campaigns in Nubia. He writes of “bad water” during their journey into Nubia. Bradbury argues that Egyptians chose to write about the bad water because while they were sailing north along the Nile around the area of the 4th cataract, the river changed course and they found themselves sailing south. This sudden change in direction may have confused Egyptians who had never traveled in the area before. Another scholar, Julia Budka, notes that there are many contemporary rock inscriptions found around the Tombos Stela. She maintains that these create a larger corpus of evidence on the story of the stela itself. These minor stela go in order from the large stela in the south and move north. They read as follows; “Horus Victorious Bull, Beloved of Maat, the good god [akh] hprkere [Thutmosis I] given life, who has stroken Kush [Nubia]... “Thuthmosis, who appeared like Re [A God] given life; the Lord of Nubia…Victorious Bull…The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lord of the Two lands, ahprkera [Thutmosis I] given life, the victorious ruler, who destroyed the Nubians.” Budka notes that these rock inscriptions all date to the 18th dynasty. These inscriptions provide evidence that Thutmosis had some sort of military expansion into Nubia, and support the conclusions about the Tombos stela. Budka agrees with scholar Louise Bradbury and her theory that the Tombos stela is evidence of an Egyptian expansion into Nubia during the reign of Thutmosis. Other scholars see religious significance in the Tombos stela and deny the theory that the “inverted water” text is evidence for travel around the 4th cataract in Nubia. There are scholars who disagree with the theory of Nubian expansion past Tombos, and offer evidence against the theory proposed by Bradbury. References Bibliography Prudhoe MSS, 1829, Ancient Egyptian stelas 16th-century BC steles 1829 archaeological discoveries Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt