The story of how the various parts of this monument were discovered is quite remarkable; there is a brief summary in the wikipedia article. Since the early 19th century, the monument has attracted the interest of scholars because of its depiction of the ten-day sections (decans or decades) into which the Egyptians divided the night sky. The most recently discovered pieces (found underwater in Abukir Bay) contain a Cosmogony (A) with some unique features.
Although most of the pieces were found elsewhere, the place-names in B and the royal cartouches in C show that this naos {shrine} was originally installed at Saft_el-Henna in the reign of Nectanebo I. It was therefore related to two other shrines from the same place and time: the "Naos of Saft_el-Henna" ( AET_9.22 ) and the "Naos of El-Arish" ( AET_1.24 ).
The rear wall (D) contains a description of the statuette that was placed inside the naos; this shows that it was dedicated to the god Shu. The description is strikingly similar to a fragment of hieroglyphic text that was seen on a wall in Alexandria in about 1840 (E); this fragment was clearly part of a fourth shrine, dedicated to the goddess Tefnut.
The translations are taken from the detailed publication of the monument by A.-S. von Bomhard, "The Naos of the Decades" (2008). There is also a complete German translation of the inscriptions in a dissertation by H. Hohneck, "Naoi: Königliche Steindenkmäler in den Tempeln Ägyptens", vol. 2, pp.277-305 ( PDF ). The best online account of the monument in English is by A.-S. von Bomhard, "The Naos of the Decades and the Astral Aspects of Divine Judgement" ( JHIE 2 , pp.163-179 ). A French account by the same author is more detailed: A.-S. von Bomhard, "Le Naos des Décades: Puzzle archéologique et thématique" ( PDF ).
[A] { Left external wall }
. . . of the lord of the Universe . . . secret enacted by the Ennead (?) who have given birth to Rê, the forms of all the gods in their entirety, all the bas of all the gods and all the goddesses, the first group,the second, third and fourth groups of souls of the Ogdoad, the first time the sky was lifted beneath them in order that they set in the sky to become the forms of the bodies of the gods. It shall not be destroyed for eternity and forever, what was done for the First Time when he separated the sky from the earth, thus creating all the atmosphere, when he fixed forever the sky on its four pillars, with the disks and these souls inside, when he separated the land 10 from the waters so they would not mix any more, when he differentiated life from death, death from life among all humans, all gods, all animals, when he brought combat into being thus creating the massacres, when he conceived impurity thus producing the plagues of the year. So it was done. The Majesty of Rê was at Ỉȝt-nbs; observing the east of the sky; his Majesty says to Thoth: "It is the raising of the sky in the line of sight from the mound of the jujube tree {Ỉȝt-nbs} where there is a perfect Duat in the necropolis which has become the House of the Headdress; let there be built a great temple in Ỉȝt-nbs for the souls of the gods; they shall come from the sky to the earth to accomplish all aspects of all duties, all life, all death, all massacre in the sky, on earth, in the Duat, the waters and the air. The Majesty of Shu is at their head; there are among them 36 gods. It is they {all of them?} who do this according to what they are ordered (?). 20 They are the guides of Rê, they are the guarantors of the perennial existence of the sky, the earth, the Duat and the gods. They are the children of Rê, of Sekhmet, Nekhbet, Bastet and Wadjit, the emissaries of Thoth . . . They are the masters of the counting of the seasons . . . {The rest is missing}
[B] { Horizontal lines }
[Ỉȝt]-nbs, gateway of heaven. When Rê rises, his face [is turned?] to the great mooring stakes {or houses} of . . . east of Egypt, the elongated secret bastions of He-who-Presides at Bakhu, the path which is the road . . . of the two? disks . . . . . . edifice {or moon} in the line of vision of Ḥwt-nbs in the night . . . . . . great, 36 stars, the workers . . . the sky, the earth, the Duat are subjected to their will. They rise and set towards their temples in Ỉȝt-nbs . . . . . . lt is they who create every breeze in the sky, they who bring the rain . . . they who bring out Hapi . . . . . . [from ?] his hidden places, it is they who cause thunderstorms, and it is they too who are protectors of the sky by being those who disperse the dense clouds. They pass the day and they pass the night, they rise and they set, they regenerate towards the northern lake. As regards the northern lake east of Ỉȝt-nbs, it is the Duat of the temple of the slaughterers {ḫȝtyw} in Ỉȝt-nbs; the progression of the gods towards the sky is through this opening when they come from the necropolis-duat. Knowing the secrets of the mystery of what is hidden. Hathor, Mistress of the Headdress of Maat ; it was the season when the Majesty of Re-Harakhte was in combat.
[C] { Front }
Behdety, the great god.
Long live the Lord of the Two Lands,
Kheperkare - may he live like Rê!
[Long live the King of Upper and Lower Egyp]t,
Kheperkare - [may he live like Rê!]
[Long live the] Son of Rê, [ Nekhtnebef - may he live like Rê! ]
[D] { Rear Interior Wall }
{ Below a winged Sun Disk } Horus of Edfu, the great god, Lord of Heaven, he of the variegated plumage, who emerges from the horizon.
{ Above a crouching lion } Shu, Lord of the Sanctuary {pr-wr}, within Ḥwt-nbs. Height: 4 handbreadths. Silver, overlaid with pure gold, as set down on the papyrus scroll of the divine words.
[E] { Fragment seen in Alexandria; now lost }
{ Below a winged Sun Disk } Horus of Edfu, the great god (and) Lord of Heaven, the brightly feathered one who emerges from the horizon.
{ On either side of a crouching lion } Tefnut, Mistress of the Sanctuary {pr-nsr}, within Ḥwt-nbs. Silver, overlaid with pure gold, as set down on the papyrus scroll of the divine words. Height: 4 handbreadths.
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