It was discovered in 1858 by the French Egyptologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette at the mortuary temple of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Hatshepsut, located at Deir el-Bahari.

[8] It was originally discovered in 1854 as part of a large burial of priests of Montu at Deir el-Bahari in Luxor, Ottoman Egypt, and included the coffin of the dedicant, Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i.

The designation of this object as the Stele of Revealing was given in April 1904 by the English occultist and ceremonial magician Aleister Crowley, in connection with The Book of the Law or Liber al vel Legis.

[3][4][5][6] According to Crowley, his wife Rose had already reported a revelation from the ancient Egyptian god Horus through the non-physical entity named Aiwass, which is regarded as his messenger in Thelema.

Crowley stated that he dined with Émile Brugsch, a German Egyptologist and curator of the Bulaq Museum, to discuss the stele in his charge and to arrange for a facsimile to be made.