A new hypothesis on dating Ramesses IV’s Great Abydos Stela to Osiris and the Gods

The Great Abydos Stela to Osiris and the Gods (JdE no. 48831; KRI VI: 20–25) is a large, relatively well-preserved, round-topped limestone monument from the reign of Ramesses IV. Since the political consequences of the harem conspiracy are well reflected on the stela, its central theme being royal legitimacy, the text was often discussed by scholars and is relatively well known. The Great Abydos Stela to Osiris and the Gods is often cited together with a somewhat smaller limestone monument of the same king, with Ramesses IV’s Great Abydos Stela to Osiris for Length of Reign (JdE no. 48876; KRI VI: 17–20). As the two stelae constitute the two most important royal inscriptions from Abydos from the reign of Ramesses IV and the date is preserved only on one of them – on the Great Abydos Stela to Osiris for Length of Reign – the shorter Abydene text acquired central significance in dating the Great Abydos Stela to Osiris and the Gods. While Alexander Peden, Kenneth Kitchen, and Jean Revez stress the similarities of the two monuments and argue for their identical dating, according to Francesco Tiradritti and Benoît Claus, the larger stela predates the smaller one. The present paper revisits the main arguments of the debate and presents a new hypothesis on dating Ramesses IV’s Great Abydos Stela to Osiris and the Gods with the help of compositional, epigraphic, and intertextual evidence. As a result, four specific dates are considered within the range of a few months between the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth regnal year of Ramesses IV as a possible erection date for the stela.