Digital Giza | Pepi II Decree

Open IIIF manifest

Object(s) photograph: Site: Giza; view: Menkaure valley temple

Limestone slab with incised decree of Pepi II; badly weathered, broken in five pieces (a, b, c, d, e).

ID: MFAB_47.1654
Alternate IDs: MFAB_47.1654; 47.1654
Department: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Classification: Architectural elements-Freestanding stelae and obelisks
Period: Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6, reign of Pepi II
Title: Pepi II Decree
Medium: Limestone
Dimensions: Other: a 7.5 x 5.5 x 14.5 cm (2 15/16 x 2 3/16 x 5 11/16 in.) Other: b 39 x 9 x 29.5 cm (15 3/8 x 3 9/16 x 11 5/8 in.) Other: c 38 x 2 x 6.3 cm (14 15/16 x 13/16 x 2 1/2 in.) Other: d 11.5 x 5.8 x 16 cm (4 1/2 x 2 5/16 x 6 5/16 in.) Other: e 12 x 5 x 18.7 cm (4 3/4 x 1 15/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
Provenance: Menkaure Valley Temple (MVT / doorway to great court)
Bibliography: Baud, Michel. "The Relative Chronology of Dynasties 6 and 8." In Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David A. Warburton, eds. Ancient Egyptian Chronology, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2006, p. 153. Petrie, W. M. Flinders. The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh. London: Histories & Mysteries of Man Ltd., 1990 (1st ed. London: Field and Tuer, 1883), p. 127. Reisner, George A. Mycerinus: The Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931, p. 38 (March 24), pp. 280-281 (no. 4), pl. A (line drawing 1). Sethe, Kurt. Urkunden des Alten Reichs. Erster Band. Urkunden des Ägyptischen Altertums Abteilung 1, Hft. 1-4. Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1903/1933, pp. 277-278 [29 (169)]. Smith, William Stevenson. "Inscriptional Evidence for the History of the Fourth Dynasty." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 11 (1952), p. 113, fig. 1. Smith, William Stevenson. "The Old Kingdom in Egypt," The Cambridge Ancient History, rev. ed. of vols. I & II, Cambridge University Press, 1962, pp. 53, 54.
Notes: This object was excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, but was not recorded in any object register book. March 24, 1910: Excavated by the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; assigned to the MFA by the government of Egypt. Brought from Harvard Camp in 1947.