The Twin Steles with the Decree of Nectanebo I

Royal Decree of Sais Graeco Roman Museum Alexandria

Thonis Stela of the Pharaoh Nectanebo I, which was was discovered in the waters of the Canopic Branch of the Nile Delta in, Egypt. The Stela, informs about royal benefactions to temples and aspects of trade and taxation systems (10% tax on Cow 𓃓, Fat Goose 𓅬, and 5 𓏾 measures of Wine 𓎺, Gold and Silver). As well as give praise to the goddess Neith of the Sais Nome in the Delta.

The Decree of Nectanebo I was issued by Pharaoh Nectanebo I of the 30th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. It regards payments to the local temple, and was recorded on two steles.

The location of the temple was near the Canopic branch of the Nile River, in the eastern Nile Delta of Lower Egypt. Accordingly, steles were erected at two locations as statements to curry political favor with the priesthood, and possibly the populace.

The twin steles are identical in 14 columns of hieroglyphs except in column 13, where the stele's location is named. The steles were erected shortly after Nectanebo came to power, ca 380 BC.

Stele description The stele's purpose was to use a 10 percent portion of the waterway-use tax (unspecified import tax) for the services of the priests in charge of the temples of the goddess Neith.

A finely engraved lunette adorns the upper third of the steles; the engravings and hieroglyphs are all incised in moderate sunken bas relief. The lunette focusses on two versions of the goddess Neith, being offered a food offering on the right, and a usekh collar on the left, by the presenter Nectanebo.

Graeco Roman Museum, museum of Greek and Roman antiquities in Alexandria, Egypt, that was founded in 1892. It is housed in a Greek Revival-style building that opened in 1895 and that was expanded in subsequent decades.

Royal Decree of Sais monument showed that Thoniis (Egyptian) & Heracleion (Greek) were the same city

The Graeco-Roman Museum of Alexandria is one of Egypt's principal museums, the oldest building in Egypt to be architecturally designed for the purpose of preserving and displaying antiquities. Furthermore, it is the only museum fully dedicated to the antiquities and civilization of Egypt during the Greek and Roman eras.

Since 1889, the Italian Giuseppe Botti sought to establish a museum for Alexandria that would protect its antiquities from displacement and destruction. He continued to work on that until the decision to establish the museum was issued on June 1, 1892. The museum began in a modest rented property, and Khedive Abbas Helmy II inaugurated it on 17 October 1892. Giuseppe Botti was its first director.

Since its inception, the museum has sparked a cultural renaissance about interest in the city’s archaeological activities. Discoveries increased, and there became a pressing need for a new spacious building. On September 12, 1894, Nubar Pasha laid the cornerstone for the new museum to be built on land owned and adjacent to the Municipal Council. The new structure was designed by the architects Dietrich and Stenon in a neoclassical style. The construction process took one year, and it was inaugurated again by Khedive Abbas Helmy II on September 26, 1895.

After Botti's death in October 1903, the management of the museum remained Italian, Evaristo Breccia took charge in April 1904, and Achille Adriani succeeded him from 1932 to 1940. from 1940-1947, the museum was run by Alan Rowe. from 1948 to 1953, Adriani took over management once more. Egyptian archaeologists have been in charge of the museum since 1953 onward.

In 1982, a development project was implemented for the museum, during which a new wing was added connecting the western and eastern wings. In September 2005, a decision was made to close the museum in order to carry out a comprehensive project to expand and develop the museum. The project stalled for ten years until work was resumed in April 2015. By creating an upper floor, a new interior design, and a new display scenario are applied.