Archaeologists have made an astonishing discovery in Egypt: a complete sandstone stela inscribed with the Canopus Decree, a royal proclamation dating back to 238 BCE.
Unearthed at the renowned Tell El-Fara’in site, located in the city of El-Husseiniya in the Sharqia Governorate in the eastern Nile Delta, the stela is the first intact copy of the decree to be discovered in more than 150 years.
Measuring 4 feet 2 inches high, 2 feet 9 inches wide, and nearly 1 foot 7 inches thick, the stela documents a proclamation made by King Ptolemy III Euergetes 2,263 years ago.
Significantly, the stela is written entirely in hieroglyphs, unlike previous examples that were written in Demotic and Greek. According to Archaeology News, this discovery has given Egyptologists a rare opportunity to study Ptolemaic language, religious practice, and administration from “a purely Egyptian perspective.”
The stela offers a rare, unfiltered look at how Egypt’s traditions were expressed under Ptolemaic rule, highlighting the decree’s importance for understanding religion, governance, and royal ideology.
A unique glimpse into Ptolemaic Egypt
The Canopus Decree was issued by King Ptolemy III Euergetes after a convocation of priests in Canopus to honor the king, Queen Berenice II, and their daughter. The decree praised their benefactions to temples and codified reforms, tying religion and governance together.
While copies were historically commissioned for temples across Egypt, most surviving stelae were fragmentary and written in three scripts: hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. Egyptian authorities reported on Facebook that this newly discovered stela stands out because its text is solely hieroglyphic, offering an authentic Egyptian perspective on Ptolemaic authority.
