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Archaeological findings are almost like a portal to the past. Through them, we see a glimpse of ancient civilizations, their culture, beliefs and even their end. Amongst those important findings is also a very old boulder discovered by Charles Wilbour in 1899, on the island of Sahat at the Nile, which tells the story of Famine Stela and Imhotep- an Ancient Egyptian chancellor who played a key figure to end the seven-year famine that had plagued the ancient civilization back then.
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The narrative starts with the introduction of Pharaoh Djoser (also read as Djoser or Zoser), who was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty. The inscription tells the tale of how the pharaoh was anxious, because at some point during his regime the land started to experience misfortunate and suffered a seven years-long drought.
Back then, and even today, people tend to do what is called 'inundation' which, by definition, is the act of flooding land on purpose for various military and agricultural reasons. This was too what was done in Ancient Egypt where the Nile was inundated so that the commoners could grow their crops and prosper.
When the drought hit the land and the Nile could no longer be inundated, the people started to suffer from hunger. This especially hit the elderly and young children with many suffering and perishing due to hunger and body weaknesses. It also pushed people to crimes and cruelty as they did whatever they could to survive.
In such a situation, Pharaoh Djoser decided that the only solution was to find which god or goddess resides in the Nile and to give offerings from them, hoping to ease their anger or punishment because of it.
He charges Imhotep, who by that time was a physician and architect, with finding a solution, and Imhotep succeeds. Imhotep decides to look into the library of the Thoth-dedicated temple wt-Ibety ("House of the Nets"), which is situated in Hermopolis. He tells the king that the god Khnum, who resides on the island of Elephantine, controls the Nile's flooding from a holy spring there.
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( Image of Khnum, also spelt Khnemu, the ancient Egyptian god of fertility, associated with water and with procreation.)
Imhotep purifies himself, begs Khnum for assistance, and offers "all good things" to him in the temple of Khnum, referred to as the "Joy of Life." He abruptly nods off, and Imhotep is greeted by the amiable-appearing Khnum in his dream. The god introduces himself to Imhotep by describing who and what he is and then describes his own divine powers. Khnum pledges to restore the Nile's flow towards the end of the dream. When Imhotep wakes up, he records everything that happened in his dream. He then goes back to Djoser to inform the king of what transpired.
In response to the good news, the king issued a decree directing priests, scribes, and other employees to rebuild Khnum's temple and resume regular offerings to the god. Djoser also issues a decree endowing the temple of Khnum at Elephantine, in such a way that the area between Aswan and Tachompso on either side of the Nile close to Elephantine be set aside for the temple's expansion and that a specific tax would be imposed on all local goods to be directed toward the upkeep of the god's priesthood.
