Stela (pl. stelae) is a Latin word derived from the Greek stele, which means pillar or vertical tablet.

In English, the usual forms are stele and steles.

In ancient Egypt, stelae are slabs of stone or wood, of many different shapes, usually bearing inscriptions, reliefs or paintings.
There are several ancient Egyptian expressions for the term stela, which reflect its different purposes. Represented in :A-(royal stela - individual stela - votive stela - boundary stela magical stela - etc-----)
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In ancient Egypt, stelae were first erected as tombstones and as boundary markers, but also as Votive and commemorative monuments. From the 1st dynasty (when the earliest stelae were used in Egypt) onward until Roman times, considerable change in the shapes of stelae, their decoration and their types of inscriptions took place

The 1st dynasty:

Royal Stela were erected in ancient Egypt During the 1st dynasty to mark the tombs of the Kings and their courtiers in the cemetery of Abydos in upper Egypt and It consisted of a large slab stones with rounded Top in which the name of the king inscribed inside the serekh The 2nd dynasty :During the 2nd Dynasty, the use of tomb stelae gradually decreased. Owing to the enlargement superstructures of the tomb. And the offering place moved into an decorated niches

3rd Dynasty:The false door (considered a form of a stele) at Saqqara which consisted of a door niche as well as rectangular slab stela that show the owner of tomb in front of the offering table Similar slab stelae have already been found in the tombs of the 2nd Dynasty in Helwan

4th dynasty :-

During the 4th Dynasty stelae also appeared detachedfrom false doors in the Giza mastaba tombs. Represented slab stela with a rounded top .

George A. Reisner differentiated between two types of stelae:Almost square stone slabs decorated with scenes that show the tomb owner in front of an offering table. This type resembles the slab stelae and false door tablets of the Old Kingdom. Vertical rectangular slabs with rounded tops that depict the standing tomb owner.

Most stelae of the Middle Kingdom were vertical rectangular slabs, with a rounded top. There were also rectangular stelae with a torus roll" " and cavetto cornices, two elements that also appear on false doors and derive from early reed-and-mud constructions

In the New Kingdom, the shapes of stelae were very similar to those of the Middle Kingdom, apart from a few innovations. For example, round-topped stelae as well as rectangular stelae with a torus roll and cavetto cornice also contained a triangle as the upper part,
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1) Royal Stela :They commemorates the important royal events like the kings 's coronation , the royal marriage building projects 2) Votive stela: They were presented by the King, The high officials and the individuals to the temples to express their thanks and graduates to the gods and to gain more blessings. 3) Funerary stela: they were placed inside the tomb or out side the tomb to provide the deceased with offerings of foods and drink that would help him to survive in the after life. Mainly the hieroglyphic texts asked god Osiris god of the dead and Anubis the guardian god of the necropolis to provide the deceased with good offering and burial
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they were used to indicate the limits of the fields the estates like (tell Al- amarna ) founded by King Akhenaton .He erected about 14 boundary stelae around the city.

They commemorate the successful military campaigns made by the king and the military leaders. like the stela of merenptah

they were placed in the houses to protect the people against dangerous things
They have names of the persons and the families .They were placed inside the house
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Stelae usually have both depictions and inscriptions, executed in raised or sunked relief, or painted onto the surface. The space within the top curve of a stela is called the lunette, On Middle Kingdom :stelae the decoration of the lunette is clearly differentiated from the rest, the lower part of the stela, In the New Kingdom:the depictions in the lunette are blended with the other element.

Notice:During the 19th Dynasty, Votive stelae with depictions of large ears were used for the first time.
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Wedjet-eyes and the winded sun disk, :-

both symbols of protection and defense. Wedjet-eyes have been interpreted as a combination of the eyes of the falcon and a " wildcat. This image was also used as an amulet and was, for example, depicted on coffins and sarcophagi. The winged sun disk was originally a royal symbol and was usually depicted above temple entrances. Symbols for "life" and "regeneration,
Depictions of deities :-

especially the jackal god Wepwawet), have also appeared in the lunettes. With some additional decorative elements include

barques with deities in them, scarabs, floral elements and stars.

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During the Middle Kingdom, the rectangular part of a stela usually contained several horizontal lines of inscription, above the depiction of the stela's owner and, occasionally, some of his relatives

The first register of the rectangular part of a stela was decorated with adoration scenes, showing the owner and his family worshiping the gods.

On tomb stelae of the Late Period and the Ptolemaic Period, the deceased was primarily shown among deities of the hereafter.

