c. 200 BCE
translated by Camden M. Cobern (adapted)
1891
|
NOTE |
From my commentary in Foundations of Atlantis: The Famine Stela is a piece of historical fiction created around 200 BCE to justify claims of Khnum’s priesthood to lands south of Elephantine by imagining events from 2,500 years earlier featuring the “Donation” of these lands to Imhotep, architect of the first pyramid, that of Djoser, whom he served as vizier. In The Ancient Alien Question and in public discussions with me before his death, Coppens asserted that this text relates a non-human intelligence’s delivery of plans for the pyramid to Imhotep in a dream. The text, however, explains that Khnum promised “stones” (gems) for decorating and restoring temples, with no mention made of pyramids. More interesting is the history of this text, which upon its discovery was initially thought to offer proof of the seven year famine under Joseph (Genesis 47:13-27). Although this was proven false (seven year famines were a stock phrase in ancient literature), some fringe writers and some biblical apologists still allege that Imhotep himself was Joseph, and the pyramids his granaries (Genesis 41:48; cf. chapter 7 of Mandeville’s Travels).
Camden M. Cobern’s translation was made from the 1891 German translation of Heinrich Brugsch. Both being somewhat incorrect in light of current knowledge of Egyptian, it has been corrected against modern editions of the text. |
THE FAMINE STELA
In the year 18 of the king, Neterkhet, the divine incarnation, the ‘golden Horus,’ Djoser, when Mesir was prince of the cities of the South land and director of the Nubians in Elephantine, this message of the king was brought to him:
‘I am sorrowing upon my high throne over those who belong to the palace. In sorrow is my heart for the vast misfortune, because the Nile flood in my time has not come for seven years. Light is the grain, there is lack of crops and of all kinds of food. Each man has become a thief to his neighbor. They want to hurry and cannot walk, the child cries, the youth creeps along and the old man, their souls are bowed. Their legs are bent together and drag along the ground and their hands rest in their bosoms. The counsel of the great ones of the coast is but emptiness. Torn open are the chests of provisions, but instead of contents there is air. Everything is exhausted. Then my soul, turning itself to the past, consulted a member of the staff of the Ibis, the chief script-sage, Imhotep, the son of Ptah South-of-His-Wall. Tell me, where is the birthplace of the Nile? Which god or which goddess dwells there as its great protector?’
He stood and said, ‘I shall journey to Hermopolis (literally: Mansion-of-the-Net) where Thoth has uttermost patience for all men according to their deeds. I will enter the house of the sacred writer. I will spell out the Souls of Re (papyrus rolls) and will take guidance from them!’
Then he made the journey and came immediately back to me. He informed me concerning the Nile flood and everything that had been written about it. He disclosed to me the secret to which the forefathers fled for refuge, and whose second has been with no king since the beginning of time.
He said to me: ‘There is a place in the midst of the stream, where the Nile flood comes to view. Elephantine has been its name from the beginning. So since the beginning the city has been called, and so the district since the beginning has been called Wawat because there is the beginning of the land. It is the great arched terrace of the Sun’s rising. . . . . ‘Sweet is Life’ is the dwelling called. The water is called ‘The Dual Caverns.’ It is the double breast which nourishes everything good. It is the restful couch of the Nile. He increases on it to his (right) time in order that he may pour forth the floods. He disports himself in his course as a young man with his bride. He renews his youth that his desires may be satisfied. He rises twenty-eight yards and he sinks at Sema-behdet (Diospolis Inferior) to seven yards. . . . . The conjunction is the same in Elephantine as the god Khnum. He strikes the ground with the soles of his feet. He opens the bolts of the portals with his hands and the doors of the water-gates fall open. Otherwise he is the same as the god Shu, an original possessor of the island. He takes into account the land to the south and the north, in order to give to all gods a portion of it, in that he brings along birds and fish and everything that they live on. The measuring stick is there and the writing tablet.
