Sebek-khu Stele

The Sebek-khu Stele, also known as the Stele of Khu-sobek, is an inscription in honour of a man named Sebek-khu (Khu-sobek), who lived during the reign of Senusret III (reign: 1878 – 1839 BC) discovered by John Garstang in 1901^[1] outside Khu-sobek's tomb at Abydos, Egypt, and now housed in the Manchester Museum.^[2][3]

Sebek-khu Stele
Material	Limestone
Writing	Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs
Created	c.1880-1840 BC
Discovered	1901 Abydos, Egypt
Discovered by	John Garstang
Present location	Manchester Museum
Identification	3306

The text is largely about Khu-sobek's life, and is historically important because it records the earliest known Egyptian military campaign in Canaan (or elsewhere in Asia). The text reads "His Majesty proceeded northward to overthrow the Asiatics. His Majesty reached a foreign country of which the name was Sekmem (...) Then Sekmem fell, together with the wretched Retenu", where Sekmem (s-k-m-m) is thought to be Shechem.^[4]

References

1. The Stela of Khu-Sobek (Manchester Museum)
2. Manchester Museum: 3306 Stela, Object, Registered, Africa, Egypt, Upper Egypt, Abydos^{[permanent dead link‍]}
3. The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography, Yohanan Aharoni
4. Pritchard, James B. (2016). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement. Princeton University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-4008-8276-2.

External links

• The stela of Sebek-khu, the earliest record of an Egyptian campaign in Asia (1914)