The Palermo Stone is one of the most important primary sources in the study of ancient Egyptian history. The exact date of the stone’s creation is in doubt, but it is thought to have been towards the end of the fifth dynasty (Old Kingdom in the twenty-fifth century B.C.) and therefore considered Egypt’s oldest known history book by some and to other’s the world.

It is one of seven surviving fragments of a stele known as the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt

The stone takes its name from the Palermo Archaeological Museum in Sicily where one of the largest fragments is housed. Other fragments can be seen in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and the Petrie Museum in London.

The Palermo Stone fragment was purchased by a Sicilian lawyer, Ferdinand Guidano, in 1859 and presented to the Palermo Archaeological Museum in 1877by the Guidano family, where it has remained ever  since.

It is composed of black basalt and it is estimated that it was around two metres high when complete, but unfortunately its significance was not immediate recognised and at one point it was allegedly used as a door stop!  It wasn’t until an unknown French scholar recognised its significance in 1895 and its contents were first published by Heinrich Schafer in 1902, that it became well known.

A stele, or stelae, is an upright stone or slab with an inscribed surface, used as a monument or as a commemorative tablet. The stele of the Palermo Stone and the other associated fragments of the Royal Annals are extremely a vital source for the history of the Old Kingdom because it preserves  names of members of the royal families during the first five dynasties which are not otherwise recorded.

The ancient and famous  historian Manetho may have used information similar to the complete Royal Annals stele to construct his chronology of the early dynasties of Egypt, forming part of his Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt), written in third century BC.

The text on the stele was evidently was compiled from a range of historical documents.The ancient stone was inscribed on both sides with the earliest known Egyptian hieroglyphic text that is carved in horizontal lines.

It’s content includes valuable information about the economic, military, and religious policies of the rulers of ancient Egypt.

Specific types of information included details of warfare, the taxation system, important festivals, buildings and sculpture and the height of the annual Nile floods in various years.

For example :

According to the Palermo stone, a black basalt stone slab recording the yearly events of cultic and religious nature from king Narmer (1st dynasty) down to king Neferirkare Kakai (3rd pharaoh of the 5th dynasty), the cattle count was performed every second year until the late Old Kingdom. 

Recto Lower Portions

In the 2392 BC (24th to 23rd century BC) Palermo Stone, one use of the “gold hieroglyph” is for the “first counting of gold”. In other word, taxes.

The “irrigated land hieroglyph” (or sectioned) is used especially in the 24th to 23rd century BC Palermo Stone, in reference to Nile River flood levels. 

The “numeral 10 hieroglyph” is also used extensively in the 24th century BC Palermo Stone, as the record of Nile River Flood levels of some King-Year records use the numeral “10”.

Note: On the Palermo Stone all the hieroglyphs face in the other direction (Gardiner signs are only facing left; on the stone they face right (reading right-to-left)).

The inscription on the “front” (recto) of the Palermo Stone consists of 6 horizontal bands or registers of hieroglyphic text running right to left.

The second register on the Palermo Stone begins with the final year entries for a king of the First Dynasty whose name is not preserved, but who is generally assumed to be either Narmer or Aha.

The text continues on the “back” (verso) of the Palermo Stone, cataloguing events during the reigns of pharaohs down to Neferirkare Kakai, third ruler of the Fifth Dynasty.

This shrine is also cited in the annals preserved on the Palermo Stone, and beginning from the reign of Menkaura, we know the names of the high priests of Memphis that seem to work in pairs at least until the reign of Teti. Manetho states that was murdered by his body guards in his palace and placed in a harem plot. He was buried in a necropolis  (city of the dead or grave yard) in  Saqqara. His pyramid complex is associated with the mastaba officials of his reign.

The specific images of the stone are as follows with their meanings:

For example , Manetho’s Epitome assigns Neferirkare a reign of 20 years but verso 5 of the damaged Palermo Stone preserves “the year of his 5th cattle count” (Year 9 on a biennial count)Since the annals in the Palermo stone terminate around Neferirkare’s rule, some scholars have suggested that they might have been compiled during his reign.

There are uncertainties regarding the date of the Palermo Stone and of the Royal Annals it records. It is unknown whether the inscription was done in one go or was added to over time. It is also unknown whether it dates from the period it describes (i.e. from no later than the Fifth Dynasty). It has been suggested that the stele was made much later, but  seems clear from the content of the inscription that, even if the Royal Annals, as preserved by the Palermo Stone and other fragments, were not carved at or soon after the period they describe, they are directly based on an Old Kingdom original.