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Primary sourceDocumentc. 1326 BCE

Restoration Stela

Tutankhamun · c. 1326 BCE

A stone decree from Tutankhamun's reign describing the restoration of Egypt's traditional gods after Akhenaten's religious reforms.

This decree was issued in Tutankhamun's name, recording his reversal of Akhenaten's religious policies.

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Photo of the Restoration Stela, a tall round-topped reddish stone stele in a museum with carved relief figures at the top and rows of hieroglyphic text below, with a diagonal crack running through it.
Restoration Stela, c. 1326 BCE. Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza. Photo: Nate Loper, CC BY 4.0.

About this source

What it is

The Restoration Stela is an inscribed stone monument from Tutankhamun's reign, found in fragments at the Temple of Amun at Karnak by Georges Legrain in 1905. It is now in the Egyptian Museum.

The text describes the neglect of temples and society under Akhenaten's Atenism and records Tutankhamun's actions to restore the old religion, rebuild temples, and increase support for priests, funded partly by foreign tribute. It originally showed Tutankhamun and queen Ankhesenamun making offerings to Amun-Ra, though her image was later erased when Horemheb usurped the monument.

Why it matters

It documents one of the major policy changes of Tutankhamun's reign, reversing his father's religious revolution, and shows how later kings like Horemheb reused and altered monuments to claim their own legitimacy.

Look closer

  • Why would a king want to publicly announce reversing his predecessor's religion?
  • What does the erasure of Ankhesenamun's image tell you about how monuments could be changed later?
  • Whose voice is really speaking here, and what might it leave out?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tutankhamun on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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