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Red Sea Canal Stele, image - Coggle Diagram
Red Sea Canal Stele
Red Sea Canal Stele
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likely placed in Kabret in Egypt, about 130 km north of Suez
one of 4 stelae associated with the project, though only this example preserves enough text for use
combines cuneiform text on one side with Egyptian hieroglyphic text on the other, it is therefore bilingual and bicultural
the cuneiform text
the cuneiform inscription opens in the standard Darius formula, citing Ahuramazda as the creator of heaven and earth, and for making Darius king
Darius then identifies himself as "great king, king of kings, king of countries containing all kinds of men"
this places the canal project inside his broader imperial self-presentation, not as a merely Egyptian engineering work
the key line: "I am a Persian...I seized Egypt...ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as was my desire"
ideology of this
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as with other Darius monuments, this stele defines the empire as a vast space held together by the king, linked from centre to periphery
similar to the Susa statue of Darius, with how "the Persian man holds Egypt"
Egypt had rebelled against Darius while he was in Babylon in 522/1 BC, so the canal project sits against a background of recent reconquest and reassertion of Persian authority
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Canal Projects
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some suggest Darius never completed the project, although he does claim completion and navigation
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