaten'
papyrus
During the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth
Dynasties (about 747-525 BC) the Egyptians often used models and
styles from earlier periods to enhance their arts and literature.
Texts were given an air of authority by the suggestion that they
were copied from an earlier source. According to this text, King
Shabako (about 716-702 BC) inspected the Temple of
Ptah
and was horrified to discover that a papyrus scroll was being
devoured by worms. He immediately ordered that the remaining
undamaged text be incised in stone. The compiler of the text has
reproduced the layout of early documents and introduced a number of
archaisms,
giving the piece an air of antiquity. However, the text is clearly
much later than it claims. The slab was later re-used as a
millstone, damaging the
hieroglyphs.
The
text on the stone, sometimes called the Memphite theology, places
Ptah, the principal god of Memphis, and the patron deity of
craftsmen, at the centre of existence. It even places him as a
creator god, describing how he brings the world into being by
giving names, thereby dividing land from water, light from
darkness, heaven from earth
etc.
There was no one
single creation myth in ancient Egypt. The most widespread was that
of creation by the sun god
Atum,
but versions often developed for each local deity, and a whole host
of temples would consider themselves as the place where creation
began. Shabako was a king of the expansionist Nubian dynasty, whose
capital was in the Sudan. His intention may have been to secure the
allegiance of the priesthood of Memphis, an influential section of
the recently conquered Egyptian populace, by giving new prestige to
the city's patron deity.
M. Jones (ed.), Fake?: the art of deception, exh. cat. (London, The British Museum Press, 1990)
S. Quirke, Ancient Egyptian religion (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian literature: a, 3 vols. (University of California Press, 1973-1980)