ABSTRACT
Rays, "I give thee life and all serenity," Mnt says, "I give thee all health," and Khensn-em-Uast (Khemm in Thebes) says," I give thee all joy of heart." Behind the king are groups of symbols, which indicate that his reign shall endure for untold ye:us, and that his existence as king shall be for over. 1'hc king is called "beautiful god, the Lord of the Two Lands," but it is impossible to identify him from the stele because his name and face have been chiselled out by some political, or perhaps personal, opponent, whose object was to destroy his existence in the Other W odd. Moreover, as the Horus, Nebti, and Horus-of-gold names arc not given in the text, they are not available for identification purposes :ts in the Stele of the Coronation. l-ong ago Mariette was inclined to assign this stele to the reign of the king who set up the SLelc of tho Coron:ttion, and who, thanks to the Stele of Queen lVlatisen, was identified with certainty as Aspelta, and there is every reason to think his opinion was correct. The obliteration of the royal names in each stele \Vas probably the work of one and tho same man, and we may with tolerable CRrtainty group together tho Stole of Coronation, the Stele of the Excommunication, and the Stele of Queen Matisen, and assign all three to the last quarter of the seventh century B.c.