His divine house opens towards the southeast, the daily sun stands about it, its water is dangerous towards the south, . . . mountains buttress it on the east. The peasantry come with all their possessions to build a divine house on the west and in the south, and a dwelling place for holy animals, and the royal pyramid, and every kind of obelisk. They stand in the temple in the crypt with salutations, opposite the god Khnum in his environment. In the same way they hand fresh wreaths of all flowers. . . . . Learn the names of the gods in the Temple of Khnum: The goddess Satis [note: written as Sothis], the goddess Anukis, Hapy the Nile god, god Shu, god Geb, the goddess Nut, the god Osiris, the god Horus, the goddess Isis, and the goddess Nephthys.”
[Then follows a list of the minerals of Elephantine, etc.]
My soul was glad when I heard this. I entered. The director opened what was concealed. The purification was performed, a great sacrifice offered to the gods whose names are praised in the place ‘Resting Place of the Soul in Life and Strength.’ I found the god standing before me who was pleased to be praised. I besought him. He opened his eye. His heart was moved and his voice resounded:
‘I am Khnum thy Creator; my hand rested on thee in order to make your body healthy. I have sent unto you precious stones upon stones, previously unknown and on which no work has yet been done, so you may build temples, rebuild ruins, and inlay the eyes of statues. For I am the Lord of Fashioning, the one who created himself, the powerfully great original Water which was in the beginning, Hapy of the Nile Flood, who rises as he wishes, creator of all humanity. I am leader and director of all men in their time, Tatenen, the father of the gods, the god Shu, the great one, the first possessor. The two hemispheres serve me as a dwelling place. A spring stands open to me which I know (the Nile) which embraces the land, and whose embrace brings forth nourishment to all, according to the order of the embrace. With increasing age, a state of weakness approaches. I will let the Nile rise for you without missing a year. He shall let himself down on every portion of the land. All plants shall sprout and the Hour-bearing fruit shall bow. The divine harvest blessings shall be everywhere, and all things shall flourish a million fold. The servants shall have plenty, and hope shall rise in their hearts and in that of their masters. The famine shall pass away and the lack in their houses of provisions. The Egyptian folk shall go into the fields when the acres shall shine with grain, and the meadow-grass shall be according to their wish, more than has ever been known.’
I awoke with a racing heart. My courage returned and correspondingly my fatigue left me. I read the following edict in the place of my father Khnum: ‘I, the king, provide support for thee, my father, the divine Khnum, the sun, the master of the cataract district in the Nubian land, as surety for that which you will do for me. Given over to you as your possession shall be the right and left banks in the west, in the district of Elephantine, with a circuit of twenty miles on the right and left banks so far as it is covered with plant growth along the stream in the portion given to you.
There shall be required from all peasants who till the ground and from those who revere the dead and water the fields with all the islands which lie within the measurement, a part of all harvests as your portion. Of that which is found in the net of every fisher and hunter; what the anglers and bird-catchers win, together with all hunting booty and all animals caught on the mountains, I demand a tithe. Of all the calves which are born within the prescribed limit one-tenth shall be offered as burnt offerings according to their daily count; together with this shall be the gift of a tithe of gold, ivory, ebony, carob wood, ochre, carnelian, shrt, dỉw-plants, nfw-plants, all kinds of wood and all other products which the Nubians of southern Nubia, and all those under supervision of them, shall bring in to Egypt. One shall release their hands, and no officer shall speak a word in these places in order to require anything from them or to withdraw anything from thy provision stores. I give to you the flat lands belonging to the city district which bear stones and good soil. Nothing shall be stolen from it or diminished. In order not to cast suspicion on the scribes, the officers and the royal supervisors who must take account of them all: Let it be ordered that the stonecutter and the copper-smith and the metal-worker of all works which they carry out in order to work up the stones with the help of gold, silver, copper, lead; and that all strangers who fell trees or do anything else; that all these workers give a tithe of everything according to the reckoning—including the rare stones which are brought from abroad and of all stones from the East. Let there also be a director appointed for the weighing according to direction of the gold, silver, precious stones and all other things which the artists, goldsmiths and architects require for the erection of the divine statues which, with their material, are exceptional, and have not been enumerated in the preceding classes of work. Let everything be granted to you from the provision-house, even to their children. Let there be abundance of whatever is in your Temple, so that it may be as it was before.
