Clause 1 · lines 1–4
In the ninth year of the harbour council
Select a clause on any of the three registers to load its commentary here. The panel follows whichever band you touch.
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Plate XI · Basalt, 112 × 74 cm · Anselm Quarry
One decree, three hands, one broken corner.
The Anselm Stele carries the same seven clauses cut three times over: in the pictorial hand of the temple scribes, the cursive hand of the harbour clerks, and the chancery hand of the occupying administration. Read across the bands, not down the page — the fracture runs horizontally, and so does the argument.
Drag any band · all three move
Register I–III
7 clauses · 1 lacunaI · Pictorial hand
II · Cursive hand
III · Chancery hand
Clause 1 / 7
Apparatus criticus
How to read this stone
The three bands are cut to a single ruling. A clause occupies the same horizontal measure in every register, so a lacuna in one hand is instantly locatable in the other two.
On the lacuna at clause 5
A fist-sized spall removed the pictorial version entirely. The cursive and chancery hands survive and are our only witness — a reminder that redundancy is a preservation strategy.
Dating
The chancery hand uses an administrative formula abandoned within a decade of the harbour reform, which places the cutting inside a nine-year window.
Concordance of hands
| Clause | Pictorial | Cursive | Chancery | Condition |
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