From 25th century BCE
Palermo, Sicily; originating in ancient Egypt
The Palermo Stone is a diorite slab preserving royal and annalistic information for early Egypt. Its inscriptions list rulers from the beginning of Egyptian history to the fifth dynasty, around 2450 BCE, and record major events year by year from the third dynasty onward. The surviving monument is incomplete because the slab is broken.
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The Story
The Palermo Stone is described as a diorite slab carved on both faces. The largest surviving fragment is preserved in Palermo, the Sicilian city from which the monument takes its modern name. Its importance lies in the information it preserves about the early sequence of Egyptian rulers and the events associated with their reigns.
The inscription preserves the names of Pharaohs who reigned in Egypt from the beginning of the dynastic record through the fifth dynasty, around 2450 BCE. Beginning with the third dynasty, it lists sovereigns in succession and records the most important events of each reign year by year. In this form, the monument functions as an early set of royal annals.
The monument has not survived intact. Its broken condition makes the record incomplete, limiting the certainty with which early Egyptian chronology can be reconstructed. Even so, the Palermo Stone remains one of the principal documents used to establish the relative sequence of Egyptian rulers and events.
From 25th century BCE
Palermo, Sicily; originating in ancient Egypt
The Palermo Stone is a diorite slab preserving royal and annalistic information for early Egypt. Its inscriptions list rulers from the beginning of Egyptian history to the fifth dynasty, around 2450 BCE, and record major events year by year from the third dynasty onward. The surviving monument is incomplete because the slab is broken.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Palermo Stone is described as a diorite slab carved on both faces. The largest surviving fragment is preserved in Palermo, the Sicilian city from which the monument takes its modern name. Its importance lies in the information it preserves about the early sequence of Egyptian rulers and the events associated with their reigns.
The inscription preserves the names of Pharaohs who reigned in Egypt from the beginning of the dynastic record through the fifth dynasty, around 2450 BCE. Beginning with the third dynasty, it lists sovereigns in succession and records the most important events of each reign year by year. In this form, the monument functions as an early set of royal annals.
The monument has not survived intact. Its broken condition makes the record incomplete, limiting the certainty with which early Egyptian chronology can be reconstructed. Even so, the Palermo Stone remains one of the principal documents used to establish the relative sequence of Egyptian rulers and events.
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