This decree shall be engraved in writing on a tablet in a conspicuous place, which writing shall agree with the original on the wooden tablets. The god and the directors of the temple shall be represented there. Whoever spits upon the contents shall be punished. The directors of the priests and every director of the people of the temple shall provide for the preservation of my name in the temple of Khnum-Re, the lord of Elephantine, mighty forever.
‘I am sorrowing upon my high throne over those who belong to the palace. In sorrow is my heart for the vast misfortune, because the Nile flood in my time has not come for seven years. Light is the grain, there is lack of crops and of all kinds of food. Each man has become a thief to his neighbor. They want to hurry and cannot walk, the child cries, the youth creeps along and the old man, their souls are bowed. Their legs are bent together and drag along the ground and their hands rest in their bosoms. The counsel of the great ones of the coast is but emptiness. Torn open are the chests of provisions, but instead of contents there is air. Everything is exhausted. Then my soul, turning itself to the past, consulted a member of the staff of the Ibis, the chief script-sage, Imhotep, the son of Ptah South-of-His-Wall. Tell me, where is the birthplace of the Nile? Which god or which goddess dwells there as its great protector?’
He stood and said, ‘I shall journey to Hermopolis (literally: Mansion-of-the-Net) where Thoth has uttermost patience for all men according to their deeds. I will enter the house of the sacred writer. I will spell out the Souls of Re (papyrus rolls) and will take guidance from them!’
Then he made the journey and came immediately back to me. He informed me concerning the Nile flood and everything that had been written about it. He disclosed to me the secret to which the forefathers fled for refuge, and whose second has been with no king since the beginning of time.
He said to me: ‘There is a place in the midst of the stream, where the Nile flood comes to view. Elephantine has been its name from the beginning. So since the beginning the city has been called, and so the district since the beginning has been called Wawat because there is the beginning of the land. It is the great arched terrace of the Sun’s rising. . . . . ‘Sweet is Life’ is the dwelling called. The water is called ‘The Dual Caverns.’ It is the double breast which nourishes everything good. It is the restful couch of the Nile. He increases on it to his (right) time in order that he may pour forth the floods. He disports himself in his course as a young man with his bride. He renews his youth that his desires may be satisfied. He rises twenty-eight yards and he sinks at Sema-behdet (Diospolis Inferior) to seven yards. . . . . The conjunction is the same in Elephantine as the god Khnum. He strikes the ground with the soles of his feet. He opens the bolts of the portals with his hands and the doors of the water-gates fall open. Otherwise he is the same as the god Shu, an original possessor of the island. He takes into account the land to the south and the north, in order to give to all gods a portion of it, in that he brings along birds and fish and everything that they live on. The measuring stick is there and the writing tablet.
His divine house opens towards the southeast, the daily sun stands about it, its water is dangerous towards the south, . . . mountains buttress it on the east. The peasantry come with all their possessions to build a divine house on the west and in the south, and a dwelling place for holy animals, and the royal pyramid, and every kind of obelisk. They stand in the temple in the crypt with salutations, opposite the god Khnum in his environment. In the same way they hand fresh wreaths of all flowers. . . . . Learn the names of the gods in the Temple of Khnum: The goddess Satis [note: written as Sothis], the goddess Anukis, Hapy the Nile god, god Shu, god Geb, the goddess Nut, the god Osiris, the god Horus, the goddess Isis, and the goddess Nephthys.”
[Then follows a list of the minerals of Elephantine, etc.]
