Seti I Making an Offering of Two Nou (Nw) Vessels to a Deity

The offering of two nou (nw) wine vessels, as shown here, served to appease the gods. This bas-relief likely comes from Abydos, given the particular written form of the pharaoh’s name. In fact, the name of Seti had to be changed in the city dedicated to Osiris, as it would have been blasphemous to represent the murderer of Osiris, the god Seth, there. In Abydos, therefore, the traditional written form of the god Seth in the king’s first name was replaced by its homophone, the protective knot. While this type of offering is well known and attested to, doubts surround the authenticity of the fragment. A number of elements, such as the blend of hollows and reliefs worked in champlevé, the form of certain hieroglyphs, and the features of the king’s face, suggest it is a fake.