This inscription is the only surviving copy of a decree that was issued by an assembly of Egyptian priests at Memphis in July/August 161 B.C. Unfortunately it is poorly preserved, which makes it difficult to establish the exact purpose of the decree. It is impossible to tell whether the stela originally contained Demotic and Greek versions of the decree in addition to the hieroglyphic version - as is the case with some other Ptolemaic decrees.
The translation is adapted from M. Panov & E. Lanciers, "The Memphite Sacerdotal Decree of 161 BCE" (JEH, 2023). The translators suggest that the decree marked the official coronation (or re-coronation) of Ptolemy VI, even though by this time Ptolemy had been ruling as king for almost 19 years. It seems that the names of the king and queen were later deliberately erased from the inscription, for instance in line 34.
{ Date }
[Regnal year] 20, Audnaios, day 3, the day (?) of . . ., which corresponds to [. . . month of . . .] of the inhabitants of [Ta-meri under] . . . whose Nebty name is living in [truth, crowned by his father], whose [Golden] Horus name is great [in power, the lord of the sed-festivals like Ptah]-Tenen, father of gods, sovereign like Rê, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt . . .
{ Eponymous Priests and Priestesses }
[Priest of Alexander, and the saviour gods, and] the sibling gods, and the benefactor gods, and the father-loving gods, and the manifest gods . . . is athlophoros [before Bere]n[ike] 5, . . . [is] priestess of [ Arsinoe, who loves] her [father].
{ Organisation of the Synod: Participants - Occasion - Venue }
On this [day], decision : the principals [of the temples, and the servant]s [of the gods, and the masters of secrets, who purify gods] . . ., who clothe the gods with their garments, and the scribes of the divine book, and the other wab-priests, [who come from] . . . the mother-loving [god], they gathered in [the sanctuary] of [Mekhat]-tawi { Memphis }.
{ Justification of the Priestly Decision: The Royal Favours }
. . . . . . [existing] before them [in Inbu]-hedj { Memphis } . . . [his sister], the gods [of the nomes, and all] residing [in Baqet]Â . . . 10 . . . . . . in Baqet { Egypt }, the gods . . . [consisting of] all things they gave . . . each of them . . . . . . from (?) their (?) [fathers], they gave . . . . . . 15 . . . their every chief, their every man . . . the gods . . . . . . who are over . . . the priest . . . . . . (?) property of the gods . . . . . . 20 . . . . . . (?) to cause [them] to be alive . . . they, and also use . . . sacred objects [before them] . . . . . . they gave everything . . . . . . appoint (?) a priest of the manifest gods, and . . . rituals for him likewise (?) for his person in . . . adornments, splendid and numerous . . . cultivate their fields with number (?) . . . and the god, who brought them to them, performing rituals for them. King . . . . . . [for the] gods, all good things in the house (?) . . . . . . that they gave [earlier] . . . 25 . . . (?) in accordance with the prescript, and . . . . . . he gave food (?) . . . many . . . who is/are in the temples of [Upper] and Lower Egypt. . . . great temples are restored and . . . He received [40 ?] deben [by] calculation because of actions taken by him . . . . . . after the unrest [broke out] on the day . . . which resembling them, performing various ceremonies required for the gods. They caused . . . on the second day to cause [appearance ?] of all gods . . . His heart is worried about the great affairs of the gods at all times,. . . . . . Mekhat]-tawi before, without cease . . . for the gods.
{ Rewards from the Gods in return for the Royal Benefits }
They gave him in return for this a great kingship (?), [strength] (?), victory, well-being, health and every [beautiful ?] thing . . . 30 . . . together with their children forever, thanks to (?) . . . god . . .
{ Synodal Decisions : Introduction }
[With good fortune] it [entered the heart of the wab-priest]s of the temples of Upper and Lower Egypt, in their totality, to increase (?) the honours [of this perfect] god . . . [the mother]-loving gods . . . in the Banks of Horus { (temples of) Egypt }, and the gods . . . . . .
{ The Large Cult Statues }
They decided to set up a statue of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt . . . (?) every year (?) and . . . mistress of both lands . . . gods . . . [and] a statue of a god opposite him, [who gives] the sword of courage to the statue of the lord of strength (?) in the court [of the people of] the temple . . . and craftsmen, who approach the god. Then the leader of the temple and the nome (?) . . . [which are in] the sanctuaries of Ta-meri [they (?) place ?] the offerings/gifts in front of the statues, with everything that is required to do . . . [and] indeed on all the named days.
{ The Smaller Cult Statues and the Cult Shrine }
They decided to set up a divine statue of the king of Upper and [Lower Egypt] . . ., and his [sister], mistress of the [Two] Lands . . ., the mother-loving gods, and a splendid shrine out of white gold, inlaid with [various costly real stones] 35 . . . in their temples, to rest in the sanctuary together with the shrines of the gods of the nomes. When great festivals occur in which the god [comes forth from his] august [sanctuary], outside of his house, they are to cause the august shrine of the mother-[loving] gods to appear [with them] {i.e., with the shrines of the gods}.
{ The Appearance of the Cult Shrine }
[In order to distinguish] this shrine today and till the end of years, [they should] set ten crowns of his person, and his [sister, mistress] of the Two Lands . . . for each crown, on this shrine, in place of [the uraeus which are set on top of other shrines], the sekhemti-crown being in the middle of them, because his person appeared in glory with it in the temple of Ptah, after all ceremonies of "introducing [the king] into the temple" had been performed for him, when he received [the great] office [from his father, . . . place] on the upper [side] of . . ., which is outside of these crowns, . . . set up a sekhemti-- and an atef- (?) crown of his person, and his sister, mistress of the Two Lands, Aton-nefer . . . to set up [a statue] . . .
{ Festive Offerings and Processions (?) }
. . . in truth. Then, one ought to make these offerings on all offering tables (?) in the sanctuaries of the first, second and third rank, because it was in (?) [the temple ?] . . . 40 . . . [sta]tue (?). As for these temples during the great celebrations of Baqet, to make 1. day . . . every . . .
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