A. Stelae inscriptions were usually written in hieroglyphs but occasionally also in Hieratic, the cursive writing of the ancient Egyptians. Late Period stelae were also inscribed in Demotic, a written and spoken language that evolved during the 26th Dynasty. B. Some stelae from the Ptolemaic Period also have texts in Greek. In fact, some stelae from the Ptolemaic Period, the most famous example of which is the Rosetta stone, had text repeated in several different forms and languages. C. The earliest stelae of the 1st and 2nd dynasties had only the name and title of the owner. However, by the Middle Kingdom, stelae were inscribed with various kinds of texts, and the offering formula D. Besides the offering formula, Votive stelae were usually inscribed with hymns to gods, while commemorative stelae had autobiographies or descriptions of certain important events.

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(1) The ancient Egyptian believed if you dont have your name written down some where , that after your death you would disappear every one made sure Their name was written some where including their tombs . (2) The pharaohs ordered the monuments built so as to write their names down in a very public way . Some monument like temples and obelisks . (3) Obelisks were made out of stone and often built in pairs . Each obelisks was at least 70 tall and most was taller each was decorated with writing telling us the greatest achievement of the person who built the obelisks .
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1) The obelisk (It is a Greek word diminutive from obelos ) and was tall ,slender Four side shaft and topped with a point Known as the pyramidion shape 2) The obelisk was a great monument that their names ,their titles and their dedication to the Gods . The flat sides are carved with hieroglyphics . And the pointed tip of the obelisk represented the ground that the Sun God Re stood to create the universe 3) The word obelisks which used in English nowadays is a Greek word rather than its Egyptian origins because the Greek traveler Herodotus described it as Obelisks

4) Finally the obelisks were known as tekhneu and they were considered to be sacred to the Sun god re whose main cult centre was at Heliopolis where the oldest surviving monumental obelisk in Egypt still standing .
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A. The obelisks were first erected at Heliopolis and the practice was continued Through the pharaonic period made from the so called Behen stone which resemble s the pyramidion of the obelisks and was considered sacred to the Sun God Re and also resembles the primeval stone of Atum . And it was associated to the Benu- Bird or the phoenix B. The earliest obelisk was first appeared stood in pairs before the entrance of the tomb and the earliest known example excavated at Abu-Sir Egypt , dated from the old Kingdom during the reign of the King Neuserre (244-2417 Bc )

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A. First they brought a block of stone weighting about 25 tons . Then they prepared a path by embedding a wooden rails in to the ground and placing a sledge on them with megalith weighting about 26 tons on it B. Initially they tried to tow the obelisk with over about 100 people ,but they unable to budge it . And finally with over a bout 140 people pulling it at once when yelled Allah Akbar and an additional dozen using levers to prod it forward and finally they managed to move it C. Over a course of the day they were able to tow it for about 10-20 feet and with a lot of a problem with broken rope
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A. The obelisks were made by the King so as to inscribed their names , their titles , their dedication and their blessing to the sun God Re B. And as we said before the ancient Egyptian If you havent your name written down some where , that after your death , you would disappear .So every one make sure that their names were written somewhere . And that why the ancient Egyptian built their monuments like temples and obelisks

A. The use of the obelisk is even more of mystery than their carving .while the obelisk are usually covered with inscriptions these offer no clue to the function . B. It has been suggested that the erection of the obelisk was to symbolize the djed pillar ,the Osirian symbol standing for the back bone of the physical world . And the channels refers to the divine spirit

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Egypt - 9
Pharaoh Tuthmosis I , karank temple , Luxor Pharaoh Ramses II , Luxor temple Pharaoh Hatshepsut , Karank temple , Luxor Pharaoh senusert I , Al- masalla area of Al- matariyyiah district of Heliopolis , Cairo Pharaoh Ramses III , Luxor temple Pharaoh Ramses II, Gezira island ,Cairo Pharaoh Ramses II , international Cairo Airport Pharaoh Seti II, Luxor temple Pharaoh senusert I faiyum

France-1
Israel -1

Pharaoh Ramses II ,Luxor temple obelisk , Paris

Caesarea obelisk Turkey -1 Pharaoh Tuthmosis III at square of the horse
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Italy -11

8 in Rome ( see obelisks in Rome ) Urbane Piazza del Duomo Catania (Sicily ) United Kingdom -4
Pharaoh tuthmosis III (Cleopatra s needle ) in Victoria .London Pharaoh Amenthotep II , in the oriental museum Ptolemy Iv , Philae obelisk Pharaoh Nectanobe II , British museum

United States-1
Pharaoh Tuthmosis III (Cleopatra s Needle) In the centre park of New York

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