Oriental Institute Museum Notes No. 17: An Abydos Setting for a Stela of Osiris Sety I

Abstract

In the reign of Sety I, several versions of the royal titulary appeared on monuments throughout Egypt. It has long been known that Sety’s nomen cartouche appeared in his tomb and his temple at Abydos in Osirianized form by replacing the hieroglyphic figure of Seth with that of Osiris. A new identification of such a cartouche on the stela OIM E10507, discussed below, supports attributing its provenience to Abydos as a votive memorial in the cult of Osiris and king, rather than to Saqqara as has been previously suggested. Furthermore, in seeking to localize the nomen of Sety I, it will be shown that the “Osirianized” forms of this cartouche is more widely attested than previously doc umented. Long viewed as one of the highlights on dis play in the Oriental Institute Museum (OIM) is a large limestone slab measuring 39.5 × 51.3 × 7 cm and decorated with a sunken relief scene of two men conducting rituals before images of Sety I and Ramses II (Fig. 1). The limestone block was purchased on November 22, 1919 by James Henry Breasted from the antiquities