This stela is known in Egyptian art as a cippus (pl. cippi) or magical stela. The instructions found on some cippi indicate that they were used to heal afflictions caused by snake or scorpion venom. Specifically, Egyptians believed that the water poured over these cippi would be transformed into a curative remedy that the afflicted could then drink or apply to the body.
The top half of this stela was skillfully carved in the hard dark stone. On the part below the central figure panel, rows of hieroglyphs record thirteen magic spells to protect against poisonous bites and wounds and to cure the illnesses caused by them. The stela was commissioned by the priest Esatum to be set up in the public part of a temple.