T&F Proofs: Not For Distribution 8 Egyptian ‘Inscriptions’ and Greek ‘Graffiti’ at El Kanais in the Egyptian Eastern Desert Rachel Mairs THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF GRAFFITI AT EL KANAIS The site of El Kanais l ies around 55 km east of Edfu in the Wadi Mia, along one of the major routes through the eastern desert between the Nile Val- ley and the Red Sea. Like many sites in the eastern and western deserts of Egypt, the rockface at El Kanais, which lies near a small pharaonic temple, proved attractive to graffiti writers over a long period of time. The graf- fiti with which the present study will principally be concerned consist of a corpus of 92 (published) Greek texts, covering a period of probably 400 to 500 years in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, but the earliest epi- graphic activity recorded here is a set of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions connected with the foundation of the temple (see Darnell et al. 2002 for sites along the Theban desert road in the Qena Bend, where the same loca- tions may have written and pictorial graffiti from the predynastic period until Late Antiquity). Subsequent graffiti at El Kanais include some Ara- bic writings (mentioned but unfortunately not recorded by Bernand 1972: xviii) and a number of graffiti by n ineteenth- and twentieth-century travel - lers. Among these are a French graffito on the temple by a Cretan named Leonidas Lychounes, recording visits in 1843 and 1846 (Bernand 1972: pl. 6.2), and another which appears to read ‘C. ODEH 1914’ (Schott 1961: pl. 6; I have not been able to find any further information on either of these individuals, although Odeh is an Arabic name). We therefore have a record of graffiti and inscriptions at El Kanais stretching over more than 3,000 years: an excellent opportunity to look at change and continuity in the relationship of travellers to this site, as well as inter-textuality between their writings. As this chapter will outline, there are some very important differences between these texts. The inscription of Seti I is highly formal and stylised, following the strict conventions of classical Egyptian written and visual culture. The graffiti of later Greek and Roman visitors are in themselves very diverse. They are written on the rockface and on the temple building. Some are simply scratched, a few are more carefully incised and painted in. They vary in length and in literary quality. Nevertheless, we may observe Baird and Taylor 1st pages indd 153 Baird and Taylor 1st pages.indd 153 6/7/2010 4:04:03 PM 6/7/2010 4:04:03 PM