My soul was glad when I heard this. I entered. The director opened what was concealed. The purification was performed, a great sacrifice offered to the gods whose names are praised in the place ‘Resting Place of the Soul in Life and Strength.’ I found the god standing before me who was pleased to be praised. I besought him. He opened his eye. His heart was moved and his voice resounded:
‘I am Khnum thy Creator; my hand rested on thee in order to make your body healthy. I have sent unto you precious stones upon stones, previously unknown and on which no work has yet been done, so you may build temples, rebuild ruins, and inlay the eyes of statues. For I am the Lord of Fashioning, the one who created himself, the powerfully great original Water which was in the beginning, Hapy of the Nile Flood, who rises as he wishes, creator of all humanity. I am leader and director of all men in their time, Tatenen, the father of the gods, the god Shu, the great one, the first possessor. The two hemispheres serve me as a dwelling place. A spring stands open to me which I know (the Nile) which embraces the land, and whose embrace brings forth nourishment to all, according to the order of the embrace. With increasing age, a state of weakness approaches. I will let the Nile rise for you without missing a year. He shall let himself down on every portion of the land. All plants shall sprout and the Hour-bearing fruit shall bow. The divine harvest blessings shall be everywhere, and all things shall flourish a million fold. The servants shall have plenty, and hope shall rise in their hearts and in that of their masters. The famine shall pass away and the lack in their houses of provisions. The Egyptian folk shall go into the fields when the acres shall shine with grain, and the meadow-grass shall be according to their wish, more than has ever been known.’
I awoke with a racing heart. My courage returned and correspondingly my fatigue left me. I read the following edict in the place of my father Khnum: ‘I, the king, provide support for thee, my father, the divine Khnum, the sun, the master of the cataract district in the Nubian land, as surety for that which you will do for me. Given over to you as your possession shall be the right and left banks in the west, in the district of Elephantine, with a circuit of twenty miles on the right and left banks so far as it is covered with plant growth along the stream in the portion given to you.
There shall be required from all peasants who till the ground and from those who revere the dead and water the fields with all the islands which lie within the measurement, a part of all harvests as your portion. Of that which is found in the net of every fisher and hunter; what the anglers and bird-catchers win, together with all hunting booty and all animals caught on the mountains, I demand a tithe. Of all the calves which are born within the prescribed limit one-tenth shall be offered as burnt offerings according to their daily count; together with this shall be the gift of a tithe of gold, ivory, ebony, carob wood, ochre, carnelian, shrt, dỉw-plants, nfw-plants, all kinds of wood and all other products which the Nubians of southern Nubia, and all those under supervision of them, shall bring in to Egypt. One shall release their hands, and no officer shall speak a word in these places in order to require anything from them or to withdraw anything from thy provision stores. I give to you the flat lands belonging to the city district which bear stones and good soil. Nothing shall be stolen from it or diminished. In order not to cast suspicion on the scribes, the officers and the royal supervisors who must take account of them all: Let it be ordered that the stonecutter and the copper-smith and the metal-worker of all works which they carry out in order to work up the stones with the help of gold, silver, copper, lead; and that all strangers who fell trees or do anything else; that all these workers give a tithe of everything according to the reckoning—including the rare stones which are brought from abroad and of all stones from the East. Let there also be a director appointed for the weighing according to direction of the gold, silver, precious stones and all other things which the artists, goldsmiths and architects require for the erection of the divine statues which, with their material, are exceptional, and have not been enumerated in the preceding classes of work. Let everything be granted to you from the provision-house, even to their children. Let there be abundance of whatever is in your Temple, so that it may be as it was before.
This decree shall be engraved in writing on a tablet in a conspicuous place, which writing shall agree with the original on the wooden tablets. The god and the directors of the temple shall be represented there. Whoever spits upon the contents shall be punished. The directors of the priests and every director of the people of the temple shall provide for the preservation of my name in the temple of Khnum-Re, the lord of Elephantine, mighty forever.
Source: Camden M. Cobern in “The Seven Biblical Years of Famine,” Biblia 4, no. 7 (1891): 182-184.
