A Remarkable Set of Blocks from the Reign of Nectanebo II Found at Awald Musa, near Suez

International audienceThis article presents 33 unpublished limestone blocks dated to the reign of Nectanebo II and found in Awlad Mosa, north of Suez, by the Supreme Council of Antiquities between 1995 and 2006. An assemblage of a few of them is now on display in the Suez Museum. These inscribed blocks were reused material, as indicated by the fact that they were randomly included in the masonry of a latter building. There is a strong possibility, given the identity of the gods they feature, that these blocks were hailed from Tell el-Maskhuta in Wadi Tumilat.Most of the scenes are fragmentary and reprensents the king offering to different gods, mostof them linked to the Heliopolitan sphere. A geographic procession is carved on the “soubassement” and features the most ancient occurrence of Osiris “lord of the Eastern Gate”, an epithet known till now only on two Ptolemaic steles found at Maskhuta