Palermo Stone, The

Published April 10, 2023

The Palermo Stone is described by Wikipedia^(a) as “one of seven surviving fragments of a stele known as the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The stele contained a list of the kings of Egypt from the First Dynasty (c. 3150–2890 BCE) through to the early part of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2392–2283 BCE) and noted significant events in each year of their reigns. It was probably made during the Fifth Dynasty. The Palermo Stone is held in the Regional Archeological Museum Antonio Salinas in the city of Palermo, Italy, from which it derives its name.”

A 2010 paper^(b) by Shih-We Hsu offers a useful overview of what we know about the stone and its significance. “In short, the Palermo Stone constitutes a historical source and document of great significance, shedding considerable light on the Ancient Egyptian world.”

>R. Cedric Leonard published a number of comments relating to the difficulties in translating the contents of the badly damaged diorite stele oldest extant written chronicle of Egyptian history^(d).<

Massimiliano Nuzzolo is Assistant Professor of Egyptology at the Institute for Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. He has studied and lectured on the Palermo Stone. A 2021 paper by him on the subject is now available^(c).