A Fresh Look at the Mekal Stele

• Autores: Eythan Levy
• Localización: Ägypten und Levante: Internationale Zeitschrift für ägyptische archäologie und deren nachbargebeite, ISSN 1015-5104, Nº. 28, 2018, págs. 359-378
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article discusses the Mekal stele, a New Kingdom funerary stele from Beth-Shean (northern Palestine) depicting a certain Amene- mopet and his son Paraemheb worshipping a god named “Mekal, god of Beth-Shean”. Mekal is a most mysterious god, as he still lacks secure identification in other Egyptian and Levantine sources. This article offers a new edition of the stele, and a fresh discussion of the iconographic type of Mekal in relation to other Egyptian depictions of Asiatic gods, such as Baal-Seth and Reshef. It then offers a critical review of the main past attempts at identifying epigraphic and onomastic parallels to Mekal, and also discusses the dating of the stele, formerly set in Dynasty 18, but now provable to belong in Dynasty 19. It finally argues for the presence of a second funerary stele of Amenemopet in Beth-Shean, before offering a cautious conclusion regarding the god’s identity.