Recontextualising an Elite Ramesside Family from Tell Nabasha (Ancient Imet)

While excavating the site of Tell Nabasha (ancient Imet) in 1886, a large Ramesside block statue belonging to the Royal Scribe and Charioteer Merenptah was uncovered. Eventually transferred to the Chautauqua Archaeological Museum, the statue vanished in 1930 and was rediscovered over 50 years later and subsequently sold into a private collection. This paper contextualises the object, provides a full translation of the inscriptions found on the statue, and links Merenptah’s family to several other pieces of Ramesside private sculpture. It also suggests a potential administrative and religious link between the site of Imet and the nearby capital of Piramesses.