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The Bentresh Stella or Bakhtan Stella is an ancient Egyptian sandstone stela with a hieroglyphic text telling the story of Bentresh, daughter of the prince of Bakhtan (i.e. Bactria), who fell ill and was healed by the Egyptian god Khonsu.
Contents
Dating
The narrative is set during the reign of Ramesses II – Bentresh is his sister-in-law in the story –, but its language clearly shows that it was written much later, during the Late Period or even in the Ptolemaic period, as a propagandistic work, and was disguised to be an earlier inscription to give it more authority.
Purpose
Its purpose might have been to reminisce on Egypt's old glory during foreign – Persian or Ptolemaic – rule, or to glorify Khonsu-Neferhotep, "the merciful" and Khonsu-Pairsekher, "the provider", the two aspects of the god worshiped in Thebes, or was inspired by the rivalry of their respective priesthoods.
The alleged marriage between Ramesses II and the daughter of the prince of Bactria has recently been interpreted as an example of imitatio alexandri, i.e. the imitation of Alexander the Great (Ryholt 2013).
Description
The Stella is made of black sandstone, its proportions are 2,22×1,09 m. It was found in 1829 in a small Ptolemaic shrine that stood next to the Khonsu temple of Ramesses III in Karnak. It is now in the Louvre (Louvre C 284).
The Lunette
The lunette shows Ramesses II giving incense offerings to Khonsu of Thebes.
The text
The text consists of 28 lines, begins with the titles of Ramesses, then recounts the story: When His Majesty traveled to Naharin, the Prince of Bakhtan gave him his eldest daughter in marriage. The pharaoh named the girl Neferure (she was possibly modeled on Ramesses' foreign Great Royal Wife Maathorneferure) and made her his queen. In the 23rd regnal year the Pharaoh received news that Neferure's younger sister Bentresh became ill. Ramesses sent her the wise scribe Djehutyemheb to heal her, but he didn't succeed, because the girl was seized by a demon. The Prince of Bakhtan asked the Pharaoh to send a god. Ramesses asked the help of Khonsu-Neferhotep who gave his magical protection to Khonsu-Pairsekher, whose statue was then dispatched to Bakhtan. The god expelled the demon and healed the princess. The Prince of Bakhtan failed to send the god back to Egypt, thus Khonsu spent 3 years and 9 months in Bakhtan, but one night the Prince saw a dream: the god changed into a golden falcon, left his shrine and flew back to Egypt. The Prince understood that he has to let the god go, and ordered the statue to be taken back to Egypt.