The Quban Stela (Musée des beaux-arts Grenoble, Collection égyptienne, inv. 1937, 1969, 3565).

The publication presents a new translation and commentary of the Quban Stela of Ramesses II (Musée des beaux-arts Grenoble, Collection égyptienne, inv. 1937, 1969, 3565). This monument dates back to the beginning of his reign (ca. 1287 BC); it was found near the ruins of the fortress of Baki, close to the Nubian village of Quban. The authors of the Quban Stela text made significant efforts to glorify the king to the utmost extent, especially against the backdrop of his father Seti I, renowned for his military achievements. The text develops a wide range of ideological motifs concerning Ramesses II (his divine birth, predestination for power, and connection with gods). It describes a situation where his nobles come to him at his residence in Memphis and report on the difficulty of organizing gold mining in the “land of Ikait” (a region in the desert east of Quban, likely Wadi al-Allaqi) due to the lack of wells along the route to this region. Ramesses II manifests the ability to induce the gods responsible for bringing forth water in the earth’s wells to make water appear on the route to Ikait. The presented translation reflects the text of the Quban Stela as well as, in several instances, the parallel text from the stela in the temple of Aksha (West Serra). The commentary on the text explains a number of its lexical and linguistic features, the motifs of royal ideology reflected in it, and the historical and geographical realities.