Errare humanum est !La stèle funéraire du roi Den reconsidérée

This paper deals with the royal stelae of the first two dynasties discovered at Abydos and, more specifically, with the "stela" of King Den exhibited at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels (E.0562). A careful analysis shows that this object can hardly be a royal stela. This paper presents the arguments that allow us to doubt the now centenary identification of this object and then addresses the issue of the royal stelae of Abydos. It offers a new analysis of the data at our disposal and deals in particular with the materials that were used and the architectural evolution of the royal tombs during the first dynasty. This study is based on an updated catalog of these stelae.