Bonus 22 - Famine Stele

Famine Stele on Sehel Island, Egypt as found by W.M. Flinders PetrieStele, Public Domain.

The Famine Stele is an Egyptian Hieroglyphic inscription that describes a seven-year drought and famine that took place during the reign of King Djoser (3rd dynasty 332-32 BC). Although dating to well beyond the Genesis account of the seven year famine in Genesis 41 it indicates that seven-year famines were known in Egypt in ancient times. A seven-year famine is also mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the “Book of the Temple” under the rule of king Neferkasokar (late 2nd dynasty).1.

Footnotes

• 1. Shaul Bar, A Letter That Has Not Been Read: Dreams in the Hebrew Bible (Jerusalem, Israel: Hebrew Union College Press, 2001).