Faience stele fragment
Period - New Kingdom (1350BCE-1550BCE)
Found at - Naqada ?
Petrie Museum UC45220

"Blue glazed faience stela fragment, upper left area, with purple-black details, depiction of Seth wearing Double Crown facing right, wearing armlet and straps of a garment (lost below right shoulder), with line of hieroglyphs in front 'Seth of Nubt'"

It's unusual to see a stela in faience.


Originally from the temple of Seth at Naqada, 18th Dynasty
When I first saw this stele at the Petrie Museum website, it looked like this. (To easily find it in their archives, use UC14447)

But you know I couldn't leave it like that. I played with the stela image, and restored it a bit:

Here is a stela very similar to the one in the Petrie Museum. Petrie included a drawing of it in his _Naqada and Bellas_.


"A fine tablet of Set was also found (LXXVIII), dedicated by an official Anhotep; and
with the engraver's name added below, "made by the priest of Amen, chief of the engravers Nezem."

I've found this stela at the Manchester Museum, and yes, they have a photo of it:


#4528, donation of Mr Jesse Haworth, 1895
Limestone, height 23.3cm, width 15.7cm

Set "wears the double-crown associated with kingship, and carries a staff in the form of the hieroglyph 'was', meaning 'power.

"In hieroglyphs, at top: Seth of Nebti, lord of provisions, great of strength, powerful of arm. In hieroglyphs, to right of altar: [word missing] of Amun, Anhotep. This is the title and name of the stela's donor. In hieroglyphs, at bottom: Made by the wab-priest of Amun, the chief of the craftsmen, Nedjem. This unusual inscription seems to name the man who made the stela, or who supervised the workshop where it was made." (info museum website)

Manchester museum may also have the next piece to which Petrie refers. They have a description, but no photo:
# 4565, Limestone
"Fragment from the top of a round-topped, limestone stela, with the winged sun disc; inscribed for the god Seth."
Inscriptions: "Fragment of hieroglyphic inscription incised at top right, for 'Seth, great of valour'"
Height (cm) 9.4, Width (cm) 18.0

However, Manchester museum gives that stela's origin as from Naqada and the description doesn't mention any image of Set, other than the hieroglyphic inscription. Petrie describes his stela fragment in _The Palace of Apries (Memphis II)_ as of "A piece of a stele is of interest as bearing a good and uninjured head of the god Set":


in "Chapter 5, Sculptures from Temples and City"


I tried to clarify it a bit, the original photo having been made unclear by a black and white scan. Meanwhile, we make the best we can with what we can find. (Set's later bad reputation ellicited much image destruction, and hence for a God who was once so popular, undamaged images are now rare to find.)

However, during the 18th and 19th dynasties, Set was very much honored. As I study the Petrie Museum website, I learn of Thutmoses III. He built or rebuilt many temples in Egypt and Nubia as well. He did not ignore the temple of Seth and "enlarged or renovated the temple" for he left his name in the temple's foundation deposit:


Prenomen: Menkheperre (from Wikipedia

Here is yet another stela fragment which may have come from Naqada:


Fragment from top of round topped limestone stele with three columns of hieroglyphs,
mentioning 'guardian of royal provisions of the Lord of the Two Lands,'
Horemheb before Setekh of Ombos.
Dynasty 19 (1186BCE-1295BCE) till Dynasty 20 (1069BCE-1186BCE), height 14 cms width 11.4 cms
height 14 cms width 11.4 cms
Petrie Museum UC14448


Description from Griffith Institute pdf:

"Fragment of upper right part of round-topped stela, Haremhab [], Custodian of the King’s provisions of the Lord of the Two Lands] (only hands holding two braziers left) before [Seth of Ombos], Dyn. XIX-XX, in London, Petrie Museum, 14448. (Probably from Tukh.)"