« Gebel Sheikh Suleiman : a First Dynasty relief after all… »
Abstract
This paper aims to re-examine the wellknown but surprisingly little studied relief of Gebel Sheikh Suleiman in Nubia, at the North end of the Second Cataract, near the Middle Kingdom sites of Kor and Buhen. The article consists of a comprehensive study of the earliest representations and inscriptions written on the block. The authors suggests that the main scene could be dated to the reign of king Djer of the First Dynasty, but on different premises from those given by Arkell, who first published the relief in 1950. It also appears that the iconography of the scene was carefully chosen and is extremely close to that displayed on the main monuments of early Egyptian
kingship, in an attempt to express Egyptian domination over an area previously ruled by the AGroup.