47. Stela of General Pekartror 

This stela depicts Pekartror, a Kushite prince and general, on the left, adoring a mummiform Osiris on the right. A lotus flower, a symbol of rebirth, lies on an offering table in front of Osiris. Pekartror wears a short wig and the ‘Kushite cloak’ (worn under the left armpit and knotted at the right shoulder). The fringed over-garment is first depicted during the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, with no Egyptian precursors. Behind them, long standards mark the east and the west horizon (the one on the right is missing). The lower part of the stela, held at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, bears an inscription detailing Pekartror’s story. It commemorates his arrival at Abydos for the burial of his mother Paabtameri. Honoring his mother and Osiris allowed Pekartror to also proclaim his royal ancestry. While the style is Kushitic, it is also influenced by Memphis, the second (northern) capital of the Kushite kingdom. The stela is a good example of how the Kushite elite infused Egyptian concepts, places and symbols with their own interests, ideology and identity. Paabtameri, his mother, had had an impressive pedigree: she was a king’s daughter and another king’s sister. She chose to be buried at Abydos due to her connection with the cult as songstress, as well as the longstanding importance of Abydos and Osirian cult in political ideology. In Kushite society the matrilineal line determined the succession to the throne and was also an important aspect of the political legitimacy of kings. Because of their high social standing, Napatan royal women were involved in the coronation of new kings, as well as other aspects of the cult, and were buried in the same cemeteries as their male counterparts in their own monumental tombs. Ther involvement in public affairs and religious life points to their importance and high social standing in Napatan culture.