Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
A new and complete version of the Ptolemaic Canopus Decree has been found by an Egyptian team working at Tell Far’oun (Tell Nabasha) in Egypt’s Sharqia Governorate. Unlike other surviving versions of this decree, which are trilingual (written in hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek scripts), the newly discovered stela is inscribed only in hieroglyphs. Measuring 127.5cm high and 83cm wide, with a thickness of 48cm, the sandstone stela has a rounded top bearing the depiction of a winged solar disc flanked by two uraei. The decree was issued in 238 BC, in the reign of Ptolemy III and Berenice II, who are referred to in the text as ‘the beneficent gods’. The text gives thanks to the monarchs for staving off famine, details their generous donations to Egyptian temples, and introduces a leap-year system with an extra day added every four years.
Text: Sarah Griffiths / Image: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
